As promised, check out high-quality videos of the New Kids’ performance on NBC’s Today earlier today. Danny Wood, Donnie Wahlberg, Joey McIntyre, and brothers Jonathan Knight and Jordan Knight sang and danced through a medley of their older hits, as well as the 1990 throwback “Tonight,” and they sang one new tune, a very mellow track called “Summertime.” The last is available for purchase on iTunes right now.

Up first, the old-school medley, followed by “Tonight” (preceded by a little chit chat with show hosts Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira, who I bet were screaming somewhere offstage, too — Ha ha!) and the new single “Summertime” after the jump.

The extravaganza ends with yet another video of the group dishing with Lauer and Vieira about their forthcoming tour. There may be more footage later because MSNBC added videos as I was writing this post. I’ll check the site again later today for additional clips to publish.

Post from: The Boston Traveler

To prove it, the group’s website nkotb.com is currently chock full of supporting extras, including a blog, image downloads, and a brand-spanking-new track called “Summertime,” the last of which is located at the New Kids on the Block MySpace site.

As of this writing, the following tour dates are listed, so start snapping up those tickets now if you’ve got NKOTB fever. And, if you won’t be able to make any of the dates or locations, I’ll have video clips of NKOTB’s May 16th performance on NBC’s Today that very same day.

Current New Kids on the Block Tour Dates

• May 16, 2008: The Today Show (New York, NY)
• May 17, 2008: Izod Center (East Rutherford, NJ)
• May 18, 2008: Tweeter Center (Boston, MA)
• Sep 20, 2008: Bell Centre (Montreal, Canada)
• Sep 21, 2008: Air Canada Center (Toronto, Canada)
• Sep 23, 2008: Izod Center (East Rutherford, NJ)
• Sep 24, 2008: Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum (Uniondale, NY)
• Sep 26, 2008: TD Banknorth Garden (Boston, MA)
• Sep 27, 2008: Borgata Hotel and Casino Event Center (Atlantic City, NJ)
• Oct 04, 2008: Allstate Arena (Chicago, IL)

Post from: The Boston Traveler

The guys — Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, Danny Wood, and brothers Jonathan Knight and Jordan Knight — were in New York to make their first public appearance together in 14 years, and aside from Mother Nature’s refusal to play along, the reunion went off without a hitch.

Each member of the band looked pretty good given the passage of time, and as co-host Hoda Kotb noted at one point, even they seemed overwhelmed by the rapturous reaction of the crowd. If anyone thinks today was something, just wait until the group returns exactly six weeks from now, on May 16, to perform live with one another again for the first time in nearly 15 years.

Like many people, I assumed that would happen this morning. But, it didn’t. Instead, at precisely 9:39am EST (a little clock keeps time throughout the show in a corner of the screen), NKOTB participated in a brief interview with enthusiastic co-host Natalie Morales and then answered a couple of fan emails. The first asked if the group will continue to dance during their performances and the second wondered if they plan to remove “Kids” from their name since they’re not exactly young’uns anymore.

Take a look at the four-and-a-half minute clip of the Today show appearance after the jump. If you listen closely, you’ll also get a quick preview of NKOTB’s new track “Summertime,” which is on the forthcoming album it sounds like they group has already completed.

NOTE: If you require closed captions, you can enable that feature on the video player by clicking the CC symbol in the top right-hand corner.

Post from: The Boston Traveler

That’s this Friday, fans, just in time for the weekend. The Boston Traveler will have footage of that appearance right after it happens. But for now, get psyched and then enjoy a couple of classic New Kids videos after the jump: “Hangin’ Tough” and “Step by Step.”

Incidentally, nkotb.com has been updated with highlight footage of the reunion news spreading from website to magazine to television. Take a peek if you haven’t seen the new content yet.

Post from: The Boston Traveler

Just kidding about the preceding sentence, although the title is a legitimate question.

On Saturday, celebrity rag People magazine reported that the five members of the 1980s–1990s, Boston-based boy band that disbanded in 1994 are planning to reunite. The verification comes in the form of an alleged proverbial “well-placed source,” who the magazine claims confirmed that an official announcement “will be made in the next few weeks.” In other words, surviving NKOTB fans have a lot to look forward to in February if this story is true.

As proof, People notes the resuscitation of the quintet’s official website at www.nkotb.com. It features a Flash-enhanced “exclusive video” that I must admit seems ominously like an advertisement for the group’s eventual return to performing. As touchy-feely piano music with vocals plays in the background, the following text appears on a television image showing footage of NKOTB in action during their heyday:

They rose from the streets of Boston

To become the biggest band in the world

They influenced a generation

They sold over 70 million albums
and grossed more than one billion dollars

5 Multiplatinum Albums
10 Top 10 Singles
5 Number One Singles

Then they walked away from it all…

Millions of fans around the world
await their return.

[A beat finally kicks in]
New Kids On The Block

Are you ready?

Sign up for access to exclusive info
at www.nkotb.com

www.nkotb.com

Whew! The pulse absolutely quickens!

So, with all that evidence—a “well-placed” source and a swankily updated website spotlighting a suggestive promo—why wouldn’t the rumor be true?

Well, the main source of doubt arises from a message posted by 38-year-old former NKOTB member Danny Wood on his MySpace website just this morning. According to the 8:44am note that was presumably written by him, none of his boy-band colleagues have discussed getting back together for a tour.

Hello to everyone. Hope all is well and everyone is enjoying the New Year. I wanted to address the rumors of the NKOTB Reunion Tour. There has been no talk of this and you are getting it from source directly. Never say never, and you can’t believe everything you read.

Note that Wood specifically refers to a reunion tour, while People just says the band members are reuniting for a comeback, which could mean for a studio recording or a jam session at a neighborhood dive or a one-time performance on a talk show or a million other things.

That’s not to mention why someone like Donnie Wahlberg, who’s enjoying a pretty lucrative and successful acting career at the moment, would want to step away from his current bread-and-butter to gamble on a return to the old days. I guess only time will tell exactly what’s going on with all of the speculation and whether we’ll soon see Wood, Wahlberg, Joey McIntyre, and brothers Jordan and Jonathan Knight stomping across a stage together once again.

Post from: The Boston Traveler