New Kids On The Block to play Fenway Park

SOURCE
Boston Music Spotlight, Staff

After weeks of speculation, Boston’s New Kids On The Block have officially announced they will play a homecoming show at Fenway Park this summer with tourmates and fellow boy band favorites the Backstreet Boys. The concert will take place on Saturday, June 11, one week after the two groups will perform a sold our show at the TD Garden. The announcement was made during a press conference this afternoon at Fenway Park.

Tickets for the show will go on sale Saturday, February 5 at 10 a.m. through etix.com. No tickets will be made available at the Fenway Park box office.

“This is a tremendous honor for us,” proclaimed New Kids’ Donnie Wahlberg in a press release. “As a group of South Boston kids we never thought we would get an opportunity like this. Our dreams are coming true. And one of the best parts is that we get to share this moment with our friends the Backstreet Boys.”

“We are all so grateful and excited to have this opportunity,” added the members of Backstreet Boys. “It’s a once in a lifetime moment. And to get to experience this with our Boston friends NKOTB puts it on a whole other level.”

In order to play the Fenway show, the two groups have had to re-route their “NKOTBSB”. The groups had been scheduled to perform at the Nassau Memorial Coliseum on Long Island on June 11 to July 31.

Fenway Park began hosting concerts in 2003, when Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band headlined the historic ballpark. It was not until last summer when Aerosmith and the J. Geils Bands teamed up for a co-headliner that the home of the Red Sox was headlined by hometown bands. Other artists to perform at Fenway Park over the past decade include Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band, The Rolling Stones, Dave Matthews Band, The Police, Neil Diamond, Phish and Paul McCartnery.

The inspiration for the co-headlining tour came last year when the Backstreet Boys joined the New Kids On The Block at their show in New York City. New Kids on the Block reunited in 2008 for a tour and the release of their first studio album in fourteen years, The Block. Backstreet Boys most recent release was 2009′s This Is Us, their second album without founding member Kevin Richardson.

NKOTBSB @ FENWAY PARK - JUNE 11, 2011 from New Kids on the Block on Vimeo.