New Kids on the Block, TLC, Nelly Bring Flashbacks, 50 Cent to MSG
What do you get when you throw three decades of pop hitmakers into Madison Square Garden with a very loose boxing theme? Confusion, mostly, but at least the journey to figuring it out was entertaining. New Kids on the Block (three Number One hits), TLC (five Number One hits) and Nelly (four Number One hits) have joined up for more than 40 dates celebrating nearly 30 years worth of fusing pop, hip-hop and R&B. The first of two nights at Madison Square Garden was extraordinarily strange, with plenty of hits, a few misses and guest appearances from 50 Cent and Biz Markie.
Nelly, celebrating the 15th anniversary of his smash debut Country Grammar, kicked things off and was the surprise winner of the night. Filled with energy and a setlist packed with songs that have only gotten better with time, he gave a pristine performance that felt worthy of its own two-hour set rather than being placed at a 7 p.m. time slot in a partially full arena.
He began with party-starter “E.I.” and from there found a perfect balance between the twangy midwestern hip-hop and pop-rap he had perfected during the early millennium. He was the ideal ringleader and showman during bangers like “Air Force Ones,” “Country Grammar” and the still-tight rap ballads “Dilemma” and “Just a Dream.” Flanked by a group of twerking female dancers and two hypemen — all clad in white — Nelly’s performance was fairly collaborative with the people he shared the stage with, giving the female dancers a moment to show off their skills and always moving in sync with the hypemen, like their own miniature boy band.
TLC made a dramatic entrance beneath large, white paper fans only moments after Nelly left. The remaining members, Chilli and T-Boz, were as charming as ever, but their set took a while to find its groove. Beginning with 1992’s “What About Your Friends,” the first sign of awkwardness came as soon as Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes’ verse in the song came up, and the pair performed some minimalistic choreography to a recording of the late rapper’s part. The ladies found their voices after a few songs. “Creep” and empowering ballad “Unpretty” were crowd-pleasers, and both women got a little playful during the sultry “Red Light Special,” bringing up one of the few male audience members in the arena to receive a lap dance and serenade from Chilli.
They ended their time with a three-song punch, kicked off by “No Scrubs,” the only song of all three performers’ sets to truly get the entirety of MSG singing along. “Meant to Be,” a new song featured at the end of last year’s Lifetime biopic based on their career, was paired with archival footage of the trio at the height of their career in the Nineties. The clip show ended with a video interview of Left Eye talking about why “Waterfalls” is her favorite song before the pair launched into the track, showing that they’re capable of maybe finding a way to include their missing link in their live show without replacing her.