By Luke Matthews

Back in the 80s, we all had stacks and stacks of blank cassette tapes. You’d dub off cassettes from your friends, record songs off the radio you liked, and the really dedicated would combine tons of great songs on to one epic tape. Ninety minutes of nothing but the best songs of the day. It was a home-made version of the “Now That’s What I Call Music” compilation CDs.

Mixtapes were the best and even to this day are still great. Of course, now they’re playlists curated by everyone from “experts” to celebrities to your closest friends. So if a mixtape itself is such a great idea, why wouldn’t a tour featuring several different acts from roughly the same era also be just as great?

Turns out, it is. Enter the New Kids on the Block’s “Mixtape Tour.” It’s five of the biggest names in music from the 80s and early 90s. There’s the teen pop sounds of Tiffany and Debbie Gibson, the girl power hip-hop anthems of Salt N’ Pepa, and the hook-filled rap stylings of Naughty By Nature. Anchored by one of the biggest boy bands of the last 50 years, you have a powerhouse tour that made a stop at Wells Fargo Arena on Sunday night.

The night was tailor-made for a girl’s night out. Judging by the ratio of women to men inside the arena, it was just that. The biggest girl’s night out in Des Moines since the last time “NKOTB” came to town. The Boston five-some of Jordan and Jonathan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Danny Wood, and Donnie Wahlberg are still a huge draw, decades after they had a hit record on the radio. However, this night wasn’t about promoting new music, it was about nostalgia and remembering why music in the 80s and early 90s made us feel so good.

The “mixtape” construction of the show is actually quite refreshing. Instead of one band plowing through 20 to 30 minutes of material, then 15 to 20 minutes for set change for the next band, the mixtape format keeps the music moving continually. The arena featured an “A” and a “B” stage. The latter being a circular stage that could elevate at the back of the arena floor. When one artist would finish a few songs on the “A” stage, another would begin in the rear of the floor. Each artist was given time for multiple songs with Tiffany getting the fewest songs at just three, split between two appearances during the evening. Tiffany’s voice and charm still endure to this day and delighted fans after having last seen her at the Iowa State Fair several years back.

Naughty By Nature was the lone act to get a single solo turn on stage. They took advantage of playing both stages on the floor while bouncing through four songs including their mega-hits “O.P.P.” and “Hip Hop Hooray.”

Debbie Gibson received one of the night’s big ovations upon first taking the “B” stage in a short, sequined outfit. However, of all the night’s performers, it was Gibson whose voice has most changed from what many remember. Her physical performance was a delight and she showed much love for the crowd. Gibson’s stints on Broadway have definitely put a more theater sound in her voice than what you might expect at a pop show. Don’t get it twisted, the woman has pipes. It wasn’t until her duet with McIntyre, “Lost In Your Eyes” that the “Debbie Gibson sound” that many of us had come to love sounded most true.

Outside of New Kids, Salt N’ Pepa received the loudest cheers of the night. The now DJ Spinderella-less hip hop duo marched through an early medley of pseudo-hits like “None of Your Business” and “Expression.” They would later rally the crowd with favorites like “Whatta Man,” “Push It,” and “Shoop.” Salt N’ Pepa were last seen in Des Moines on an equally mixtape-ish tour, the “I Love the 90s” package tour that played the Iowa State Fair in 2017 and featured Vanilla Ice, Coolio, and Young MC among others.

Make no mistake, this tour belongs to New Kids on the Block. They smartly open the show with several numbers in order to whip the girl’s night out crowd into a complete frenzy. NKOTB can still get an arena full of women to shriek at ear-splitting levels by just lifting a tank top or making a quick grab towards their crotch. Both moves were in abundance Sunday night as were their biggest hits.

Unlike past tours where some of the band’s solo material like McIntyre’s “Stay the Same” and Jordan Knight’s “Give It to You” would get featured, this show was all about the full band’s catalog. They kept it mostly familiar with songs primarily from their popular “Hangin’ Tough” and “Step By Step” albums. Songs like “Cover Girl,” “My Favorite Girl,” and “Please Don’t Go Girl” (are you starting to get who this tour targets?) were major hits as were the usual crowd favorites “Step By Step,” “You Got It (The Right Stuff),” and the band’s show closer, “Hangin’ Tough.”

The entire ensemble returned to perform a song specially made for the tour, “80s Baby,” which features vocals from all acts. It’s a surprisingly catchy and fun tune that drips with nostalgia and may have been the “We Are the World” of 1990 had it been released then.

New Kids on the Block are still engaging performers and still put on a fun show. Their vocals are relatively solid with the exception of some songs (ahem, Donnie – that “Cover Girl” was a bit rough) which could all be remedied with a key change here and there. New Kids on the Block are known for Jordan Knight and Joey McIntyre’s falsetto prowess and it’s still there, but it does show its age. Either way, the band could have been entirely out of key and all of the constant screaming from the crowd would have still drowned it all out.

So hats off to you, ladies wearing the “Cool Mom” shirts, the multitudes in vintage MTV wear – likely recently purchased at Target – and even to the guys who were caught complaining in the restrooms about the volume of noise from inside the arena bowl. Hats off to you for keeping it real like you did when you were a teenager. Thanks also to all of the acts on The Mixtape Tour. It was fun for all of us to take a couple of hours and not act our ages for a night.

MIXTAPE TOUR SETLIST

New Kids on the Block
– The Way
– My Favorite Girl
– Dirty Dancing
– Summertime
– You Got It (The Right Stuff)
– Remix (I Like the)
– Block Party
– Games

Tiffany
– Think We’re Alone Now

Debbie Gibson
– Out of the Blue / Shake Your Love / Electric Youth (Medley)

New Kids on the Block
– Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time) / Valentine Girl / If You Go Away (Medley)
– Please Don’t Go Girl

Salt N Pepa
– My Mic Sounds Nice / None of Your Business / Expression (Medley)
– Whatta Man
– Let’s Talk About Sex

New Kids on the Block
– Tonight
– Boys in the Band (Boy Band Anthem)
– (Dance Break) Girls Just Wanna Have Fun / Poison / I Wanna Dance With Somebody / Pour Some Sugar on Me / You Give Love a Bad Name / Livin’ on a Prayer
– Cover Girl

Naughty By Nature
– O.P.P.
– Feel Me Flow
– Hip Hop Hooray

Debbie Gibson
– Foolish Beat
– Only in My Dreams
– Lost in Your Eyes (duet with Joey McIntyre)

Salt N’ Pepa
– Shoop

Tiffany
– All This Time
– Could’ve Been

New Kids on the Block
– I’ll Be Loving You (Forever)
– Step by Step

Salt N’ Pepa
– Push It

New Kids on the Block
– Hangin’ Tough
– 80s Baby (with Debbie Gibson, Tiffany, Naughty By Nature, & Salt N’ Pepa)

PHOTOS: THE MIXTAPE TOUR WITH NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK, DEBBIE GIBSON, TIFFANY, NAUGHTY BY NATURE, & SALT N’ PEPA