Boyz II Men

 

In mid-February, my sister and I traveled to National Harbor in Maryland to see Boyz II Men at MGM. We had been to Maryland for a concert before pre-pandemic (Marianas Trench in Silver Springs) but we'd never been to this specific area before. Since the concert was at 8pm on a Sunday night and the next day was a national holiday, we planned to spend the night.

For the most part, the drive was faster and easier than the Silver Springs route had been. The aggression with which people drive in Maryland terrifies me, but my sister is a really safe driver, so we made it in one piece. As perpetual early birds, we arrived about an hour and a half before we could check in to the hotel, so we met up with our friend who lives about 40 minutes from National Harbor for lunch. After checking in to the hotel (which my sister arranged because she's awesome), we still had several hours before the concert, so the friend stayed to hang out and show us around the harbor (we masked even though we were outside, just to be safe).

The water was beautiful. The weather was sunny and just on the side of chilly. There were fresh graduates taking photos in their caps and gowns with the armed forces statues and Girl Scouts selling cookies with a bullhorn. We saw a ton of people dressed in impressively detailed anime/manga cosplay costumes for some kind of event. The conversation was delightful. As a homebody, the experience had me admitting that maybe I should get out more--and the concert hadn't even happened yet.

We parted ways with our friend, went back to the hotel to change, and then (once again, perpetual early birds), faced the biggest hurdle of concert-attending: parking. Let the record show we did attempt the parking garage at MGM, but frankly it was a bloodbath in there, and we emerged unsuccessful. In the past, our style has very much been "park somewhere close by and walk over", but there isn't really any way to do that at that particular venue. Luckily, we found an "overflow parking" sign which led to the ungated and very empty casino lot. Success! 

The staff at the MGM are pros at directing the flow of foot traffic and making sure everyone ends up where they're supposed to be, so once we made it inside, everything went pretty smoothly. Having bought the tickets in November before the bulk had been sold, I'd gotten us seats in the balcony area in the hopes that we wouldn't be around a lot of people, but the place was pretty much packed no matter where you sat. Very grateful we had good quality masks to wear the whole time to prevent Covid spread--we still mask in heavily populated inside spaces like grocery stores, movie theaters, waiting rooms in doctor's offices, etc. so it was easy and comfortable to wear one for the duration of the event. Unfortunately I didn't see hardly anyone else wearing one, which was a shame. 

Boyz II Men's career spans 32 years, so the general age of the audience skewed a bit on the older side, but we definitely weren't the only younger people there (or even the youngest). A woman in front of us who said she'd been waiting her whole life to see Boyz II Men play live had brought her kids with her (a young teen and two preschoolers) and there were two teenage boys in the row behind us. Everyone seemed excited and like they had a great time, which made it easier for me to have a good time without feeling self-conscious.

Whoever had the auxiliary cord before the show started was an absolute hero. Even with no opening act, and starting the show around 30 minutes late, the songs they were piping in kept the audience ready for a good time: Beyonce, Usher, all the good vibes. 

Having never seen Boyz II Men live before, I wasn't sure what to expect, but the experience was magical. First of all, the energy was very positive--the members started the show thanking the venue staff and encouraging the audience to be polite and respectful to the staff as well; and over the course of the show, they expressed their appreciation and gratitude to the audience for supporting their music. Secondly, the TALENT--their voices are still as smooth and soulful as ever, and I had no idea Shawn Stockman was so adept on the guitar. And self-taught! Incredible. 

The set was about 12 songs long. Of course they played their biggest hits (On Bended Knee, I'll Make Love to You, End of the Road), but they also played some more underrated ballads that showed off their vocal skills and emotional depth like Four Seasons of Loneliness and Water Runs Dry, and a mashup covering songs like American Woman and Ain't No Sunshine. It was incredible and if I found out there was another concert in my area with the exact same set, I would 100% go again!

As usual, Nate was the mastermind behind the scenes, so Shawn did a lot of the up-front speaking--explaining their career trajectory to the audience, introducing what was coming up next--with Wanya taking over the showman role. Although I've always been (and still am!) a Wanya girl, I did come away with a new appreciation for Shawn. 

The show was pretty short overall--even starting 30 minutes behind schedule, we got out of the venue ten minutes before 10pm. But it didn't feel short at all; it felt exactly right. Some concerts leave you feeling drained and with an emotional hangover, but leaving this one, I just felt happy. Getting out of casino parking was pretty easy, and we were back at the hotel in no time. 

The next day, we left the hotel pretty far ahead of our checkout time (early birds again), and riding the high of the night before, decided to be spontaneous. Driving into Alexandria, we located a local coffee shop we'd never heard of before called Java Loco. My sister got a pistachio latte (delicious), and I got what I'm 95% sure is the best hot chai I've ever had in my life.

The ride home was a bit stressful--a car accident created standstill traffic + a detour, so we didn't get home until almost 4pm despite leaving so early--but nothing can dull the shine of seeing Motownphilly in all its glory onstage. 10000/10 recommend Boyz II Men live--if they're coming anywhere near you, you should go!