‘Las Vegas will never be the same’: Legendary boy band headed for Strip

We might need to refer to the Strip as the Block for this crew.

Iconic quintet New Kids on the Block are playing Dolby Live at Park MGM for 16 dates in 2025. Dubbed “The Right Stuff,” this is the first Las Vegas residency in New Kids’ 40-year history (tickets are on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. Pacific time Friday at Ticketmaster.com/NKOTBVEGAS).

The 2025 dates are June 20, 21, 25, 27, 28; July 2, 3, 5; and Nov. 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 12, 14 and 15.

The famed New Kids’ roster of Jonathan Knight, Jordan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg and Danny Wood are all set to play these dates. The guys are in town for the annual iHeartRadio Music Festival on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena. On Thursday night, they arrived at The Park leading to T-Mobile on a double-decker bus for a fan event – thrilling their Blockheads devotees – and a Q&A.

“It’s crazy. It’s surreal,” Wahlberg said after L.A. DJ Sean Valentine made the big announcement at The Park. “It’s something we talked about when we were kids, ‘One day when we’re old and retired, we’ll go there.’ Well, we ain’t old, and we ain’t retiring, and we’re here.”

Two long-running superstar headliners at Dolby Live — Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars — are not just “not retiring,” but share the No. 1 spot on the Billboard singles charts with “Die With a Smile.”

Before the event, Wahlberg, who is the unofficial New Kids “captain,” talked of going “next level” on the Strip.

“We cherish every opportunity that we get to perform for our fans, but a Las Vegas residency gives us an opportunity to take our performance, and interaction with our fans, to the next level,” Wahlberg said in a release. “We plan on maximizing everything that the amazing Dolby Live at Park MGM has to offer, to create the most incredible NKOTB concert ever.”

The older brother of A-list actor and Vegas resident Mark Wahlberg went on to say, “Las Vegas will never be the same after the New Kids and the Blockheads take over the town.”

Thursday night’s announcement follows the band’s “Magic Summer 2024” tour, which sold out across the country. It was New Kids’ eight tour, and first in a decade, coming off their latest album “Still Kids,” issued this year.

Their most recent tour stop in Las Vegas was July 10-13, 2014, at then-Axis at Planet Hollywood, on the “Block After Dark” tour. New Kids also co-headlined with Backstreet Boys — themselves headliners on the Strip, at Planet Hollywood — on the 2011 “NKOTBSB Tour.” The two bands co-headlined Mandalay Bay Events Center in July of that year.

Though they showed up on a bus, the New Kids were glad to be off it.

“What we can do in this theater is really cool, because we can really set up shop and get creative,” Knight said. “That’s what’s really getting me excited … I’m very excited about not getting on a bus and having to travel. We can just stay the hell in one place!”

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.