The Donnie Wahlberg Show came to town on Wednesday night. Of course, that’s not what they’re officially calling it. Technically speaking, the entity is still known as New Kids on the Block (NKOTB).
Yet, for all intents and purposes, they might as well change it and get Wahlberg’s name right out front on the marquee and list the rest of the crew as his backing band. In keeping with the trajectory that has been going on at least since the band reunited in 2008, the 54-year-old Wahlberg utterly dominated the New Kids on the Block concert at Shoreline Amphitheatre at Mountain View. And that’s far from being a bad thing, given that Wahlberg’s big personality — which towers over his actual singing and dancing talent — turned out to be by far the best part of the night.
He did about 90 percent of the talking from the stage, utterly charming the roughly 9,000 fans who braved the heat and turned out to see a show that also featured fellow ’80s hitmakers Paula Abdul and DJ Jazzy Jeff. Also, the cameras simply adore Wahlberg — especially when he’s flexing his biceps or showing off six-pack abs — and gave him the lion’s share of the screen time on the big video boards. The slant was so Wahlberg-centric that one would be forgiven for at times wondering whether some of the other New Kids — especially the little-utilized Jonathan Knight — had actually left the stage and were over grabbing some Double-Doubles at the nearby In-N-Out on Rengstroff.
Yet, who better t.
