"New Edition concert review" or "Best night ever"

“If It Isn’t Love” is my all-time favorite song.

‘Heart Break’ was released in 1988 and it was played a lot at school in cassette decks and in the quad at lunchtime. It was their first album since Bobby Brown left and Johnny Gill joined the group. I was into things like Duran Duran and Madonna back then and hadn’t heard a lot of R&B. It was an amazing song and an incredible album – I was an instant fan.

I remember Junior year of high school I entered a writing contest sponsored by SDSU. There were a few categories you could compete in and I chose ‘personal narrative’ because it was to tell a story in first person (other categories were things like article and report writing and poetry). I won in my category and got a T-shirt and $20. I took that twenty, went to the Warehouse Music (remember those?) down the street from where I lived, and bought “New Edition: Then And Now” on VHS (REMEMBER THOSE??).

I watched that video over and over and added more VHS editions featuring Bell Biv Devoe to my collection including the remix to ‘Word To The Mutha’ which was the first song to unite all six New Edition members (it was from Bell Biv Devoe’s WBBD Bootcity Remix album).

Of course it would be a long time before they’d drop my favorite New Edition album, ‘Home Again.’ They toured for that album and I found out they were playing the Del Mar Fair on the 4^th of July but I already had plans (I found out about it less than a week before so tickets were probably already sold out).

Of course it’s been over a decade later and they’re back in San Diego so I bought a ticket when they went on sale and I ended up 3^rd row center.

The show was last Thursday, June 14^th at 8pm and it was AWESOME!

The DJ warmed up the crowd with snippets of old school hip hop. Then 5 of the six members of New Edition came out and did a few songs before Bobby Brown came out to join them on ‘Hit Me Off.’ Throughout the night, they did songs from when the group and solo hits from Bobby, Johnny, Ralph, and Bell Biv Devoe at random so you never knew what they were going to do next.

Next year is their 30^th anniversary and they’re going to try and put out an album and something on blu ray and I can’t wait. I hope they tour to support their next album because I’m going to be there!