The Pop2000 Tour’s Magical Ride Continues!
Date: July 15, 2023
Location: Webster, MA
Photo courtesy of Indian Ranch
After Portland, I journeyed on to my next concert location in Webster. The 2nd show was actually in Ridgefield, CT. Webster was the third show. I decided not to catch the Ridgefield show because that would be too much travel for me. Instead, I traveled to the city of Auburn to spend the night. Auburn is approximately an hour drive from Boston and 20 minutes from Webster. There were no hotel options in Webster.
An Afternoon Concert at a Campground
Unlike Portland and Hampton Beach, the Webster concert was uniquely scheduled at 1 pm in the afternoon. A time all concerts should be scheduled in the future! Especially for us Millennials.
Another unique feature was the concert’s location, Indian Ranch - a campground with an outdoor venue with a bar and vendors. The area is actually quite beautiful with the forest and Reid Smith Cove in the background.
We also lucked out with the weather as the sky was bright, clear and sunny. Though the weather was extremely hot. Sunblock definitely needed to be applied!
The Concert
The main show kicked off with Chris Kirkpatrick as the MC getting us excited about the early 2000s TRL Days!
Ryan Cabrera
Ryan Cabrera opened the show again after veteran Portland music artist, Dean Ford. He performed the same set as he did in Portland and still broke a guitar string! Clearly Ryan was enthusiastic to be on tour performing again. Thank goodness, he had an extra string this time. Despite the hiccup, Ryan still pulled off a great set. My favorite performance was still “True”. Being outdoors in nature definitely accentuated the performance by giving a calming feeling. Ryan’s voice clearly carries through in the song.
Before BBMAK’s performance, I was able to meet Ryan after his set. I told him he did a great job and it was wonderful to see him again.
BBMAK
I’m happy to report that Mark and Ste arrived in the US on time and made it to the Webster concert. BBMAK became a trio again!
They opened the show with “Out Of My Heart/Into Your Head”. Definitely increasing the crowd’s energy. BBMAK continued their setlist mostly from their first album, Sooner of Later including: “Still On Your Side”, “Unpredictable”,”Ghost of You and Me”, and “Next Time”.
My favorite performances were “I Can Tell” and “More Than Words”. “I Can Tell” is a beautiful BBMAK ballad where you truly hear Christian’s vocals. The melody and lyrics provide that feeling of love and comfort. Also, the boys put a lot of emotion into the song. “More Than Words” is BBMAK’s acoustic remake of an Extreme song. They simplify the performance where Ste only plays guitar while Mark, Ste and Christian’s voices blend in. Definitely conjured a calming aspect that aligned well in the outdoor environment we were in.
Nonetheless, it was just awesome seeing all three BBMAK members onstage again.
O-Town with LFO and Chris Kirkpatrick
Photo courtesy of Indian Ranch
O-Town hit the stage a little after 3 pm with their classic hit, “Liquid Dreams”, increasing the energy of the crowd.
Their setlist included “Chasin’ After You”, “We Fit Together”, and a medley of “Don’t Let Me Down”, “Treat You Better”, “Get Your Freak On” and “Cry Me A River”. My favorite performance was definitely “SkyDive”, the single O-Town released when they reunited.
Later, Brad from LFO joined the O-Town boys onstage. They performed a collection of LFO songs: “Westside Story”and “Summer Girls” and “Girl On TV”. My favorite performance was definitely “Every Other Time”. O-Town and Brad got really animated in the song, moving around the stage and dancing. They looked like they had so much fun on the stage. They made a point to pause the show to pay respects to Rich and Devin.
It was cool to watch Brad perform with the O-Town from the audience’s point of view. Last time, I was watching backstage and the side of the stage as a watergirl. Front facing is always better especially when there is assigned seating!
O-Town continued the show with “These Are The Days” and “After The Lights”. Chris Kirpatrick later joined them for NSYNC medley. Quoted by Eric, the boys got “Real NSYNCY” as they performed “Tearin Up My Heart”, “Bye Bye Bye”, “It’s Gonna Be Me” and “This I Promise You”. Choreography and harmony on point as usual.
O-Town closed the show with “All Or Nothing” and invited BBMAK, Chris and Brad to join them. That moment was just surreal to watch a sea of boybands singing together onstage. I have seen this segment a couple of times but still feels special. The performance brought a sense of unity especially at the end when the boys put their hands around each other and holding the mics. Then watching Eric and Mark hold the last note at the end. Just beautiful.
After Show VIPs
Because the concert was in the early afternoon, the VIPs were scheduled after the show. Unlike Portland, the VIPS were more organized. Each VIP happened one after the other and in the same location (an air conditioned room indoors - a break from the heat). A big relief for me and not having to run everywhere and not miss a thing. For this show, I did VIPs with BBMAK, Chris Kirkpatrick and O-Town.
BBMAK
Meeting all three BBMAK members was honestly like reuniting with close friends I haven’t seen in a long time. Christian even said “hey guys look who’s here!” Mark, Ste, and Christian were still the friendly funny blokes from the UK that I remembered. And they smelled amazing too upon hugging them! Mark and Ste apologized for missing the Portland show.
During the VIP, BBMAK performed an acoustic and intimate version of “Back Here”. They also signed some autographs and took some fan questions. At that time, BBMAK had just released their latest single, “Painted Lights”. They did mention they were working on new music and planned more tour dates and cities now that Mark and Ste’s visas are approved!
Chris Kirkpatrick
After BBMAK, I met again with Chris during his VIP. Both Chris and BBMAK had significantly huge turnouts of fans during their VIPs. Chris definitely had a bigger turnout in Webster than he did in Portland. This time, he talked about his upcoming podcast, Name Drop with former MTV News Reporter, Brian McFayden. He also briefly talked about his time on the Masked Singer and Celebrity Big Brother. Chris mentioned that he still keeps in touch with some of the former contestants (except Todrick).
O-Town
O-Town was the final VIP. Their turnout was around the same number as Portland. O-Town performed an acoustic session of songs from the O2 album: Suddenly,Been Around The World and The Joint. Despite just doing a recent 90 minute concert, the boys’ harmony still sounded amazing. Also the background of the trees and water provided a serene effect to the performance.
I was happy I was able to get both a group photo and group selfie.
Overall, I had a blast at the Webster show seeing most of my favorite boybanders perform on a beautiful day outside in the summer. I highly recommend if you were to ever attend the Pop2000, consider purchasing a VIP with either O-Town, Chris Kirkpatrick or BBMAK. It is well worth it! You truly get to spend time getting to know the guys.
