‘New Kids’ on our block: Classic pop band bringing nolstalgia-fueled tour to Palm Desert

They may have been around the block a few times now, but classic boy band New Kids On The Block is out to prove it's still got “the right stuff” on a newly announced tour that will stop at Acrisure Arena in summer 2024.

The group, which is often credited with paving the way for the boy band craze that gave rise to the likes of the Backstreet Boys, N’SYNC and even One Direction, will visit the Palm Desert arena on Saturday, July 6, during its 46-date “The Magic Summer 2024 Tour.”

All five of the classic New Kids remain part of the band, and are set to take part in the tour (alas not actor Mark Wahlberg, who briefly joined his brother, Donnie, in the band in its early days).

Tickets for the show go on sale to general public at ticketmaster.com at 10 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 3. The website also lists several "pre-sales" that start on Wednesday, although it doesn't say how to get access to them.

If the thought of hearing hits like “Step by Step” doesn’t have you feeling nostalgic enough, NKOTB is being joined on the tour by another ’80s and ’90s icon, Paula Abdul (fans of “American Idol” also may have heard of her).

The other special guest on the tour is DJ Jazzy Jeff, who most famously was half of a duo he formed with Will Smith in the 1980s, and is also credited with popularizing the transformer record scratch.

NKOTB fans of a certain age will likely recognize that “The Magic Summer” was also the name of NKOTB’s iconic 1990s tour, and the announcement for the upcoming tour states that the 2024 version will take inspiration from the original and “bring back all the magic.” Tickets will go on tour the same day the band releases “The Block Revisited,” a new version of the 2008 album “The Block,” which will feature remixes of several songs from the original album as well as new tracks.

Paul Albani-Burgio covers breaking news and the City of Palm Springs. Follow him on Twitter at @albaniburgiop and via email at paul.albani-burgio@desertsun.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: New Kids On The Block and Paula Abdul to perform at Acrisure Arena