motown philly back again. they still got it. maybe nathan morris, wanya morris and shawn stockman never lost it, but when we brought up "boys ii men concert in three weeks, you in?" the reception was not as effusive as you'd like. except for from the galvez of course, who's a boys ii men concert veteran.

so when boyz-2-men hit the stage decked out in classic run-dmc clothes, i was a bit skeptical. were they about to pull some fast "hard hitting hip hop" switcheroo? for my money, they'd better not stray far from the car game, suburban jam stuff they got famous for. it didn't help my confidence that wanya looked like he had swallowed michael mccary and hid him in his pleather jump suit.

but all my fears were for naught as soon as the boys started singing. wanya, i don't care how much you weigh, or how long it takes you to get up from the bended knee position, your voice is amazing. slim? who knew you weren't just good for the high parts. it seemed like slim was actually the leader of the group, something you'd never know from watching the videos and reading interviews. nathan morris? um, nice moustache. michael mccary? where were you man? they made no mention of your absence and i had to dig deep on the internet to find out that you had retired not due to throat cancer, but back problems.

concerts are pretty much amazing when the group in question sticks with their bread and butter. bring on the hits boys... yesterday, on bended knee, water runs dry, end of the road, motown philly... boys ii men have maybe ten mega hits and i think they got most of them covered. when they did "a song for mama," they hinted at the audience, "we noticed that whenever we do this song, fans tend to get their moms on their cell phones." nice little subtle magic moment maker. whatever, it worked. people were calling their moms, handing the phones up to the boys -- and the boys would sing straight to someone's mom. pretty rad hunh?

the craziest moment of the night was when roses came out for "i'll make love to you" and every female on the main floor rushed the stage. *whoosh* it was like a vacuum. one second roses and music, next second girls everywhere. if you've ever seen koi fish swarm to food, you have some idea of what i'm talking about. throughout the concert, girls were intermittently going to the edge of the stage to touch/hold the boys' outreached hands but when the roses came out, every single chick who could run/walk/hobble/hopscotch/excuseme was up there screaming and hollering. ridiculous. but kinda awesome at the same time.

did i just have the best time ever at a boys ii men concert? you bet. would i admit that fact in a room full of guy co-workers? not a chance in hell. my reputation aside, the boys still got it man. they got that panty dropping power in spades. now where can we get some? do we have to eat more fried chicken? how's this work exactly?