FEATURING LEGENDARY SPECIAL GUESTS SALT-N-PEPA, RICK ASTLEY & EN VOGUE

 

THE FOUR ICONIC ACTS HAVE SOLD MORE THAN 150 MILLION ALBUMS COMBINED

 

THE MIXTAPE TOUR 2022 WILL TRAVEL TO 50+ CITIES IN ARENAS ACROSS NORTH AMERICA NEXT SUMMER

 

TICKETS ON SALE FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8

 

October 4, 2021 – Today, multiplatinum selling pop super-group New Kids On The Block continues the party like nobody else can with the announcement of The MixTape Tour 2022, with their friends Salt-N-Pepa, Rick Astley and En Vogue as legendary special guests.

 

Produced by Live Nation, the four iconic acts will embark on The MixTape Tour 2022 for its 50+ date journey beginning May 10 in Cincinnati, OH and make stops in arenas in Nashville, Dallas, Los Angeles, Atlanta and more, before wrapping July 23 in Washington, DC. See full itinerary below. Tickets go on sale Friday, October 8 at Ticketmaster.com. For more information on VIP packages and NKOTB fan club pre-sales, please visit www.nkotb.com.

 

In celebration of the tour announcement, the four iconic acts will appear on The Kelly Clarkson Show today for a “Kelly’s New Kids on the Block Party” show takeover that gives fans a sneak peek into what they can expect from the dynamic, unbeatable live show, including a performance from NKOTB. Watch a sneak peek of the appearance on YouTube.

 

“We had a blast out on the first MixTape Tour in 2019, and can’t wait to take it to another level with our fans on the MixTape Tour 2022,” Donnie Wahlberg said. “Just like a mixtape, these shows are going to take audiences through all the emotions. To be able to have Salt-N-Pepa come back and now also have the iconic and legendary Rick Astley & En Vogue join the tour… we could not be more excited. Let’s GO!”

 

The MixTape Tour 2022 is already shaping up to be a can’t miss night out where fans can hear chart-topping hits and legendary catalogues spanning generations all night long. It follows the colossal commercial and critical success of NKOTB’s 2019 tour by the same name – their biggest since reuniting in 2008 – which grossed $53.2 million, sold more than 650,000 tickets and pioneered a super-sized show each night with multiple acts (Salt-N-Pepa, Tiffany, Naughty By Nature and Debbie Gibson) hitting the stage and reimagining what a special guest on a tour could look like.

 

NKOTB will hit the stage on the MixTape Tour 2022 to perform fan favorite #1 hits like “Hangin’ Tough,” “I’ll Be Loving You (Forever),” and “Step By Step” while tour mates Salt-N-Pepa (“Push It,” “Shoop,” “Whatta Man”), Rick Astley (“Never Gonna Give You Up,” “Together Forever”) and En Vogue (“Don’t Let Go [Love],” “Free Your Mind,” “Give It Up, Turn It Loose,” “Hold On”) keep the party going with music that catapulted them to stardom and solidified their places in music history.

 

NKOTB most recently returned to the stage for an epic, one night only, sold out performance at Fenway Park on August 6 in their beloved hometown of Boston, MA. Watch a recap on Instagram. The show marked their first performance in two years, their third show at Fenway Park, and a preview of the explosive live energy from the group that fans can expect from the MixTape Tour 2022.

 

In 2021, Salt-N-Pepa received a Lifetime Achievement Award. 2022 will kick up with Salt-N-Pepa dedicating their Hollywood Walk of Fame star.

 

During the pandemic, Rick Astley has amassed million YouTube followers with a series of lockdown covers from his studio and become a major force on TikTok with 1.7 Million followers. “Never Gonna Give You Up” was recently featured on the critically acclaimed series Ted Lasso on Apple TV+ and its video has been viewed more than 1 billion times.

 

En Vogue celebrated the 30^th anniversary of their first album Born To Sing on April 3, 2020, when it was reissued on Rhino Records, closed out the 2020 Billboard Music Awards with a performance of “Free Your Mind,” and launched their Funky Divas podcast. In March, they appeared with Salt-N-Pepa in Coming 2 America for a show-stopping performance of their hit song “Whatta Man” that was aptly titled “Whatta King” and was featured on the film’s soundtrack. In 2018, they released their album Electric Café, with a top 10 single (“Rocket”). Recent collaborations have included Snoop Dogg, Raphael Saadiq and Chance the Rapper.

 

About New Kids On The Block:

New Kids on the Block have sold more than 80 million albums worldwide -- including back-to-back international #1 songs, 1988’s Hangin’ Tough and 1990’s Step By Step -- and a series of crossover smash R&B, pop hits like “You Got It (The Right Stuff),”  “Cover Girl,” “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time),” “Hangin’ Tough,” “I’ll Be Loving You,” “Step By Step” and “Tonight.” The group which started with humble Boston beginnings grew to shatter concert box office records playing an estimated 200 concerts a year, in sold out stadiums throughout the world.  Since reuniting in 2007, NKOTB have toured consistently to sold out arenas, have sold nearly 4 million tickets and have doubled their crowd sizes. The Boston natives have been bestowed with their very own, “New Kids on the Block Day,” an honor not many can claim, and have played Fenway twice before. The group solidified their place in Hollywood with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame since reuniting and will continue representing Boston on their journey long into the future.

 

About Salt-N-Pepa

“Push It” — Salt-N-Pepa’s signature party-pumping anthem about getting your grind on — started out meaning one thing and turned out to mean something else. Something bigger. Because in a 35-year-career that took them from Queens to rap royalty, the duo of Cheryl “Salt” James and Sandra “Pepa” Denton have pushed it real good as a trailblazing duo that changed the game for women in hip-hop. In the golden age of the genre that they helped put on the music map, they became, quite simply, the First Ladies of Hip-Hop. Now the pioneering pair are living legends who get to see their legacy playing out while they’re very much still making moves. “Over the years, we’ve had every female rapper come up to us and say that we were their role models,” says Salt. “We were their inspiration. We were the reason that they felt like, as women, they could do this in a man’s world. It just gave me another level of appreciation for what we experienced as well as what we accomplished.” And what a lofty list of accomplishments there has been for Salt-N-Pepa. They became the first female rap act to have an album go gold and then platinum. In 2021, Salt-N-Pepa received a Lifetime Achievement Award. 2022 will kick up with Salt-N-Pepa dedicating their Hollywood Walk of Fame star. “I love my Salt-N-Pepa,” says Pepa. “I work hard for it. To this day, I do. It’s a beautiful thing. And we’re still here with timeless music. I’m proud of that.” Reflecting on their legacy, Salt sums it up: “We have the anointing of being the first to do things for women in hip-hop. And I think that it’s important that we have represented women in an inspirational way — as bosses, as women who have persevered through adversity and misogyny in this business, as mothers, as real women who’ve gone through real-life situations and kept it pushing.”

 

About Rick Astley

Rick Astley is enjoying a major career resurgence, having already sold more than 40 million albums fueled by hits like the chart-topping ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’, ‘Whenever You Need Somebody’, ‘Together Forever’, ‘When I Fall in Love’, ‘She Wants To Dance With Me’ and ‘Cry For Help’. In 2016 he returned with new music and released a wholly self-penned platinum album ’50’ that has to date sold more than 400,000 copies. In 2018 he followed it up with another top ten album, ‘Beautiful Life’. In 2019 Rick released a career spanning top 5 album ‘The Best of Me’, a best of compilation with eleven additional reimagined tracks and new single ‘Every One Of Us’. 2019 also saw Rick complete a gargantuan 38-date stadium tour as special guest to Take That, during which he played to over 500,000 people. He also graced the main stage of the legendary Reading Festival, performing ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ with the Foo Fighters. Just before the pandemic Rick toured Australia and New Zealand with a-ha, playing 8 sold out dates in arenas across the region. During the pandemic, Rick has amassed 2 Million YouTube followers with a series of lockdown covers from his studio and become a major force on TikTok with 1.7 Million followers and selected as one of Louder’s top 10 must follow artists on the platform. He has also used this time to publicly support the NHS and organise 2 free concerts for NHS staff at Wembley and Manchester Arena during his UK Arena tour this October.

 

About En Vogue

Celebrating 30 years in music and recognized as one of the top 5 highest selling American female music groups in history, En Vogue currently consists of Cindy Heron-Braggs, Terry Ellis and Rhona Bennett. En Vogue's accolades included 7 MTV Music Video Awards, 3 Soul Train Music Awards, 2 American Music Awards, a Billboard and Lady of Soul Award and countless Grammy nominations. To date, En Vogue has garnered 221 million US streams and 325 worldwide streams, with 60 million YouTube views. In 2004 their sixth album, Soul Flower hit the Billboard Top 20 for indie albums. In 2018, Electric Café, produced the Ne-Yo-penned Top 10 hit single, “Rocket,” their Top 20 follow-up, “Reach 4 Me”, and collaborations with Snoop Dogg and Raphael Saadiq. in 2019 they also collaborated with Chance the Rapper alongside Kierra Sheard and Ari Lennox on “I Got You (Always and Forever) for his album, The Big Day. Actress and producer Taraji P. Henson tapped them to appear in an episode of the final season of the groundbreaking TV series Empire for her directorial debut. Dresses from their iconic “Giving Him Something He Can Feel,” video housed in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) illustrate En Vogue’s profound impact, historically and culturally, in both music and fashion. Not to be slowed down, during the pandemic they appeared in Eddie Murphy record breaking Coming 2 America movie, launched their very own “Funky Divas” podcast, closed the 2020 Billboard Music Awards with their timeless anthem "Free Your Mind", performed on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin Eve, and received the 2020 Urban Music Icon Award from the Black Music Honors for their longevity and musical legacy.