The Riverside Theatre, screaming girls, Nick Lachey, and more screaming girls, what do these all have in common? 7:00 P.M. on Friday, September 29—that’s what.

When we acquired 2 free tickets to the Nick Lachey concert, we were a bit skeptical. Could a former boy-bander and ex-Newlywed truly give a great concert? To our surprise, he did.

Two acts preceded Lachey. A new band named Dirtie Blonde took the stage first. A cross between teen pop and rock, the band performed fairly well, even doing a cover of Tom Petty’s “Last Dance With Mary Jane.” Next came Joanna, a young teen new to the road. Although new to touring, she sounded like a professional when she sang and captivated most, if not all, of the audience.

When Lachey finally did come on, he opened the show with “Outside Looking In,” a song off his second solo album ‘What’s Left of Me.’ It is needless to say that Lachey is an attractive man, but once within a certain number of feet from him, it is necessary to state that he is even better looking, and talented, than television lets on. He carried on with the concert, even serenading a female audience member with a new song entitled “Slave.” The main point, however, was that few people really knew the songs he was singing unless they’d owned his CD for a certain amount of time.

This went on for a short while until Lachey broke out the big guns. The song was “I Do It For You”, a violent, yet in Nick Lachey way, sensitive song with lyrics such as, “I want you to burn/ I want you to steal/ I want you to bleed.” Though the song lacked sensitivity towards an obvious ex-wife, Lachey apologized to the audience. “You know I didn’t really mean all those things I just said.” Lachey said to the crowd. They cheered.

It wouldn’t be a pop concert if Lachey hadn’t oozed sexuality and manipulated the crowd with his sweet, yet manly, good looks. About halfway though the concert Lachey’s shirt could not contain his body anymore, so he was forced to remove it with the segue, “Is it as hot out there as it is up here?” Apparently it was because the crowd erupted with screams and cheering. (There may or may not have been a few screams coming from this general direction.)

Then, Lachey finally worked his way to a medley. He serenaded the crowd of lovely ladies (and some men) with a 98 Degrees medley including “The Hardest Thing” and “I Do (Cherish You).” However, things got a bit ‘iffy’ when Lachey began a Led Zepplin medley. It was, to say the least, somewhat frightening. A former boy band member really shouldn’t be singing a hard rock song, but that’s another story for another day.

We both agree the only thing wrong with the show was the fact that Lachey saved his best for last. The super-hit “What’s Left of Me” was saved for the encore. Lachey put his all into the song and showed the crowd that he cared, getting the crowd involved at several points in the song. To top it off, he even extended it with a few extra choruses, but alas, the concert truly was done when the song finished.

All in all, the concert was phenomenal. While Nick Lachey doesn’t represent our favorite soloist from the music world, it was worth the drive to go and see him. So upon the closing of the concert, we had an epiphany. Just as the shirts of two girls we saw said, we’d take what’s left of Nick any day.