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My2K Tour with 98 Degrees proves nostalgia is dead, long live nostalgia!

Close your eyes. OK, don't close your eyes, because that would defeat the purpose of this, but imagine: A world without smartphones, self-driving cars and Snapchat. Let's take a trip to a simpler time, when you could call MTV to request a music video and songs just barely fit into your pocket with the first iPod. And even then, you were probably saving up your allowance to buy one.

Last night at South Side Music Hall, the heart of the late '90s and early '00s came out for a show, and while it wasn't the greatest show on earth, it was exactly what it should have been.

Dream opens the show at the My2K Tour in Dallas, Texas.
Dream opens the show at the My2K Tour in Dallas, Texas.(Nicholas Friedman / The Dallas Morning News)

The My2K Tour's Dallas stop opened with Dream, an all-female group best known for its aptly titled first album, It Was All A Dream. Unfortunately, most of the crowd seemed to wish this opening performance was a dream, even though the group succeeded in getting everyone pumped up a bit. Sure, I was excited to see a long-lost act take the stage, but not with poor lip-syncing or botched choreography, though that seemed to carry on as a theme throughout the night.

The entire concert was glued together by intermissions, where music videos played on a projected tube television. Songs from Justin Timberlake, Bizmarkie and The Offspring played acts in, and it was fantastic. The entire crowd grooved, including myself, which is odd, since the only reason I remember these songs was because of my 5-year-old self having to listen to them in my older sister's car.

Up next was O-Town, who diehard fans will remember from the 2000 MTV show Making The Band. Last night, 16 years after its debut, O-Town was still pretty damn good.

O-Town sings "All Or Nothing" at the My2K Tour in Dallas, Texas.
O-Town sings "All Or Nothing" at the My2K Tour in Dallas, Texas.(Nicholas Friedman / The Dallas Morning News)

The boys cooked up a set with hits like "Liquid Dreams," a song that's music video reminds me of a sexy Capri Sun commercial and "All Or Nothing," a power ballad that had every single person in the crowd swooning. But they also played some new stuff, which, at a concert built for nostalgia, hurt a bit. But in all honesty, O-Town probably has the best chance out of this lineup of surviving in today's music scene.

Then came Dallas native Ryan Cabrera, whose placement in the lineup was jarring, considering how riled up O-Town got everyone. He toned it down a bit for a mellow set of acoustic hits like "Truth" and "On the Way Down." This is also where I caught on to a major theme of the night: covers. O-Town, Ryan Cabrera and 98 Degrees all played medleys of hits from the '90s and '00s from artists like LFO, Britney Spears, Spice Girls and Will Smith. Speaking of which, the forced nostalgia of the Fresh Prince theme song didn't really hit its mark, and really just made me miss Will Smith in music.

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Closing out the show was 98 Degrees, one of the boy band powerhouses, led by brothers Nick and Drew Lachey. They opened with "Heat It Up" and burst onto the stage in matching cargo pants and body armor. It was cool for a good few minutes, but then you realized that half of the band couldn't match the choreography. That, or the dancing was kept to a minimum because none of the members can move the way they did in 2001.

98 Degrees opens its set with "Heat It Up" in Dallas, Texas.
98 Degrees opens its set with "Heat It Up" in Dallas, Texas.(Nicholas Friedman / The Dallas Morning News)

And even though I didn't have any of their posters on my walls, 98 Degrees was a joy to watch, not only because of the nostalgia, but because it gave the crowd a real glimpse into the past. Nick led the group through a medley of classic hits as a projector showed clips from Total Request Live in the background. As they played "Bye Bye Bye" and "This Is How We Do It," the crowd lost its marbles and went crazy, and I did too. It was cool to kick back.

Toward the end, Drew gave the crowd a speech regarding the recent police shooting and said "Tonight we're going to prove that we're Dallas Strong." In many ways, the My2K Tour was a way to say goodbye to the past, because we're ready to deal with the present, together.