BOSTON — Judging by their ecstatic homecoming on Sunday, New Edition are primed, pumped and ready for next year's 20th anniversary celebration.
"No more 'fans,' " Michael Bivins told the FleetBoston Pavilion crowd of about 3,000, which remained on its feet throughout the 90-minute set on this anniversary warm-up tour. "Now you're New Edition family."
There was plenty of family already on hand, as the Roxbury-bred singers gave shout-outs to their aunts and uncles. But others in the diverse if largely 30-something audience felt their own measure of closeness (including P. Diddy, who made a surprise cameo to introduce the group).
"I grew up with them," said former Roxbury resident Jaque Furtado, 37, of Jamaica Plain. "I'm here to support them. I like their style and their songs, and they dance well." Her husband, Roger, 40, added an observation that was echoed by many in the audience: "They're the original boy band."
But boys become men. Nineteen years since New Edition broke out of Roxbury's Orchard Park projects, and five years since their last tour, the group (with Washington, D.C., recruit Johnny Gill still in the fold, but not Bobby Brown) displayed a maturity that balanced the nostalgic harmonies.
Dressed in loose, snazzy dark outfits that stood out against their simple white backdrop and five-piece band, the singers exuded confidence and camaraderie. They launched into opener "Word to the Mutha!" (from early '90s side project Bell Biv DeVoe) with enthusiastic steps, and built on a communal vibe by remaining together onstage through later solo showcases.
Nostalgia was fueled early by a medley of 1983-84 pop-soul hits including "Candy Girl," a percolating "Popcorn Love" and crisp "Mr. Telephone Man," with Ralph Tresvant taking a smooth vocal lead, as he did on much of the group's repertoire. The ballad "Lost in Love" proved awkward when the singers shared a single, five-spoked microphone stand. But soon they were back to roving the stage and mixing it up, with Tresvant passing the lead to Ricky Bell during "Is This the End."
In a solo-based segment, Bell also tackled "When Will I See You Smile Again?," the suave Tresvant crooned "Sensitivity" and Bell, Bivins and Ronnie DeVoe donned Red Sox caps as they got the crowd grinding and singing along to "Do Me!"
But Gill stepped from the shadows to virtually steal the show with his R&B loverman's tour-de-force treatment of "My, My, My," working into a lather with his gruff-voiced exultations and falsetto yodels and whipping off his shirt to reveal a firmly chiseled chest and nipple rings.
"If It Isn't Love" capped the show, with Dorchester resident Licia Pitts and her friends mimicking the singers' graceful dance gestures. "Coming back after so long, they were really good," said Pitts, 31. "Nice energy. But they needed a dancer to back them." And she was ready to volunteer.
