Reviewed on Saturday May 9 (photo by Ashley Mar)
Never would I have expected to find myself deep in the trenches of a Backstreet Boys concert, simply because growing up, it’s a point of foolish pride not to like the same music as your younger sibling. These many years later, sister in tow, it was quite remarkable to see the band still performing with pleasure and with vocals in fine form… more or less; a handful of surprising off-key moments scattered the set, but it was nothing that could come close to derailing the boys’ exuberance and theatricality.
Now, I thought I knew how an appreciative audience sounded. Turns out, the tremor of 15,000 screaming fans must be experienced to be believed. The Backstreet show itself is a 145-minute extravaganza of synchronised dance, PG sexuality, wildly entertaining nostalgia, and visual effects both kaleidoscopic and bizarre (why play a direct-to-camera music video of a song, when you’ll all be singing it live?).
From opening salvo ‘The Call’, the Backstreet Boys treated the adoring audience like old friends. A great deal of their focus is not just on the material, but on the quintet’s relationship with their fans. Between jumping into the crowd, posing for selfies, the obligatory “best audience ever” and the obvious affection they have for the crowd’s responses, you suspect their love for these moments to be quite sincere. Of course, it is the hits that have the most delirious impact. ‘As Long As You Love Me’, ‘I Want It That Way’ and ‘Backstreet’s Back’ are as unabashedly fun as ever, though props should also go to the lovely ‘Madeleine’, which interestingly saw a considerable exodus from those not tempted by more recent material.
Sometimes silly, always ‘Larger Than Life’ (See what I did there? Yow!), the Backstreet Boys know how to put on one hell of a show.
