Matthew Pearson, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Tuesday, August 05, 2008OTTAWA - The red carpet looked a little worse for wear, but that didn't stop the Backstreet Boys from basking in the glory of screaming fans and bursting flashbulbs Monday night at an after-party following their concert at Scotiabank Place.
A throng of young women - and a few young men - took over half a block of Clarence Street in advance of the Boys' arrival at the Tila Tequila nightclub. Traffic on the street was chaos as party-goers and curious on-lookers also jammed the street in front of the club, hoping to catch a glimpse of the longtime heartthrobs, known for such hits as, I Want It That Way and Larger Than Life.
A short burst of screams greeted a pristine, white stretch limousine as it pulled up and stopped in front of the club, but it did not contain the guests of honour. They arrived, instead, minutes later in a green minivan and entered the club surrounded by a flank of beefy security guards.
Nick Carter, AJ. McLean and Howie Dorough posed for photos on the red carpet before entering the club, which was packed to the rafters with rambunctious fans, some waving homemade cardboard signs. The group's fourth member, Brian Littrell, was not at the party.
The club throbbed with dance music, but the sound was pierced by screams as the Boys commandeered a small V.I.P. area adjacent to the bar. There they snacked on snacked on sandwiches, fresh veggies and sipped champagne while being surrounded on all sides - and from a small landing above - by seemingly adoring fans.
"This is friggin' amazing," a smiling Nick Carter said, scanning the packed club. The Boys are attending similar events in Toronto and Montreal as part of their current, 13-stop Canadian tour, in support of their 2007 record, Unbreakable.
This tour is their first as a quartet. Kevin Richardson left the group in 2006 to start a family. When asked if being down a man means they each have to work harder, the trio joked it just means they're on time now.
But soft-spoken Dorough added, "It's a bit more work, but I think we're up for the challenge."
McLean agreed. Sporting a bushy beard and a white knitted cap, he called the Canadian stops so far "amazing" and singled out Ottawa's crowd of about 6,000 people as particularly raucous.
"Our sound engineer told us tonight the screams were louder decibels than a gun shot, which is pretty insane," he said.
It's been more than 15 years since the Backstreet Boys performed their first concert at SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida.
Carter said the group's longevity is a sign that fans still like what the Boys are doing, even if, as he admitted, Unbreakable did not feature the same calibre of hit single as previous records.
"We know we're a couple steps away and a song away from reaching our second peak," he said.
With that, the few members of the media were ushered out, leaving the Backstreet Boys alone with all of those fans.
© The Ottawa Citizen 2008SOURCE
No comments:
Post a Comment