By Tom Harrison, The Province
Published: Friday, September 05, 2008BACKSTREET BOYS
When and where: Thursday night at GM Place
Grade: B
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The Backstreet Boys at GM Place Thursday: Choreography is so integral to their music, a live album is a virtual impossibility.
Ric Ernst - The Province
Is a statement being made here?
Backstreet Boys have called their last two albums Never Gone and Unbreakable. This implies longevity.
They've enjoyed huge success and taken a few risks. They've seen a dip in record sales but they have endured.
Despite a hiatus, Backstreet Boys have never gone. Despite some inner upheavals, they remain unbreakable.
Thus, they returned to GM Place Thursday night not as victors but as survivors.
After an excited but impatient audience of about 10,000 chanted "Backstreet Boys," Howie Dorough, A.J. McLean, Brian Litrell and Nick Carter appeared, preceded by a child who sang their introduction and then ran off.
The Boys entered wearing silk boxing robes and jumped into a boxing ring for their first song, "Larger Than Life." Did anyone miss the message?
They were backed by a tight and efficient quartet, while a video screen was about as elaborate as the staging got.
Howie, A.J., Brian and Nick concentrated on their dance moves and the hits, saving individual moments for solo spots -- such as Dorough's in which he displayed his Latin roots and flashed a little Jackie Wilson.
The thought occurred that the choreography is so intrinsic to a Backstreet Boys show that they couldn't successfully make a live album. DVDs were made for them.
The Backstreet Boys of today seem an honest presentation of who they are and what they've become. They're not as obsessed with image or being a contrived package.
A song such as "Incomplete" packs an emotional wallop -- not too hard but not calculating either.
When the audience sings "I Want it That Way" with them, it's confirmation that there is a lasting bond there -- never gone and unbreakable.
The concert started shrilly with Girlicious -- wirrr -- who have made an album --weeee -- of danceable but shallow pop -- bang.
In concert they are no more than choreographed lap dancers -- wirrr. The four women are just meat -- zing -- neatly arranged on a conveyer belt -- zip -- in which the wheels are louder than the music -- zing.
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