From boys to men

The punchy Backstreet Boys come out swinging for screaming fans at Rexall Place last night. (Jordan Verlage, Sun Media)

I was recently threatened by a grown woman, "You'd better not bash my Backstreet Boys!"

You shouldn't take this sort of thing lightly. One veteran Sun photographer told me that he has never feared for his life more than when he shot the Backstreet Boys. Not fires, not murder scenes, not gangsta rap concerts, but a boy band whose average fan weighed 80 pounds soaking wet. Wow.

All these years later, can these Backstreet Fully Grown Men still generate such feminine hysteria?

Which one is missing? Is it the one who had a successful solo career pretending to be black or the one who turned out to be gay? Or was that the other boy band? Have they aged to the point that they've changed their hit song to Everybody (Backstreet's ... Ow, My Back)? Will cheap jokes like this get me ripped to shreds by a mob of enraged 23-year-old women? (Well, a man can dream.)

These were just some of the questions I had coming into last night's show at Rexall Place.

Hysteria? Check. More than 9,000 little girls who grew up in the most delightful ways screamed their lungs out, just at a slightly lower pitch than one might have heard a decade ago.

They screamed when the boys made their entrance in boxing attire - group members Brian Littrell, Howie Dorough, A.J. McLean and Nick Carter introduced as fighters (Kevin Richardson left the group two years ago) - with snips from Eye of the Tiger turning into the big opener Larger Than Life.

They screamed when the leather jackets came off for the first gooey love ballad, and for all the gooey love ballads that followed, including a new one, Inconsolable (which went No. 1 in Japan, if that means anything).

They screamed to the familiar strains of I Want It That Way. (What way? That way.) They screamed when Howie did a hip-swivelling tango in his Latin-flavoured solo tune, and when A.J. did his solo rocking out thing.

They screamed when the Backstreet Boys sang Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely while they sat around a table playing cards. And the women especially screamed when told they each would get a "big juicy kiss" if time permitted it. So, yes, they still got "it."

There was nothing to find fault with in this theatrical show. The choreography was flawless without looking forced. The pacing was perfect: dance song, rocker, ballad, another ballad, a bit of witty patter, repeat.

They performed as if they meant every sweet romantic nothing sung thousands of times before to millions of other screaming women. They went for it until they dripped with sweat.

They were gracious and charismatic, each showing their strengths and drawing screams in their own way.

They sang their own vocals - the odd bad note infinitely preferable to canned perfection - and had a real band back them up, one that tried its best to rock.

Of course, for all their talent and showmanship, they were still doing Backstreet Boys songs. Let's try to keep things in perspective here.

Opening acts are supposed to make the headliner look good - and Girlicious sure did the trick.

A karaoke set from this quartet of reality show winners was so obnoxious and contrived that they made the Backstreet Boys look like the Travelling Wilburys.

But sexy? You bet! Tight choreography designed to showcase tight booties was the order of the day, even if the music was horrible. The single is called Stupid S***. I think that says it all.

One thing: who exactly were they being sexy for in an arena full of women? Are they lesbians or just dumb? It's terribly confusing.

I never got to see the Backstreet Boys at the height of their popularity, when they played Commonwealth Stadium in 1998.

Some numbskull rear-ended me on the way to the show and I had a very relaxing ride in the ambulance thinking how lucky I was not to be at the Backstreet Boys concert.

And yet, a small part of me regretted missing such a momentous occasion that long decade ago. I hope last night's experience made up for it.

Happy now, world's biggest Backstreet Boys fan?

SOUNDCHECK

MAIN EVENT

Backstreet Boys

IN THE SEATS

9,400 in Rexall

NOTE PERFECT

Boy band turns to man band with pleasing results for thousands of screaming girls ... sorry, women.

RATING

4 out of 5

SOURCE: Edmontonsun.Com

Backstreet still supreme in boy-bandom

Francois Marchand, Special to The Journal

Published: 2:02 am

CONCERT REVIEW

Backstreet Boys

With: Girlicious

When: Sunday

Where: Rexall Place

To say that the world is a better place now that Backstreet's back -- again -- might be pushing it a bit.

However, for the throngs of screaming (and mostly female) fans who sang along to every word the boy-band delivered Sunday night at Rexall Place, the experience was still a huge, long weekend party.

Granted, the Boys aren't so much "boys" anymore. Nick Carter, Brian Litrell, A.J. McLean and Howie Dorough -- fifth member Kevin Richardson called it quits in 2006 -- are older, but they still have the energy and gusto that defined their rise to pop superstardom in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

And there was plenty of memorabilia to absorb as soon as they hit the stage.

From opener Larger Than Life, complete with choreographed dance moves involving boxing gloves and matching outfits, to mega-hit I Want It That Way, which really kicked things into high gear, fans responded with ear-piercing squeals of delight.

There was a bit of the prerequisite "new album" (2006's Unbreakable) business to attend to. However, the Backstreet bunch quickly dispensed with the easily forgotten stuff to focus on the numbers that made them a pop tour-de-force.

"You guys are awesome. We missed you guys," Howie told the enthusiastic crowd, which responded with a thunderous roar.

He then introduced a string of "solo" performances from each of the members' prospective new albums to be released in the near future.

Fortunately, the solo performances were not to overshadow the group's most famous numbers, and fans young and old went absolutely nuts when the Boys broke into the likes of Everybody (Backstreet's Back).

Surprisingly, it was the group's subdued presentation that really did the trick -- no flashy gimmicks (except for the opening number), each of the guys sporting leather jackets and rock T-shirts for most of the first part of the show, using only furniture (chairs, stools, a poker table) as their major props throughout.

Maturity is serving these Boys well, and they still boast the kind of inventive and impeccably timed dance moves you could set your watch to while making the most of their live backing band.

Opening act Girlicious, on the other hand, were all fleshy costumes and big hair swings set to bright lights and bumping pre-recorded tracks.

As for the Backstreet Boys, they might be married with children, and sitting a little lower in the charts than they were once used to, but they still reign supreme when it comes to boy-bandom.

SOURCE: © The Edmonton Journal 2008

Backstreet’s back

Published: August 31, 2008 6:00 PM
Updated: August 31, 2008 6:09 PM

They were once one of the biggest groups in the world.

At the height of popularity for boy bands in the late 1990s, the Backstreet Boys waged a constant battle with ‘N Sync in terms of record sales and popularity.

The Florida-based group, a quartet since the departure of Kevin Richardson in June 2006, plays the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria Sept. 5.

Having enjoyed five multi-platinum albums between 1996 and 2000, the band went on hiatus for five years before releasing Never Gone in the summer of 2005. They would follow that up in 2007 with Unbreakable, which has struggled after a fast start fueled by the single “Inconsolable.”

All four of the remaining members have ventured into solo careers. The most successful being Nick Carter, who released his debut CD Now or Never, in 2002, however it sold poorly and only garnered gold status.

In total, the group has sold more than 100 million albums, making them the best-selling boy band of all time. They have had 13 Top 40 hits. They started up in Orlando, Florida.

Creating a perfect contrast for the sold-out Friday night concert, the opening act for the Boys are girl-group protégés Girlicious.

patrickb@vicnews.com

SOURCE: VicNews

The boys are back

Once beloved, then reviled, one-time teen-pop stars are making a play for longevity

Heath McCoy, Calgary Herald

Published: Saturday, August 30, 2008

Spotlight

The Backstreet Boys perform Tuesday at the Saddledome. Hanson performs Sept. 12 at MacEwan Hall. New Kids on the Block perform at the Saddledome on Nov. 19.

Just over a year ago, being part of a boy band was considered to be the dorkiest gig in pop.

Unless your name was Justin Timberlake, the mid-2000s was a cruel time for those who rode the boy-band boom of the late '90s.

The Backstreet Boys and Hanson struggled to launch comebacks and found it hard to buck the lame-o stigma of having been a part of the dreaded pre-teen pop trend.

Jordan Knight, a former member of New Kids On The Block -- whose late '80s breakthrough set the template for the modern boy band -- was a cast member on humiliating reality series The Surreal Life, featuring washed up celebs.

Members of 'N Sync wanted to reunite in 2006 but their dream was nixed by bandmate Timberlake who had made the rare transition to a successful solo career. When MTV asked him why he didn't want to take part in a reunion, Timberlake's dismissive reply was telling. "What we did doesn't work now," he said.

Even the latest bubblegum sensation The Jonas Brothers felt the hard times. In early 2007 they lost their deal with Columbia Records after their debut disc failed to sell 100,000 units.

But today those Disney darlings are on top of the pop world. Their latest disc A Little Bit Longer debuted at No. 1 on the charts and it's expected to be one of the year's top-selling CDs. All of a sudden it feels like the tides are shifting. Boy bands are back and that resurgence isn't limited to new cutie-pies like the Jonas Brothers.

The Backstreet Boys are on an arena tour, which will bring them to the Saddledome on Sept. 2. The boys in Oklahoma pop-rock trio Hanson have made a respectable comeback as indie artists, and are performing at MacEwan Ballroom on Sept. 12.

Even the long gone New Kids On The Block have returned. Over 4,000 hysterical fans stood for hours in the rain to cheer on the quintet as they reunited on the Today show last May in New York. The band performs at the 'Dome on Nov. 19.

For the first time in a long time, being in a boy band isn't looking all that bad.

Even so, most of the pretty lads who are lumped into that category bristle at the classification.

The Backstreet Boys remain the top-selling boy group of all time, having sold more than 100 million CDs around the world. Fifteen years after they were formed by the now disgraced boy-band mogul Lou Pearlman, they remain the epitome of the boy band. And yet, even they're not entirely comfortable with that cursed label.

"We got our start in Europe and they had a lot of (boy bands) over there. We kind of got lumped into that pile," says Backstreeter Howie Dorough, 35. "We didn't even know what a boy band was. They said 'Well, boy bands are pretty boys, maybe one of them can sing, and they have (choreographed dance moves).' We saw them and they looked like a bunch of pansies. We thought 'We don't want this boy band title.' But it followed us when we came back to the United States. (It was the same) with groups like 'N Sync, 98 Degrees and Hanson.

"At first it felt derogatory and we used to have an uphill battle trying to get people to call us a vocal harmony group instead of a boy band. But we don't care now. Not as much as we used to. At least they're still calling us something."

The brothers in Oklahoma pop-rock trio Hanson were even more offended at being lumped in with the boy band fad when their breakout single MMMBop hit the top of the charts in 1997. They played their own instruments, wrote their own songs and they were not manufactured by a Pearlman-type svengali. "I don't think the boy band title was in any way accurate for us," says Isaac Hanson, 27. "In almost every case when you're talking about boy bands (they're formed) as a contrived thing by some outside source. . . . Our process was very organic."

As for the wholesome Jonas Brothers, they're already uneasy with the label. In a recent Rolling Stone cover story, 15-year-old Nick Jonas fantasizes about recording a rock album under an alias.

Nick's reluctance to be completely swept up in the latest wave of boy band hysteria is understandable. More than any other musical genre the kiddie pop universe is entirely trend based. You can be on top of the world one minute and a total punchline the next -- from idol to pariah in the blink of an eye.

The boy band stars of the '90s understand this acutely.

Hanson went from being a pop phenomenon in their teens, with their CD Middle of Nowhere selling 10 million copies, to a comparative flop upon the release of their followup This Time Around in 2000. That disc barely cracked sales of 500,000 in the United States.

Isaac says the band was hurt when their label Mercury Records merged with Def Jam, a label that couldn't see past the media-imposed boy-band image, which Hanson so resented. When This Time Around failed to sell as expected, Def Jam pulled funding from Hanson's tour, leaving the boys to tour on their own dime.

"Everything by then had gone rhythmic pop in the late '90s with the Britney Spears/ 'N Sync type of thing and that's just not what we did," says Isaac. "Pop culture was going in a different direction than we were.

"We were always leery of the misunderstanding that we weren't songwriters and musicians. We constantly had to remind people. . . . Because of our youth . . . people would not take (us) seriously."

Ultimately, after a three-year struggle with Def Jam over creative direction, Hanson left the company to form their own label, 3CG Records.

Canada's most successful answer to the kiddie craze was a Victoria-based quartet of adolescent brothers, The Moffatts. They felt so hindered by the public's perception of them as a boy band as opposed to rockers that they broke up in 2001 when they were still extremely popular. The brothers went their separate ways and in trying to launch solo careers most of them have taken pains to distance themselves from their boy band roots. They didn't respond to interview requests for this story.

In 2003, while struggling to recast himself as a hard rock-emo artist, Scott Moffatt told a reporter that he was determined to break away from the boy band stigma, even if it meant disappointing old fans. "When we look out into the audience we often see a lot of the kids disperse as the shows go on," he said. "We're fine with that though, 'cause we expected it. . . . We're doing something different from The Moffatts."

Over the years, boy bands have primarily appealed to young girls, who respond with giddy shrieks to the squeaky-clean, non-threatening good looks of the stars and the saccharin sensitivity of their lite, bop-along pop tunes. Given this, and the heavily manufactured, marketed nature of most groups who fall under the boy band umbrella, it's not surprising that critics are often harsh in their assessment of such acts.

But Dorough feels that the Backstreet Boys have lived to prove their critics wrong.

"We've gone through all the ups and downs . . . (but) we're still making music for our fans," Dorough says. "We're still touring around the world . . . and selling out arenas. We've made a mark and I feel like we've proven a lot of the critics wrong.

"We've always prided ourselves on making music that's not just bubble gum pop corny. Hopefully, it's timeless."

For a long time the Backstreet Boys have felt like "the last band standing" from their era, Dorough says. But these days he definitely gets the sense that a boy band resurgence is afoot.

"(The New Kids On The Block) are all great guys and I'm glad to see they're coming back," he says. "The Jonas Brothers, they're reminiscent of what I remember when we first started out with the young audiences and all that hysteria.

"I feel there's room of all of us out there. We're all helping each other, keeping the pop world going."

hmccoy@theherald.canwest.com

© The Calgary Herald 2008

SOURCE: The Calgary Herald

Backstreet Boys come to Regina swinging

Andrew Matte, Leader-Post

Published: Sunday, August 31, 2008

REGINA -- The big tease worked to a T.

The Backstreet Boys blew a thousand kisses, vowed more than once to perform in Regina again, jumped into the crowd to exchange hugs with front-row females and even suggested they should move to the Queen City during a powerful concert that pushed two hours.

All of this, of course, was met with waves of screams and flailing arms from a sea of mostly young, gussied-up girls and young women who figured this was more than a concert, but rather a significant event.

And, on many levels, it was. This was a confident, talent foursome that had a similarly powerful backup band and technicians behind them - all three factions combined to make one slick show. And even though the "unrehearsed" between-song banter and playful antics on stage were anything but, it all seemed fresh and genuine.

It was a fine showcase for great voices and athleticism.

Even before the show, the teasing began when one of the Boys waved to the crowd from the sides of the stage, prompting a hopeless rush toward him and the waiting security.

When the curtain fell, Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, A.J. McLean were introduced on the screens above playing the role of boxers on their way to a boxing match before appearing in person in a ring.

They launched into "Larger Than Life" as they shadow-boxed and sang into their famous headset microphones that made them look like rock star restaurant drive-through attendants.

We might think this was a metaphor for the band's battle for respectability in the contemporary music world or perhaps a fight to return to their lost success, but no such cerebral debate was happening last night as the Boys winked, raised their fists and gestured to a Brandt Centre nearly crammed with female faces.

The best thing about the show was how it kept the songs as its main feature, and the four musicians were left to play their instruments in the shadows behind the Boys and bring an arena rock feel to Backstreet hits like "I Want it That Way," "Shape of My Heart" and "Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely." This helped make it seem we were at a rock concert rather than a Backsteet Boys show, something that appeared to be a success given all the dancing and singing in the parking lot afterwards.

Lots of planning also went into to the video production, which was the best I'd seen at any concert. The cameras put the singing faces on the big screen with seamless precision, something this video music generation demands.

The cameras followed the Boys' grinning faces as they performed Backstreet hits, danced through choreographed numbers and exchanged high-fives as they passed each other. The show, which was acceptably cheesy at times, was careful to highlight each member equally -- McLean (the troubled one) helped raise the crowd's volume after the lift of an eyebrow or when his crotch was a seen on the screens, Dorough (the cultural one) accepted flowers and panties like it was another day at the office, Littrell (the religious one) traded gestures with those in the front row while he sang, and Carter (the sweaty one) pushed his face into cameras more than once, hamming it up like he was having the best time of his bandmates.

No mention, however, was made of former member Kevin Richardson, who left the group in 2006. I have no idea how he earns his living today, but my guess, judging from the success of Saturday's show, quitting was a mistake.

The show's slickness was evident, too, when each Boy took turns singing a song from their solo efforts -- two have CDs out, two have CDs in the hopper -- and Littrell made a clever mention of the entire Backstreet Boys catalogue, even describing a couple of CD covers.

The evening began with a comparatively short show performed by reality show product Girlicious, the four-member group of models who can sing, or singers who look like models, or something.

The whole deal was lost on me - when we sing over recorded music and background vocals, we call this karaoke, which was essentially what this was, but with some choreography and exposed midriffs. There was also lots of wriggling of bums and heaving chests. I don't understand how this combination of catchy songs and adult entertainment is appealing to a teen girl audience, so I'll leave it at that.

amatte@leaderpost.canwest.com

SOURCE: Leader-Post