BACKSTREET WOWS CINCINNATI CROWD WITH OLD AND NEW MATERIAL
Lexington Herald Leader
By Jamie Gumbrecht HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER
The Boys are back, and so are the screamers
Ten things everyone ought to know about last night's Backstreet Boys concert at Riverbend Music Center in Cincinnati:
1. Five thousand shrieking women feels no different from 20,000 screaming girls. It's the same screamers, plus a few years of experience.
2. The Boys can still command $35 for a T-shirt and $15 for a souvenir "pass" that will get you exactly nowhere. However, $60 for a pavilion ticket is a bit steep -- people who bought lawn seats were allowed to move to the back of the pavilion without paying more.
3. When the Boys said this would be a low-key tour, they must have meant there would be no shiny, vinyl costumes and no flying. There was still plenty of a aerobic-style dance (suspiciously familiar dance, we dare say), pyrotechnics, fake snow and fedora tricks.
4. The boys are men, but some things will never change. Nick Carter may have lost his baby face, and they struggle with those pubescent-pitched high notes, but Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson still wear their Kentucky blue.
5. In fact, they haven't forgotten anything about Kentucky. When a sign asked the Boys to meet some fans at Jalapenos, one of the Boys asked where it was. Littrell and Richardson quickly answered, "It's a restaurant in Lexington." Talk about free advertising.
6. The phrase "throw like a girl" is a huge compliment, judging by how far women managed to toss T-shirts, teddy bears and underwear. Kevin tossed a bra off stage when he caught it. Nick shoved panties in his pocket -- and wore it on his head.
7. They're having fun. They cut into dances to wave or sign autographs. They tease each other and steal sticks from the drummer. They smile enough to melt the hearts of cold cynics. Fathers, the same ones who claim to be there only for their daughters, sing along.
8. They can still sing all the old favorites -- Larger Than Life, As Long As You Love Me, Quit Playing Games (With My Heart) -- but they sound better on the new ones, such as Incomplete and Weird World. Those old songs were written for boys. The new ones are for men.
9. The Boys are human. They sweat profusely. They look dorky when they dance. They look uncomfortable at first, then fit into their old tunes like they're old jeans. They look exhausted.
10. Kevin cried. This is close to home, after all.