Loyalty is the word that best describes him. What began as a phenomenon that swept the radio, television and many magazines, still holding almost 30 years later those same fans who collected the posters of the ‘boy band’ of the moment that Super Pop brought.
Most of them girls, now around 40 and followers of the Backstreet Boys since its inception. “I had no choice. My sister was a superfan and had them on all the time so that I could also learn the songs,” says Marta, a 32-year-old from Cordoba, who together with her friend Silvia, who is 40 years old and from Seville, continues to accompany her favorite group. whenever they get a chance. «On the ‘This is us’ tour we went to six of the concerts they did in Europe. They are very good live.” And later they proved it.
It only took the presence of Brian Littrell on stage in absolute silence for the audience to roar. For a moment it seemed that the Wizink Center was falling apart. But just before, presented through a video that could have been produced by Marvel, Nick Carter, AJ McLean, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson appeared on the big screen with a touch of superhero and fans could not contain the ovation.
As in the concert in Lisbon that they gave the night before and with which they began the tour ‘DNA World Tour’ in Europe, the Backstreet Boys began with three songs from their first albums. Thus, with Everyone, I Wanna Be With You and The Call, the ‘boy band’ showed its usual audience that its DNA, its essence, remains intact.
Without wishing to relegate his latest album ‘DNA’, which received such good reviews and was even grammy nominated for the single Don’t Go Breaking My Heart, songs from this album were interspersed with some of the most famous classics during the concert to keep the audience happy.
Despite trying to achieve a balance so that the entire concert was not a ‘remember’, when Get Down, Incomplete, More Than That, Drowing, As Long as You Love Me or All I Have to Give were played, the public left their voices recalling some of his best known songs. So as much as the ‘boy band’ included nine songs from ‘DNA’, the classics belonging to Millennium, Backstreet Boys, Black & Blue and Backstreet’s Back ate up the newer ones, which, for many, served as ‘dance songs’. break’.
The public went from the hysteria at the beginning to being absorbed by the spectacle in front of them and they danced rather little. Except when the last part of the concert arrived, to which the Backstreet Boys gave way by changing their clothes and wearing the characteristic color of their first stage: white. This brought with it his most mythical and lively songs, such as Everybody, It’s Gotta Be You, That’s the Way I Like It or The One. To finish with the finishing touch: I Want It That Way, Don’t Go Breaking My Heart and Larger Than Life. A way to finish in style and leave the audience with a good taste in their mouths and wanting more. “Right now I could go to a party,” commented some excited fans at the exit.
During the two hours of concert and its 34 songs, I would highlight the happy birthday sung by the public to Kevin, what seemed like a sound failure in Brian’s microphone while he sang Shape of My Heart and the most ‘random’ of the entire performance: AJ and Kevin changing clothes onstage in a weird attempt to appear somewhere between sexy and funny.
There were many references and jokes that the members of the group made over time and with age, adding up to a few years that they did not show when acting. These ‘old’ allusions weren’t present on 2014’s ‘In A World Like This’ and could have really turned out to be annoying. After almost 30 years of professional experience, as a fan, Rocío, said, we love them for their voices and how they unite them perfectly as a church choir. Physique and age are secondary, as their music has traveled through several generations, making them one of the most influential groups in pop.
And it is that despite the fact that the years have passed, the quality of their voices, choreography and staging are still the same as in the 90s. For this reason, seeing the Backstreet Boys means transporting yourself to that time, hearing them again in the 40 and collect their posters. And although many of us have burned this night into our memories in case it’s the last or Kevin jumps ship again, as AJ said: “We’ve been making music together for almost 30 years and we won’t stop doing it.”