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At TRL, 2000 for the Backstreet Boys
(c) PipPepPop |
Some people go to a concert once a year. Some go to a concert a couple of times a year. Other people get in the car and drive somewhere to see their favorite band. I hopped a plane to Las Vegas to see
The Backstreet Boys, and I'm so glad I did it! I came, I saw, and I rocked my body right at the Axis at Planet Hollywood on St. Patrick's Day. Today is
BSB's 24th anniversary, according to the timeline on their website and social media channels. On this day, Brian officially had joined the band and cemented their place in history.
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| (c) PipPepPop |
I began my
BSB journey back in 1998. I was a 4th grader and I was obsessed with the song
Quit Playing Games with My Heart. I still may be obsessed because that song rocked at the concert. While the audience was in no danger of getting carded, the crowd around me swayed and screamed like a bunch of teenagers. My friend gave me a shrug when the girl next to us yelled "The Call! That's my JAM! That's my song!" **
The
BSB has been a part of the cultural zeitgeist for well over 20 years now. They ruled the pop charts and
MTV's video-heavy
Total Request Live countdown show. In a related note, live shows like this are getting
new life later this year. I want it that way is consistently on the top song lists.
Rolling Stone's list of top boy band songs of all time (including acts like the
Jackson 5 and the
Monkees)
ranked the 1999 classic,
I Want it That Way, as its 5th entry. While they're never taken home the coveted Grammy award (7 time nominees), they have won countless fan awards such as
MTV Video Music Awards, Billboard Awards, Kids Choice Awards and Teen Choice Awards. They're also left us pondering what exactly it means to "want it that way" or why the "loneliness is tragical." As of early April,
BSB proved they still have it. They were back, taking the stage at the ACM Awards with friends
Florida Georgia Line. The septet performed their new single,
God, Your Mama and Me and everyone enjoyed it. Then they music changed and all 7 guys launched into
Everybody (Backstreet's Back) complete with dance moves. I have never seen
Tim McGraw so into a performance before. He and his wife Faith were like a young
Taylor Swift, dancing and singing in the front row.
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| A Vegas Take on Suits. (c) PipPepPop |
The concert was filled with memories. Nearly all of the songs from the self-titled
Backstreet Boys album were played, even forgotten favorites like
Darlin' (with Kevin's sexy talking intro) and uplifting ballad,
Anywhere for You. We were dancing in our seats during the Euro-pop hit,
Get Down, which lends itself to AJ's bad-ass rap portion. There was a heavy amount of dancing in the show, and it was more impressive than all the other BSB concerts I've seen combined (6 or 7), with the possible exception of
NKOTBSB. The "
chair dance" from As Long as You Love Me was perfection. There were fedoras present during the mid-tempo ballad,
All I Have to Give. The songs from
Millennium and
Black and Blue were represented, bringing the boys and their 10 dancers together for driving dance tunes like
Larger Than Life,
The Call and the not heard enough
Get Another Boyfriend. , and subduing the crowd with sweet songs like
Drowning and
Incomplete. The only song from the non-Kevin years performed was the heartbreaking and haunting song, Undone. I have been listening to this non-stop. The show concluded with
Everybody (Backstreet's Back), which you can find following the below link to you Youtube channel. We made some new memories that night and I will not soon forget this show.
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At the show, 2017
(c) PipPepPop |
** The reason I found this comment to be disturbing is that The Call is a song about cheating, and she screamed this directly in her boyfriend's face.
Read more reviews of the show on Ticketmaster. Mine is in there somewhere.
Read the Billboard.com review of the show.
See more of my concert footage on Youtube.
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