| Concert Review (Columbus) |
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| Backstreet's Back, say wha? Backstreet's back, can't hear ya, Backstreet's Back alright! This is what Ray and I had going through our heads as we walked into Nationwide Arena, June 22, 2001 after seeing them in Lexington, Kentucky just the past night. The previous night had been awesome to say the least, but our seats...let's just say they were a little less then awesome. While waiting in line before Nationwide's doors were open, we took in the view of thousand of teenage girls anxiously awaiting the arrival of 5 extremly sexy guys, (and no I'm not talking about the dancers). There were girls of all ages, fan levels, in style of dress, talking and giggling amongst their friends. And we must say, while any girl under 10 looked extremly adorable wearing her favorite Backstreet Boys' t-shirt when you see someone over thirty wearing the same one, its just a tad disturbing. We heard the screams, and the sighs of impatient mothers relief as the doors were finally opened. As we walked in, our eyes were blasted at the Backstreet paraphanlia waiting to be sold. And let me tell y ou it was anything but cheap. Scrambling through the masses, we somehow managed to find our seats. They were A LOT better than t he nosebleeds from KY, but we still couldn't help feel envious of those undeserving spoiled brats in first row. Ahem. *Adjusts Halo* When Jimmy Jam from WNCI came out to annouce Krystal was going to preform shortly, the arena was still 1/2 empty. And while the show wasnt sold out, we were still shocked at the number of people who dared to arrive late to such an important event. Only 2 words can describe Krystal's preformance, terrible and atratcious. Every word she sang sounded like a cat being strangled. She appeared to be attempting to be a trend setter because she wasn't your run -of-the-mill blonde Britney Spears clone, but her attempt failed miserably and she came off as a wanna-be gothic Pink. She butched Jackson Five's song "I'll be there" so badly that we went to the bathroom halfway through becayse our ears couldn't stand the abuse any longer. While freshining up we ran into a girl who was talking on her cell-phone excitedly about meeting the boys. I found it rather comical that she believed they were all stoned, but who knows? Maybe they were. Next, Shaggy was an extremely talented opener. He knew exactly how to get the crowd energized, and that he did. Kinda scary to think 5 years ago BSB was opening for him. A good 20 minutes later, the lights dimmed once again and the audience erupted in screams. Blue glowsticks shown throughout the arena , and at 8 dollars a-piece we can only imagin the profits Jive is making from this tour. While out Earth was being destroyed bymeteors on a giant screen, Nick, Howie, Brian, AJ, and Kevin blasted from the stage on stands about ten feet above the stage. Pyro went off, and the screams were more deafening. The began with their two fan-based hits, "Everyone" and "Larger than Life". The dances were hot and so were the Boys. Since the Millenium tour, I noticed 2 big changes. First, the dance moves appeared to be smoother and seemed less rehearsed. And second, when each boy talked to the audience indiviually, they seemed less shy and nervous. Throughout the show, the ballads heavily outnumbered the up-tempos, but devote Backstret fans know that these ballads are their forte. Towards the beginning, Ray and I noticed that we were surrounded by parents, and people that looked to be wondering what the hell they were doing there, and we were the only ones in our section standing and singing along. We were also appalled at the lack of energy enthusiasm our hometown posessed for these boys who travel around the world preforming. Being the only enthusiasts in our section came with some major benefits however, because our standing seperated from the crowd. When Brian looked at our section, we were the only ones he could have seen and waved no less then *4* times. Even though we lost our voices, and weren't sitting the front row, it was still and incredible experience and we have to live with the depression that we won't see another Backstreet show for a very long time, because after paying for 2 shows we are both flat broke. the night was topped off when we were able to steal 2 of the huge Pop Tarts banners that had the boys pictures on them. Even though we were offered 100 dollars each for them, we declined and kept the banners purely for the nastalgic benefit well, and also because it has one very nice picture of Nick on it. So if any of you are still wondering if Backstreet still has it, while the critics might not think so, just remember that critics are just frustarted muscians who never got a record deal, and Backstreet shows will always be a good time |
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