I had no idea before I arrived that I would be seeing such a terrific show and five very talented individuals. For me the Backstreet Boys were just another ‘Boy Band’ and I came expecting to see a lot of ‘fill’ to ‘fill the evening.  WRONG!

What I witnessed instead was five guys, A. J. McLean, Howie Dorough, Nick Carter, Kevin Richardson, and Brian Littrell, who spent two hours showing their incredible talent and giving their fans everything they came there for – plus a lot more.  I’ll explain in detail.  But first, the opener:

Her name is Avril Lavigne, wife of Nickelback lead singer Chad Kroeger, and she opened to a nice, receptive audience who may have been there just for her performance. Everywhere I looked while she was on stage, the crowd was singing along, obviously knowing every word to every song.  I personally wasn’t crazy about her style of music.  On the other hand, a couple of her tunes were pretty interesting lyrically and entertaining.  And the fact that she totally engaged her fans in the audience earned her a two thumbs up in my book.  After all, that’s really what it’s all about.

Now back to BSB. Backstreet Boys opened their set with The Call, Don’t Want You Back, Incomplete, Permanent Stain, and All I Have To Give.  Although the tunes were good there was so much else going on up there.  Experiencing this twenty minutes or so was distracting to the point that, I confess, I hardly heard a word.  From sheer physical movement of these guys, to the extremely well-choreographed dance moves, to a light show that had my head spinning, to just the synchronization of all these elements into a great, well received show…was I on drugs?!

And the fantastic frenzy stayed that way (maybe revved up further) through As Long As You Love Me, Show ‘Em (What You’re Made Of), Breathe, and I’ll Never Break Your Heart.

Next up was We’ve Got It Goin’ On.  During that song all five of the guys ended up side by side out on the truss that extended well out into the audience. I noticed while they were wrapping up that song there was a lot of activity going on behind them on the stage. Sure enough all the movement that was in the range of 100 mph for the first hour of the show came to a halt. This was an impressive and effective change of pace.  When the guys came back to the actual stage there were stools waiting for each of them and a couple dozen fans seated just behind them with redefined front row seats for the show.

I had no idea how these gentlemen were going to try to pull off an acoustic set by themselves. It was immediately obvious that they were up to the task.  They sat right up there and pulled it off. Their harmonies were spot on and their instrumentation was perfect.  The message behind this act of bravery (for a ‘boy band’) was to make sure everyone in attendance knew that they were way more than a stereotypical boy band – and that not only can they sing world class harmonies but they can play their instruments too.  They damn well convinced me!

When they finished showing off on their bar stools, they stood up and went right back to showing off some more playing several more tunes including I Want It That Way, In A World Like This, Everybody, and Larger Than Life.

These boys, or should I say former boys, can light it up on stage …every one of them. Including Kevin Richardson who might have been little rusty since he left the group in 2006, not returning permanently until 2012.  And speaking of lighting it up – at one point they asked everyone in the audience to stand and turn on their cell phone flashlights and oh what a sight. For sure there were over ten thousand BSB fans with their phones held high.  (I mean, who didn’t bring their cell phone?!)

It was a surprisingly good night of entertainment that left me feeling, frankly, a little nostalgic.  As a youngster I would go watch the Temptations and the Four Tops make many of the same moves I witnessed this night.  Somehow that added an extra little smile to my face, knowing the roots of BSB’s dazzling performance lived on.

Until next time remember there is no time to kill.