01/22/01 - Black & Blue Tour

::sigh:: The time I have been waiting for was finally here. Tonight was my Backstreet Boys concert!! I was excited to say the least. My preparations for the concert happened when I got home from school. My friend Jennifer and I were watching Homecoming: Live in Orlando as we were preparing to go. I put on my shirt that says "Nick is the shape of my heart" on the front and "Backstreet Boys 01" on the back, which I made on Friday. I also put on my jeans, my BSB tattoo, and all 6 of my BSB buttons. Once we ate dinner, I grabbed all of my stuff and my mom, Jennifer, and me were out the door. We had to pick up my mom's friend and her two little kids because they were coming with us. On the way to the National Car Rental Center Jennifer and I wrote up a list entitled "Thoughts on the way to the BSB concert". Here are a couple we thought of: what are they doing right now, will AJ become Johnny No-Name and be one of the opening acts, we saw a Burger King and thought of giving Kevin a burger, will the opening act suck, heard a ring of a telephone on the radio and thought of "The Call", etc. We thought up more, but that would take up too much space! We placed our list in my BSB fan scrapbook when we were done. We got to the arena at about 6:45pm. I saw lots of news and radio stations there. Some were my local NBC, WSVN, my local ABC, and my local radio stations Y-100, Power 96, and Coast 97.3 fm. Anyways, we gave the people our tickets and they scanned it. I noticed that the people were checking bags. I got scared that they would take my camera, so I started placing stuff on top of it. Luckily, they didn't take my camera away. I was looking for people handing out the picture order forms, but there wasn't any. I wonder why. Jennifer and I went to our seats, which was section 103 row 20 seats 5 and 6, while my mom and her friends went to their's. We started talking to these two girls that were from Tampa. They were really nice and they told us how their friends were in the 3rd row in section 2. I told them about my fan scrapbook and asked if they knew how to give it to the guys. One of the girls said that she will give it to her friend to give to the guys. Off she went with my scrapbook and when she came back she said that her friend saw Nick's dad, AJ's mom, and some of Nick's friends. She said that she will give it to one of them. She also started talking about how her friends would stalk Nick. Once they were sitting in his back patio waiting for him to get home. Another time they were in Nick's computer room and saw all of the awards he has won all over the walls. They also said that they heard from their friend Jeff that Nick and his ex-girlfriend,, Manduh, had sex every single night and that Manduh was a bitch. I don't know how much this is true, but I thought it was pretty interesting. Anyways, then Tony Banks from my local radio station Y100 came on stage and welcomed us to the opening night of the Black and Blue World Tour. He also said something about the signed BSB director chairs. I screamed when he said that it was signed. I know, I'm a dork, lol. Oh and I saw the girls from the Mature Fan Club! They were sitting in my section. In fact two of them were sitting in front of me and third was behind me. They had passes that said "MFC All Access Pass" and it was in black and blue. They are really nice people and they helped me out a lot. THANK YOU MFC! Then the lights went out and all you can see were blue glowsticks everywhere. I screamed so much and my stomach was all tipsy because I was so excited to see BSB! Then they showed Kevin on the jumbo screens talking about how and why they signed Krystal. I screamed and took a pic of the jumbo screen. The Kevin introduced Krystal and everyone, including myself, screamed. Krystal came out in a bleck robe, sort of like the Grim Reaper robe, covering her head. She then sang three of her own songs, played the piano, and welcomed us to the opening night of the tour. She also sang a Mariah Carey song and lots of people screamed. When she finished this guy went on stage and ran to her, wrapped her in the robe and they both ran off. Then there was this 15 minutes of waiting. I don't know how I lasted that long. While waiting me, Jennifer, and the two girls we met started chanting "Backstreet Boys!" and trying to get the audience to do it, but they wouldn't. Then we tried again and it started to catch on and then it died. Ah, well, I tried and now I forever know that we were trying to get the chant going and there were people that were too embarassed to do it. Then the lights dimmed again and I went nuts!!! I screamed, jumped up and down, and was smacking Jenny saying "OHMYGAWD!". The jumbo screen in the center of the stage showed a video that you were traveling through space. Then they show Earth and meteors hitting the Earth. Five of them hit the Earth and everytime it hit it a firecracker hit the stage. Then the video took you through this red tunnel and the pyros on the stage went off. Then there was silence and smoke started to come from the center of the stage. Once the smoke cleared you saw the BACKSTREET BOYS!! OH MY GOD! I cried and screamed when I saw them and I was shaking so much! They were wearing these black and blue outfits. Then they went into the song "Everyone". Everytime they sang "and this one goes out to everyone . . . " they would point to the audience and I screamed!! Then they sang "Larger Than Life"! I loved how they opened up the show with the two songs for the fans. That was a nice touch. Then Howie said Hi and asked us how we were doing. Everyone screamed! When he was done the lights turned off and you could see them going under the stage. They came out again singing "Shining Star". Their dance moves for this song was amazing. There were two groups with dancers and the Backstreet Boys. At the beginning one group came out and when the song changed the beat the other came out and did their thing. Then AJ came out from the center and sang his part with girl dancers surrounding him. There were two bloopers that happened during this song. In the middle of it Kevin's mike didn't work, so he ran off the stage to fix it and also change outfits. Then at the end their supposed to end on the trap doors and they would disappear under the stage.. Well, they all worked except for the one in the middle, which happened to be Brian's. Brian kind of hestiated and then ran off the aide of the stage, Then kevin came back out, with his mike working and wearing a nice white tux, and talked a little to us. He said he was wasting some time to let the rest of the guys change and he also said that the next song they were going to do was a song written by Howie. Then the lights dimmed and the guys rose out from under the stage wearing white tuxes and sitting on white stools. The song was "What Makes You Different (Makes You Beautiful)". Their voices blended so beautifully. I was in heaven. Next the stage people took away the stools and BSB came back out with white canes. They sang "Yes I Will". They did this whole dance with the canes! It was amazing!! Then they sang "More Than That". They were standing on the upper part of the stage and there were these girl dancers doing ballet with smoke all around them. I loved it!! "I Want It That Way" was next and during Brian's part he wanted the audience to sing. Oh, and at the end of AJ's line he blew the crowd a kiss!! Ahh!! Then the lights went out and they changed into black pants, black sleeveless shirts, and black jackets with little pieces of red shimmery fabric on it. The dancing to this sing was so good and they put so much attitude behind it. One of their dance moves was taking off the red shimmery fabric. I was like "OMG! Their stripping! Take it off!", lol. Then they went to the ends of the stage and there were fans blowing at them. Ahh, they looked so hot with the wind blowing in their faces! Then they sang "Show Me The Meaning Of Being Lonely". By the time they did this song there was no more red shimmery fabric and they were left with just their black pants and black sleeveless shirts. What happened during this song was that they would walk to one side of the stage together, sing a little, and then walk to another side of the stage. When they stopped singing AJ asked if we were having fun. Of course we screamed in response. AJ asked if we liked their outfits. We screamed. He started complaning how the clothes weren't unique enough and he even made fun of Howie's hair! haha. During this the stage crew brought out a box that said wardrobe on it. They asked us if we thought all five of them would fit in the box! Anyways, they all were pushing Nick to go into the box first. He did and when it was just AJ and Kevin left, AJ goes "Who should go next?" and Kevin just gave him this look and then AJ says, and I quote, "Beauty before old age!". When it was just Kevin he locked the box and said "How about we go to A1A and dump this in the ocean?". I was like, Kevin don't say that! lol. When they were in the box they showed them in their dressing room! I saw Kevin pull up his pants, AJ put his shirt on, Howie fixing his hair, Brian putting silly string on AJ, AJ shooting water at Brian, Howie telling Nick that there was this girl in the audience that winked at him (haha), Nick sing to the "girl", Howie saying that the girl was too old for him, and Kevin falling off the bench! I was screaming and laughing so much. When they reappeared they weren't on the main stage, they were on this little raised circle one on the opposite side of the main stage. I screamed because they were RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!! AHHH!! They were all wearing something different. AJ had brown pants and a green sleeveless shirt, Nick wore khaki pants, a gray shirt, and a red and white open shirt over that, Kevin was wearing a dark blue shirt and brown pants, Howie wore brown pants and a dark purple shirt, and Brian wore a brown jacket and I can't remember the rest of his outfit. Sorry Brian fans! I took so many pictures when they were on that thing. Then they sang "I'll Never Break Your Heart" and "I Promise You (With Everything I Am)". All they did during these songs was walk around the stage. Then they sang "How Did I Fall In Love With You". Since Brian and Howie sing the whole song they stood in the middle of the stage and Kevin, Nick and AJ sat on the edge of the stage. During this AJ held up his hand pretending he had a lighter and eventually someone gave him one and he started to wave it around. Then Howie said if we remembered that on the last tour they wanted to start it here, but a hurricane came. Boy, do I remember that!! Then Brian said that they have been together for eight years and that the next song they are going to sing was written by all of them and it discusses everything they've been through. Of course, the name of the song was "Time". For this song they lowered the stage and walked around and touched fans' hands. Of course there was barricades to protect them. When Nick's part came he jumped up on the technical stuff and sang to the audience. When the song ended their bodyguards took them through the crowd and out through an exit. Then they were back to the main stage for "The Answer To Our Life". During this song they showed clips of the ocean,, land animals, and other things. Then they did a medly with "Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)" and "As Long As You Love Me". It was so good. It brought back memories of when they first came to the US. Then they left the stage and Nick came back up by himself to start singing "All I Have To Give". Then they sang this really old song of theirs from Europe. The song is called "If You Stay". Ahh, I love it! I looked around during this song and I was the only one who was singing it word for word. During this song they did a whole chair and hat dance at the same time. Nick had a sparkly magenta hat. Ahh!! He is sooooo HOT!! I loved the routine! It was amazing!! Then they left the stage and changed into these gray outfits. Then Brian came out and introduced some of the band members and dancers. Nick and Kevin did the same thing. When Nick intrtoduced the band he said one of their names, turned around real quick and shook his butt from side to side! I took a picture of that! My other friend told me that he turned around real quick because his zipper was down! ::scream:: Then they all came out and did "Everybody (Backstreets' Back)"! Let me tell you, they had some new dance moves to this. Also, during the second verse Nick grabbed a blue guitar and started playing it. I was like "GO NiCK!" They also had kind of a different feel. Then they sang "Get Another Boyfriend". The dance moves to this were really good and I loved how they did it. The concept and everything. During this song the usher's were making people take their film out of their cameras and putting them in the garbage. I got scared they would do this to me, so I hid my camera! Then AJ said that there was some good news and bad news. The good news was that they were going to sing more, but the bad news was that this was the last song. As he was telling us this a telephone kept ringing. He went to answer it and it turned into "The Call"! After the part they sing "we're going to a place nearby, I gotta go" before it goes into the break they disappeared under the stage! The last song of the show was "Shape Of My Heart". They just walked around and sang the song. Then they joined hands with their dancers and did their bow. Then the dancers left and the band started playing "The Call" and the guys were dancing and doing whatever on their own. Then just the five of them bowed and they went under the stage. Then AJ popped back up. ran to both sides of the stage to shake hands, and then ran off! The show was over, ::cry:: This was the best night of my life and I'll never forget it!!

Email: NCsGurL14@aol.com