Group shows propensity for techno touring
By Mike Weatherford
"Welcome to the Backstreet Boys' `Into the Millennium' tour," Nick Carter announced upon touching down to Earth Saturday. "You know about the millennium?"
Well Nick, maybe we're still a little fuzzy about this business of whether it starts next year or in 2001. But we can see that technology of the past 10 years has been great for concert touring, and that recent history has been good to the Backstreet Boys.
Saturday's concert -- the first of a two-night stand at the MGM Grand Garden -- was light years better than the teen idols' visit there a year ago August, in terms of both staging and entertainment value.
The giant in-the-round stage is the only way to play a sports arena. It made those old proscenium stages seem so 20th century. They can do just about anything in-the-round now, from flying the five young heroes over the crowd on harnesses, to dropping a white grand piano down from the rafters in a scene that almost made Liberace come back to life in a jealous rage.
The center of the massive stage could arch up over the six-piece band in the middle like a giant spider. Or a center disc could rise from below and revolve, twirling the Boys for display in the geometric center of the arena. The view offered the ultimate in democratic pop star worship for the fans who paid $75 and $125 for the majority of the 14,000 seats.
"Worship" is certainly a word that's changed meaning in the post-Elvis fraction of this thousand-year parade. Summoning the Boys to the stage involved a seven-minute mass, in which torch-carrying acolytes (who later turned out to be breakdancers) paved the way for the demigods to come sputtering down on surfboards to music from "Star Wars."
Touching down upon terra firma, the blue-armored warriors marched in ritual formation to each corner of the stage, acknowledging the screaming, berserk followers with only the slightest -- in unison -- dips of their oh-so-serious chins.
Eventually the build-up had to give way to some form of music. Even though the opening song was called "Larger Than Life," it was a little anti-climactic when it inevitably came time for the bubble-gum pop of Carter, Brian Littrell, Howie Dorough, A.J. McLean and Kevin Richardson.
And yet, despite the TV-evangelist organ music that underscored their individual speeches to the crowd, the Boys seemed more mortal this time. Certainly less like the poseable action figures of last year, where the whole show seemed to be about hitting their choreographed marks and freezing while big bombs exploded.
Working in the round seemed to force the Boys to be more animated, though much of the show still involved the changing of clothes -- as many times as Cher, it started to seem. There were the Western long-rider coats for "As Long As You Love Me." The black-leather "Shaft" look for "Don't Wanna Lose You Now." And don't forget the pink gangster suits for "All I Have to Give."
But a midshow segment, in which the singers and their dancer posse circled the stage to the pop-funk of "We've Got it Goin' On," was a convincing celebration of youth reminiscent of Janet Jackson's "Rhythm Nation" days.
And more of the singing -- at least what you could hear above the shrieking -- seemed live this time. Certainly most of the traded verses came live over the headsets. Only the harmony vocals during the fast songs still sounded too perfect for all the heavy breathing onstage.
The lads also seemed convincingly sentimental for schmaltzy hits such as "Back to Your Heart" -- where Richardson played the grand piano -- "Spanish Eyes" and Littrell's "The Perfect Fan," in which they serenaded five sets of moms and daughters onstage.
Sigh.
Some of the less lucky moms and dads were starting to herd youngsters toward the exits -- and the last boobytraps for $5 glossies and $20 programs -- before the kids could realize they hadn't heard the monster hit "I Want It That Way." Fat chance. As soon as the encore started, the tide reversed and the parents were stuck.
But the end of the show, with the house lights brighter as another party broke out onstage for "It's Gotta Be You," was refreshingly gimmick-free. And the crowd got its best feeling of unscripted personality as each Backstreet Boy took turns introducing the dancers and musicians.
Though parents, big brothers and any other assorted victims might wish it was a thousand years before the quintet returns, one more annum should be all it takes to determine if the Backstreet Boys have what it takes to ride through the whole Monkees/New Kids phase and transform into enduring entertainers.
Now that's something that only happens once every millennium or so. source: Las Vegas Review Journal Have a review? Send it in and share your concert night with all us fans!
Review-Journal
