This Is Us
Location: Wild Adventures Theme Park (Valdosta, GA)
There is something about the Backstreet Boys. The time of boy bands has been over for nearly a decade and yet they are still very present, despite not being quite as lucrative as they once were. This is not lost on the four remaining members of the group: AJ McLean, Brian Littrell, Nick Carter, and Howie Dorough. Throughout their new This Is Us tour, they often poke fun at themselves and show rather remarkable gratitude towards their long-standing, albeit much smaller fanbase. Many other singers acknowledge how thankful they are for their fans, but their words seem hollow. When these four say, "Thank you," (and they do...often) you can almost see their pasts flash before their eyes. It must be humbling to have once played at the Georgia Dome and to now be performing at Wild Adventures Theme Park. Admittedly, this is one of the smaller venues they have played during this tour. Just a few days earlier, they played the 6900-seating Chastain Park Ampitheatre in Atlanta (the venue at Wild Adventures seats only about 2600). Still, none of these places hardly compares to the grandure of the Georgia Dome. It would have been easy for the Backstreet Boys to come out and give a subpar show, especially in a venue that usually houses country singers who merely stand at a microphone or, if you are lucky, strum a guitar. In fact, I was fully expecting a lifeless, phoned-in performance. That's not what I got.
This Is Us features a fairly evenly-blended mix of their old songs and their new songs, thus it will probably appeal to any and every fan. The show is segmented by decidedly humorous videos, each featuring one of the group members spliced into a montage of clips from a famous movie (The Fast and the Furious, Enchanted, The Matrix, and Fight Club). These videos are delightfully self-aware and reflect back on what I was saying earlier: the Backstreet Boys are definitely more humble than typical pop stars and they aren't afraid to show it. They respect and acknowledge their past (a witty mention of N'Sync sent fans wild), but they certainly admit that they aren't at that level of fame anymore. My only problem with these videos is that they were wholly unnecessary, given the rest of the altogether fulfilling concert experience. The Backstreet Boys burst back onto stage (literally) with the same energy and enthusiasm they displayed when they were ten years younger. I imagine that the videos, which lack connectivity to the rest of the performance, are only in place to give the group members time to take a well-deserved breather every so often and to, of course, change costumes...but, mainly, just to breathe. I must say that, even as a die hard fan of high-energy pop music, I was amazed at how much endurance these guys displayed for the entire 90-minute show. I'd like to see Justin Bieber try this kind of stuff...
It's also commendable that, despite all of the high-energy dance moves the boys execute almost without pause, they did appear to be singing live throughout the show. Even more commendable is that, though they were pouring with sweat, they never looked noticeably tired, nor did their vocals sound strained or breathless. They ran into a bit of an unexpected problem with the departure of fifth group member, Kevin Richardson. Back when he was present, the typical format of their shows consisted of one member singing, while the other four danced. Now, they all sing and dance simultaneously, and the choreography has not been compromised to simplify the process. Because the Backstreet Boys manage to pull this difficult performance off well, the show is an altogether thrilling, satisfying one that will surely please both old and new fans of the once game-changing boy band. At one time, the Backstreet Boys paved the way for other boy bands, like N'Sync, and they helped usher back in the teen pop era alongside the now pop legend, Britney Spears. The last decade has dealt some pretty traumatic blows to the group (House of Carters, for example), but the same can be said for just about every pop sensation from the late nineties. Fortunately, the growing pains have made them a stronger group, no longer dependent on big-budgets to put on a great show. With the This Is Us tour, Nick, Brian, AJ, and Howie have solidly rededicated themselves to their fans and, most importantly, their music. Backstreet's back, all right!
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