'Where the Boys are... for now'

Where the Boys are... for now


By : RADIN SRI GHAZALI




2008/03/02

A band that millions once swooned over seemed somewhat dimmed at their
recent concert in Petaling Jaya. RADIN SRI GHAZALI reviews the
Backstreet Boys's performance.

DO not expect too much from a — how to put this nicely — “grown-up”
(as opposed to “ageing”) boy band. Despite attaining mega fame and
glory for the past 15 years, the Florida-based Backstreet Boys could
not fight against time.

The
boys who were in Kuala Lumpur recently for their promotional tour of
their sixth album did not meet the crowd’s expectations in their
concert at Sunway Surf Beach, Sunway Lagoon, Selangor.

Starting
an hour late from the scheduled time, Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, Brian
Littrell, and A.J. McLean emerged on the stage with a Rocky Balboa
look, clad in boxing robes.

It was odd watching the boys perform without former member Kevin Richardson (he left the band in June 2006).
With their backs facing the 5,000 screaming fans who ironically are
more males than females, the quartet slowly turned and made their
"entrance".

Luckily for the audience, the boys started out by belting the memorable Larger than Life.

As
the concert progressed, the band took a bold move by singing a string
of new and unfamiliar songs from their recent albums which were flops,
including Unbreakable.

Fans were clearly disappointed that newer tunes such as Any Other Way, You Can Let Go and Unmistakable were rendered. In fact, the boys bored their fans with their solo efforts.

Howie tried to serenade the crowd with a Latin-type number, She’s Like the Sun, with pitchy vocals. AJ and Nick delivered rock numbers, including Drive by Love and I Got You.

Their renditions were hardly pleasing to the ears. Nick’s screaming imitation of a rock star was disturbing.

Luckily
for fans, Brian, who was the strongest in vocal presentation among the
four lads, stayed true to himself with his gospel-inspired song Welcome Home from his 2006 debut album of the same name.

The boys then fell back on the popularity of their older hits to maintain the momentum of the show.

Medleys from albums such as Millennium, Black and Blue and Backstreet Boys saved the show.

The boys showed gradual improvement towards the end but it was a little too late.

With a string of recognisable songs such as I’ll Be the One, The Call and Backstreet’s Back,
they managed to please their fans. An hour and a half later, the boys
bid their farewell to the Malaysian fans with another hit number from
yesteryear, Shape of My Heart.

Overall the concert was
mediocre with minimal props; few moves, and a small entourage of
musicians. There was no ‘wow’ factor in the show. They were huffing and
puffing while dancing and at times their harmonies were hardly intact.

In an interview earlier, Carter said the band was determined to be on top of the game.

“We want to be the best this time,” he said.

The
boys received harsh criticism for being unoriginal and under-developed
in their latest album. After all, it has been in the industry for more
than a decade after their latest studio album Unbreakable.

“We
put ourselves back to the drawing board and started from scratch. We do
not want do the same thing over and over again,” he added.

But
their latest album flopped big time in the American charts, entering at
No.86 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart, in its first week of release.

With the fusion of 1990s pop and a guitar-driven pop/rock sound, the album failed to impress American listeners.

“We
accept the criticisms given and we respect their opinion. But we can
never let ourselves be affected by the critics,” said Carter, 28, who
launched his solo career in 2002 during the band’s break.

Defending
the band’s failure to create ‘a big bang’ with their sixth album and
the inevitable comparison with British boy band Take That, Carter said,
“We were never gone. We have always been in the industry. There was no
such thing as a comeback for us.”

The boys are optimistic that
the album will do well in the other parts of the world despite the
failure back home. The lads have arranged an intensive promotional tour
around Europe and the Asian region throughout March.

“We are going back to the places that first accepted us for who we were,” said Carter.