If you're just here for house updates and have zero interest in having fun, feel free to come back tomorrow and find out the new, big thing that happened at our house. No judgement.
Awesome! Oh wow! Like totally freak me out, now turn me on. The Backstreet Boys are number one!
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Props to those of you who caught the Bring It On reference. As many girls my age once were, I am a Backstreet Boys fan.
The difference between those other girls and me is I am an unabashed and active fan, not a nostalgic or ironic fan. My favorite Backstreet music was released after 2005 (if you haven't heard Unbreakable or This Is Us, you don't know the Boys) and I have been to three concerts in the past 4 years. That means my first BSB show wasn't until 2009, nearly a decade after they "peaked."
Like those other girls, I was a fangirl back in the day. I bought Millenium and vehemently defended my love of Brian to those stupid 'NSYNC fans. And I might be the last person on earth to include the apostrophe before 'NSYNC.
What changed on that fateful night in October 2009 (yes, I was nostalgic and ironic back then) is that I realized the Boys had so much more to offer than silly dance moves. They offer more musical talent than most other musicians and it's not open for debate unless you've heard their later stuff.
The reason I have decided to share my unwavering support of this "boy band" is because this week was my third concert. Yay!
Unfortunately, I didn't get any good pictures because I was relying on a malfunctioning iPhone camera. The silver lining is I have pics from their NKOTBSB tour that I never shared (not even on Facebook) so we're going to pretend these weren't taken two years ago.
These pics aren't flawless, but they're pretty good coming from a phone. Android 1 - iPhone 0. Before you even ask, yes, NKOTB is in several of the shots, and no, Kevin wasn't on this tour (this was when he quit the band).
Full disclosure: after nearly 15 years as a die-hard Brian Littrell fan, I have officially switched to Nick Carter. I didn't see the appeal all those years ago, but he has this energy that radiates on stage. You don't know it if you haven't seen them live, but he started to win me over at my first show and now he can count be among his legions.
One of the reason's I looove BSB is they know exactly why they're on tour right now: we all want a trip down memory lane. I know when I go to see them live, I won't get my favorite new songs, but a mean rendition of Everybody and I Want It That Way. Because I get to watch them shake what they're mommas gave them, I'm okay with that.
It's their 20th anniversary and they had kind of a "you're old, we're old" mentality. It's like they created the whole show to please mom's desperate for a Girls' Night Out. They know their fans aren't 20 years old any more (except the girls getting loaded in the lawn seats); we've all grown up and it's okay that the concert was borderline R-rated. The overt sexuality was both shocking and so much fun; there was a lot of touching, more emphasis on dirty lyrics, and even a boner joke. No lie.
There was also plenty of dancing, just enough bedazzling, and the constant, slightly awkward feeling of knowing the median age on stage is 38. Yeah. Despite all these things that could be working against them, they overcome it and put on one of the most feel-good shows I've ever attended. You leave feeling elevated, happy, and like there's still a slight chance they're singing directly to you.
Okay, enough fangirl-ing it over here. The reason I bring all this up (other than being as excited as a teenage girl voting for TRL) is that I have to defend this band constantly.
They're not just a bunch of boy banders.
They sing a mean five part harmony.
They don't lip-sync (and if they do they need a better track); you could hear all the imperfections that come with performing a high energy show.
Even they know they have to prove themselves and those who are willing to watch, see them do it time and time again. I wish I had recorded this part of the show but my just phone wouldn't do it, so I found a snippet on YouTube so you detractors can begin to appreciate them un-ironically:
To make this beautiful, sad song a little more BSB-style fun, right before singing it AJ said "I'm sitting on a box... It's my d*** on a box!" Thanks for reminding us all how much fun you are and that Justin Timberlake isn't as classy as he'd have us believe.
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