|
FROM BOYS TO MEN
Source: San Francisco Chronicle, March 3rd, 2001 Backstreet's back -- but for how long? If Thursday night's concert at the Arena at Oakland (they performed again last night) was anything to go by, the five young crooners who began the cresting wave of boy-groups are about to graduate -- or be forced to graduate -- into the ranks of adulthood. That's both a curse and a blessing. For the industry machine that helped make the Backstreet Boys mega-stars, it means huge losses of revenue; for the boys in the band, it might actually mean being taken seriously as budding solo performers. In Oakland, both outcomes hung heavy -- almost as heavy as the screams of the faithful sold-out crowd -- during a 90-minute show that exhibited little soul but a surprising amount of heart from a manufactured pop band that finally seems to be finding its identity. The B-Boys arrived with a Vegas flourish that belied the relatively disappointing sales of their latest album, "Black & Blue" (sales that would still be considered fabulous by most bands' standards). With visions of world destruction flashing on a huge screen behind them, the six pop stars rose from beneath the stage like cryogenic supermen in black leather trench coats. Smoke billowed around them, and dancers dressed as acrobatic Jedi writhed in delight. Brian Littrell took the mike, and they were off and running on "Everyone" from the new album. Before the shrieking kids had a chance to catch their breath, the Boys launched into the first of the night's series of huge hits, "Larger Than Life, " from their most popular CD, "Millennium." As they slid into the slower "Shining Star," blue fluorescent lights waved in every tiny hand. Even parental escorts were into the groove. So high was the mood that it's doubtful many in the audience noticed that shaggy-haired, dark-chinned Kevin Richardson and Howard "Howie D." Dorough were looking a mite long in the tooth to be singing love songs to preteen girls. They looked, in fact, like men, with all that manhood implies. Body hair. Testosterone. Sex. Even baby-faced Nick Carter seemed, well, all grown up (the band's tattooed bad boy, AJ McLean, has always looked like trouble). No matter; their public hearts remain pure. Backed by an able seven-piece band and 10 agile dancers, the Backstreets whisked through several costume changes and crooned through torch songs old ("I Want It That Way," "Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely") and new ("Shape of My Heart," "How Did I Fall in Love With You") against fire-and-water backdrops. They vanished from the stage while a video played, then reappeared on a circular stage in the middle of the crowd, which swooned with delight. It was treacle, but even treacle can be sweetly satisfying. Whatever one might say of its artistic merits, it's hard to fault this band's attentiveness to its audience. Thank-yous and shout-outs punctuated the high-energy numbers, from the soul-pop Michael Jackson-sound-alikes "Get Another Boyfriend" and "Not for Me" to "The Call" and the funk-rocking breakthrough single, "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)." There was even a moment of nobility, as Richardson dedicated "The Answer to Our Life" to the planet's imperiled environment, complete with an accompanying video of felled old-growth trees and oil-soaked waterfowl. Let it be noted that each of the Boys has adopted a cause and that part of Thursday night's ticket profits went to nonprofits. They might be looking a little badder, but these are good boys. Men. Whatever. In spite of the show's proliferation of celebratory sparklers and explosions, one suspects that the Backstreet Boys know that "Black & Blue" is their teen swan song -- it's hard to compete with the perpetually baby-faced 'N Sync and the nymphet onslaught of Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. Still, as they noted in their song "Time," "change can be so good." It's safe to say that the wheels are already turning for the members' solo careers. If Ricky Martin can survive Menudo, anything is possible.
|
