Teen-age fans, moms find Backstreet Boys irresistible Herman's Hermits. Hanson. Boyz II Men. Bobby Sherman. All-4-One. Menudo. The Jackson 5. The Monkees. The Spice Girls. Chances are good that, if you grew up on Top 40 radio in North America over the past three decades, one of the above tripped your teen or preteen wire pretty ferociously. Call it what you will -- bubble gum, teeny-bop, great marketing -- but aching for a just-out-of-reach singer has become a rite of passage that everyone with a song in his/her heart goes through at least once.

This year's model, Backstreet Boys, came on to a wave of screams and strobing flashbulbs at the Target Center on Saturday night. Dressed in blue space suits (the first of many costumes), the Boys made an unforgettable entrance, snowboarding over the audience to land on a Disney-does-``Star Wars'' stage. And who cares that you could see the wires, because their 110-minute show was all about fantasy:

These Boys are bad but not too bad, sexy but safe, wholly inoffensive, and, as several fans pointed out before the show, they all love their moms.

Hundreds of signs dotted the Target Center crowd (``A.J. -- I Want U THAT Way''; ``I'm The PERFECT FAN,'' etc.), and several concert-goers had the Boys' names (Howie, Nick, B-Rok, Kevin, and A.J.) scrawled on their clothes, arms, foreheads. The screams of bloody ecstasy coming from Generation Y were continuous -- even before the group took the stage.

Before the concert (spectacular, vapid, over-the-top, cheesy, entertaining, what did I do again last night?), Tara Johnk, 37, of Moorhead, stood outside the Target Center lobby with her tear-strewn daughters, Ashley, 15, and Kendall, 12. The girls had just seen and waved at Howie and A.J. on the Boys' tour bus, and were crying tears of joy and pain.

They came armed with five Beanie Babies, adorned with each Boys' name and a note attached, and were hoping to toss them on stage. For the chance to do so, Ashley was skipping her Moorhead High homecoming dance.

``That doesn't compare,'' she said. ``I have to see A.J.''

``David Cassidy was the guy for me,'' said her mother, ``but I don't think I was quite as extreme as these guys.''

During the show, the Boys stepped up to the microphones early and often, to say how ``beautiful the ladies of Minnesota are.'' Before going into ``Perfect Fan,'' they invited five fans and a mother on stage for a hand-in-hand stroll around the stage.

The rest of the songs -- such as ``I'll Never Break Your Heart,'' ``I'll Be The One,'' ``Spanish Eyes'' ``Back To Your Heart,'' ``That's The Way I Like It,'' and the irresistible single, ``I Want It That Way'' -- were about romantic love, perfect relationships, dreams.

Dreams also were a recurring theme out on North First Avenue, before the show.

``I dream about them,'' said Renee Koonman, 11, of Chanhassen, who attended the concert with her mother, Mary, her sister, Audrey, and their friend, Molly Smith. ``I dream that they call my name during the concert, and that A.J. gives me a piggyback ride.''

Her mother can relate. ``My room was filled with David Cassidy posters, lunch boxes, pictures,'' she said. ``I recognize the passion.''

So does Sandy Linville, 37, of Eden Prairie, and her 12-year-old daughter, Heather.

``I invited Donny Osmond to my birthday every year, but he never did come,'' said Sandy.

``I dreamed I met the Backstreet Boys backstage this week. They were weird, but it was fun,'' said Heather.

This was the Boys' ``Millennium Tour,'' named after the biggest-selling album of the year. By the time the real millennium rolls around, the members of Generation Y will have moved on to something meatier, and Backstreet Boys will be displaced in their hearts by some other pop concoction, manufactured to fill the next most powerful unit-shifting demographic.

But none of that mattered to the 18,000 dreamers at Target Center last night. At the end, cell phones were hoisted in the air, giving friends an audio snapshot of what they missed -- a pivotal night, perhaps. Something timeless to adolescence, definitely.

Just ask Melanie Smith of Faribault, who attended the concert with her mother, Bonnie. But if you do, don't expect her to be able to tell you why Backstreet Boys mean so much to her.

``I'll tell you why: It's because she's 13, and she's starting to like boys, and they look really great,'' said Bonnie, who attended the original Woodstock and still has the ticket stub to prove it. ``My husband said he's starting to wonder about me, because I like it as much as she does. I'm living through her, again.''

Click here to go back to the main page '