Source: Altanta Journal Constitution
Over Night: CULTURAL EVENTS IN METRO AREA
Miriam Longino - Staff
Sunday • February 20
The 70,000 screaming fans packed into the Georgia Dome Saturday night to hear the nation's No. 1 pop act, the Backstreet Boys, weren't the only ones blown away by the concert.
The five baby-faced members of the syncopated singing group seemed like high schoolers who had just won a school election as they effusively thanked Atlanta fans for making this the most massive audience in the group's short but phenomenally lucrative history.
"We've never played in front of this many people before," gushed the youngest member of the group, Nick Carter. "Hotlanta knows how to party!"
Fans even spotted a couple of Backstreet Boys videotaping the scene through a backstage curtain, as if to gather evidence that it was really happening. When the exhausted members of the group finished their two-hour set, Atlanta R&B heavyweights Usher and Jermaine Dupri were backstage to give them high-fives.
The dark Georgia Dome, holding one of its largest crowds ever, looked like a bowl of exploding firecrackers as the group made its entrance in a scene off the cover of Marvel Comics. The Boys, dressed in superhero bodysuits molded like Batman's most recent wardrobe, flew in like a formation of Blue Angels riding neon boogie boards suspended from the ceiling.
With backgrounds of performing in theme parks and shopping malls, the Backstreet Boys have raised speculation as to whether they can actually sing live. Although the massive canyon of the Dome made the whole show sound like it was being performed underwater, the group seemed to hit the notes and harmonize well.
But watching a Backstreet Boys show isn't mainly about music. Like a well-trained marching band, this group is all about showmanship. In fact, the evening felt more like a halftime show than a concert, as the group danced nonstop around the huge stage, surrounded by nearly a dozen dancers who entered carrying lighted poles.
The special effects were nearly as dazzling as a "Star Wars" movie come to life --- red plumes of fire spitting from the floor, green light-saber lasers forming a fence around the stage. At the end of one of the group's biggest hits, "Quit Playing Games With My Heart," the Boys even strapped the aerial wires back on, and hydraulic cranes swept them no more than 20 feet over the grasping hands of fans, who tossed roses and teddy bears up to their heartthrobs.
Contrived? Absolutely. Entertaining? You bet.
