Title: It's all screams, swoons for teen dream Aaron Carter
Title: S.B.Bowl: A*Teens, Myra, Leslie Carter take the stage, too, to wow the young crowd
Source: Ventura County Star (California)
Source: Life; Pg. E08
Date: June 20, 2001
Author: Bill Locey
Topic: Summer 2001 Concert Review
More popular than Jimmy Carter, and able to command obedience more readily than Sgt. Carter, Aaron Carter, that "little prince of pop," caused widespread outbreaks of screaming when the teen-age heartthrob stirred up youthful estrogen into a Category 6 hurricane during an energetic performance Sunday night at the tree-lined and kid-filled Santa Barbara County Bowl.
The younger brother of Backstreet Boy Nick Carter, Aaron, all of 13 years old, is approaching Aaron Inc. on the strength of the success of his second album, "(Aaron's Party) Come Get It." They came. They got it. The parents paid for it -- an evening of kid rock that was about as threatening as whistling in the shower after milk and cookies.
The audience, about 70 percent young women ages 8 to 14 or so, also included a number of parents, a few of whom looked bored, but most seemed to tolerate the evening with good humor. It was on nights like this when young females were first exposed to inappropriate concert etiquette by standing up even when they were already in the front row. But what the heck, Aaron was in the house, after all.
The large Father's Day turnout cleared their collective throats right off, as the emcee as well as the opening acts mentioned that cute little blond singer with the initials "A.C." numerous times, each one resulting in a head-splitting cacophony by that screaming herd of beguiled bubblegummers. Actually, their grandmothers probably did the exact same thing over the Beatles just as their moms let it all hang out for David Cassidy and the Brady Bunch.
The marketing aspect of this teen dream date was definitely in high gear. Selling as well as those annoying Laker flags were these electric green glow sticks which had Carter's name printed on them.
After dark, the fans crowding the venue waved them around creating a certainly surreal scene. There also was a brisk business dealing in $30 T-shirts and posters.
Even though a ton of T-shirts were sold, Carter never wore one. He'd wear a long-sleeved shirt, unbuttoned, giving the girls something to scream about. It worked.
Carter came out looking all cute and danced around the stage, singing all the biggies off his two albums, especially the newest one.
Unlike some of the other acts on stage that night, Carter did have an actual live band, and he cavorted all over the stage, even as the young crowd sang along with the words to every song.
Whenever Carter approached the apron of the stage, hordes of girls rushed toward him, hoping to touch their hero, if not rip him limb from limb. But Carter was too quick to fall for that old ripped-in-half-by-overzealous-fans routine.
Carter's songs were funk lite mostly, and no one will be writing a thesis on the meaning of the lyrics anytime soon.
A couple of his best songs were covers, including "Iko Iko" popularized by the Dixie Cups and "I Want Candy," made famous by an Australian band, the Strangeloves. Both of these songs are from the '60s -- or way older than Carter.
Carter left the stage from time to time to change outfits, leaving the band to play some generic funk songs. Did it work? Let's just say, during these instrumental interludes, the full-fledged frenzy chilled out to a mild uproar and the girls pretty much sat down.
But for the majority of the night, it was a cute, skinny dancing blond kid and thousands of his fans screaming their approval.
Opening were several other acts, each invoking the looming spectre of "A.C." with predictable (and screechy) results.
Myra, a young Latina singer with a voice bigger than her, cruised through a quick set, pining for the elusive "Candy Boy," among other similar teen dreams.
Her new album is due out later this month.
Leslie Carter, no relation to you-know-who, was equal parts giggly and bubbly, herself zeroing in on the ubiquitous "Shy Guy," before ending with her bouncy new single, "Like Wow!" even as a sea of young ladies in the crowd lip-synced the "Like Wow" part.
Every act, whether they had a band or DJ, all had dancers gyrating around them on the stage -- all young people in great shape.
Second-billed the A*Teens, a quartet of upwardly mobile young Swedes, put on a dancing clinic.
They fairly flew through their tight seven-song set and looked more like a track team than singers as they jumped around like their feet were on fire.
Demographically on the money, the A*Teens were two cute girls and two cute guys -- all of whom were capable singers, particularly tall thin blonde Marie Serneholt.
They saved their biggies for last, an ABBA cover, "Dancing Queen," followed by their very bouncy new single "Bouncing Off The Ceiling."
All in all, a screechy evening of PG-rated fun, fun, fun.
-- Entertainment writer Bill Locey's e-mail address is blocey@pacbell.com.
GRAPHIC: EYE CANDY: Aaron Carter, at left, little brother of Backstreet Boys'Nick Carter, headlined and wowed the crowd Sunday night in Santa Barbara.The adorable A*Teens, above, were hits, too.
