April 9
Ain't No Shame in Johnny No Name's Game AJ McLean wraps up his alter ego's tour at New York City's Irving Plaza.
When Backstreet Boy fans arrived at NYC's Irving Plaza last night for the last stop on AJ McLean's Johnny No Name tour benefitting VH1's Save the Music, no one really expected an evening of unlikely covers and strip tease. But it's safe to say that nobody went home disappointed.
How to tell AJ from Johnny No Name? The guy who looked and spoke like AJ was AJ. The guy who looked like AJ and spoke with a Cockney accent -- well, that was Johnny No Name. AJ served as the show's emcee, introducing opening acts Mindi Abair (who also sang and played saxophone in Johnny's backing band) and Nobody's Angel, who delivered a spunky set of songs off their self-titled debut, including their Radio Disney hit "If You Wanna Dance." When AJ introduced the latter, he promised, "It's gonna get kinda freaky." And it did...
After an intro which involved Johnny No Name -- in suit and fedora -- having handcuffs removed by a burly bodyguard, Mr. No Name launched into a number of improbable covers, including a head-scratching rendition of Rage Against the Machine's "Killing In The Name" (sans the "[expletive] you, I won't do what you tell me!" chant). After that sweaty number, Johnny took off for a costume change, telling the screaming audience upon his return, "Before you know it, I'll be totally naked," making ladies from 8 to 80 swoon. Covers of Brian McKnight's "Back At One" and Tonic's "If You Could Only See" -- punctuated with audience screams when Johnny revealed a little shoulder -- preceded his speech on the state of the boy band landscape. Johnny announced that there are "way too many boy bands" -- mentions of 98 Degrees, Five and C-Note elicited boos from the audience, while 'NSync drew a mixed response -- before making his boldest proclamation of the evening: when BSB release their new album, all those other boy bands would go "Bye bye bye." Strong words, especially with 'NSync's recent record-shattering week.
Various Johnny No Name commentary on the state of BSB followed. On Kevin's eyebrows: "It looks like two caterpillars crawled on his face and died." (Note from Tegan- "Thats mean!!!!"=) ) On Nick's nickname "Chaos:" "He's 20, how much chaos can he get into? He's a good Christian boy." Referring to Howie's nickname, "Sweet D," Johnny lisped, "How sweet is he, kids?" Next, what many considered the highlight of the evening: Explaining AJ's nickname, "Bone," Johnny picked up a two-string guitar and plucked out a rendition of "Bad to the Bone" (the chorus was modified to "I'm here to tell you, New York, AJ's bad to the bone"). The number ended with an unsuccessful attempt to shatter his guitar.
After slowing it down for the ladies -- "Close your eyes and picture me standing next to you naked" -- he ended the set with that white boy staple, Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky Music." He wasn't gone for long. A shirtless AJ, shedding the Johnny persona for the encore, stomped out to a brief chorus of Methods of Mayhem's "Get Naked" before being joined by none other than Howie D and Nobody's Angel for an all-star jam on The Commodores' "Brick House." That, coupled with AJ's brief flirtation with a human beat box groove, wrapped up a memorable evening for everyone in attendance.
Does AJ (or Johnny) have the chops to bust out on his own? Only time will tell... but if last night's crowd was any indication, the last thing they wanted was for AJ to go "bye bye bye..."
--Zena Burns
