FEB. 12, 2000-PENN STATE

February 12th, 2000 (Thanks to my friend Jamie for this review!) My sister and I had quite luck that we got to go see the boys this time. We found out on February 6th, 2000 that we were going on the 12th to their concert! We were auctioning for tickets at eBay.com and we won them on Sunday nite. We ended up paying a lot more than we probably should have but our seats weren't that bad!! We were about 20 rows up on the side section.. Perfect view and very close to the stage. Well we didn't get our tickets until Friday which had me quite nervous considering the guy received my money on Tuesday. We left my house around 11am on Saturday morning. It took about 2 hrs to get up there at State College. As soon as we got there, we checked in at our hotel, The Rodeway Inn, and we ordered a pizza to our room. We chilled in our room til around 4pm. Then we decided to head out and try and find the Bryce Jordan Center considering neither one of us knew where it was at! We started driving down the road.. not even about 2 blocks from our hotel was the Atherton Hotel.. and it had 2 tour buses out front!!!! Of course we were like oh my gosh and we went to park in a lot but missed the red light.. then another tour bus is turning to park behind the other one.. and the bus almost hit our car.. my sister and I closed our eyes we were that close. So the light finally turned green and we parked in a lot across the street. We walked over.. and we're standing outside among about 60 other fans. Fans clogged the doorways.. all outside the buses and everywhere!!! We stood outside in the bitter cold for awhile as the bell boys were bringing out their luggage.. putting it in the buses.. I was gonna jump in but decided my sister might not appreciate that hehe.. So we decided to just go find the Bryce Jordan Center before it got too dark. We got to BJC around 5:20 pm and it was sooo crowded already.. The doors didn't open til 6pm so we decided to walk around. We walked to the back lower parking lot where all these trucks and buses were...and low and behold it.. Just as we reached the lot down there, the tour buses started coming down the hill. We were standing behind the police line (the lady kept yelling at us) and the buses pulled up about 45-50 feet in front of us. The first bus pulled into the building and the only thing u could see were feet jumping out.. Those feet belonged to the guys. Of course everyone else was standing in line except for my sister and about 10 other fans down on this lot. Then that bus backed out and the other bus dropped off the dancers. So we're still standing down there just in case they'd come over, but no such luck. Michelle and I waited til everyone cleared out and then I called one of the security guards over and I asked if there was any way that I could get my bag to Nick. She said she could get it to Nick for me because I said there was stuff in there for the guys for Valentine's Day. So she opened the gate, took my bag and she walked over and put it on their Tour Bus!!!! Around 7:30 pm, the opening act came out. Her name was Raquelle and she wasn't bad at all. Finally around 8:30ish-9 pm the Backstreet Boys came out. They came out of an explosion and were flying on surf boards to Star Wars music. The first thing I did was look for Nick. He has his hair cut EXACTLY like Aaron now. Its short, spikey and messy and very sexy. They landed on the stage, walked around and posed for every side of the stage (Because the stage was set up in the center of the arena) and my pics turned out great! They sang every song from Millennium, all their singles from their debut US album, "Get Down", and "That's the Way I Like It"!! The concert kicked. I cried during "All I Have To Give" and during "Don't Wanna Lose You Now".. those are my favorite songs. Their dancers are so awesome! A few times.. since as some of you know, the stage sinks down and rotates and stuff.. A few times the stage sunk down so they could hop out and change.. well the stage didn't go back up a few times and at one point, my sister and I saw Nick and Howie shirtless changing their clothes!! Nice view!! Most of the time we were on Howie and AJ's side of the stage. When the boys were suspended throwing roses and teddy bears at one point in the show, Howie was 15 feet if that from our faces. He was trying to throw me and my sister a rose and the girl behind me caught it. He tried again and the girl in front got it, so he just blew us a kiss, pointed to us and smiled. I was like dying he seemed so sweet. During "Don't Want You Back", the guys climbed these fences and it was pretty phat as well. Oh and, Mindi, the saxophone player from their band, I believe she is pregnant!!! She looked so cute up there!! She's really pretty! She had her hair in pig tails and was wearing the coolest white outfit that I can't even begin to describe, but it was phat! During the "Perfect Fan", they brought up mothers and daughters and the girls looked soooooooo nervous. The girl w/ Nick kept losing it I felt so bad for her!! He kept like hugging her and walking back to her!! It was so awesome of him. At the very end of the evening, the guys came out to sing their last tune, "I Want It That Way", and they were dressed in Penn State Jersies that had their last names on the back and all their shirts said "00". They all looked so sexy. They sang the song and it was so powerful. The concert was definitely by far the best concert experience that I've encountered out of all 4 that I've ever been too. It was so great!! Thanks guys for making me have the best nite of my life!!!! I was also talking to a few girls that had been their on Friday nite and they said Friday nite the guys didn't have the Penn State Jersies-said to have been a gift to the guys! *as you may know Brian is a Penn State fan!!* It turns out the guys stayed at the Nittany Hotel (the NICEST hotel up at State College!!) and the Atherton. They were up at State College from February 8th (a Tuesday) thru February 13th (Sunday) practicing. The guys were spotted all over town from Kevin at Mellon Bank, Nick and Howie at a store selling Penn State gear, the guys eating McDonald's and Arby's.. they were all about town and walking freely!!! Also, my friend Justin went on both nites, and he said on Friday nite after the show, the guys weren't tired so they asked the guards to open one of the auxilery gyms and they played some games of Basketball until the wee hours of the morning!!! Some fans got to watch too!! I think that is so phat!!!! I wish I would have gone on Friday nite too!! They seem so awesome and I wish I could have met them!! Well all in all, we had a blast and by far we will be visiting them their next stops in Pennsylvania anyday!