'Street' Scene Gets Tough As a Solo Act, Nick Carter Wants To Rock

Meet the tough new Nick Carter.

He wears a black commando sweater (100 percent wool no doubt, very itchy). He has a biker wallet with a chain dangling from his big leather belt. He flails around on stage, throwing his mike stand and splashing the front rows with his water bottle. And what's this? The cutest of the Backstreet bunch slings a guitar - for a couple of songs at least.

He's a rocker now.

Carter also wears his influences on his commando sweater sleeve, which he took off after "My Confession," an apparent Bryan Adams homage. Then there's the "Pour Some Sugar on Me"/Def Leppard feel to "Girls in the USA," the sold-out show's opening number. And the Bon Jovi-like ballad, "Heart Without a Home (I'll Be Yours)"; to be fair, its Jersey sound shines through more on the album version.

Carter's solo debut from last fall, "Now or Never" (Jive), is what brought 1,500 people - the majority of which looked to be the future of Long Island womankind - to the Vanderbilt Saturday night. The girls got more than just one Carter, though. Little blond bro Aaron, at first hidden in a parka, introduced the night's headliner, "Give it up for my big brother." (Aaron was later spotted in the WBLI/106.1 FM skybox, causing a mad dash for autographs and photos.)

But big brother managed to keep most of the eyes on him. Carter, 23, dipped back into the Backstreet Boys' catalog a few times, most notably on "Shape of My Heart," from 2000's "Black & Blue" (Jive). This "Heart" took shape during the night's special acoustic segment, with all the musicians sitting around on chairs, a la "MTV Unplugged."

Carter also sneaked in some covers, including the Cars' "Just What I Needed" (Ric Ocasek call your lawyer!) and a roaring techno version of the Isley Brothers' "Shout" that mutated into Tears for Fears' song of the same name. For the latter tune at least, he sounded as tough as had been advertised, even for a guy who uttered early on, "Plainview! Yo! Yo!"

Warming the stage for Carter was the Charlotte, N.C., five-piece Justincase, which played rootsy feel-good Hooters-esque rock (hey, at least it wasn't emo). At Justincase's core are the teenage Tosco siblings - Justin (of course), Nick and Hannah. The group played an earnest set from its self-titled Maverick debut, and even covered Tommy Tutone's old power-pop gem "867-5309/Jenny." It was the sound of a beer commercial from an underage band.

The night's openers, a Windy City trio named Vi3, had the stage presence of a Beastie Boys for the pubescent set - without any good rhymes. It was their first national tour, one of the boys said between the three (!) songs they performed. But everyone knew that from looking at the group's new, blindingly white sneaks.

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