Scoff at the boy-band craze if you will. Call it as yesterday as New Kids on the Block and parachute pants.
Say you couldn't tell a Backstreet Boy from an 'N Sync-er if someone threatened to feed your toes to a Komodo dragon.
Just don't say it to the fans who attended Tuesday night's Backstreet Boys concert at the Bi-Lo Center.
The crowd, while smaller than at the Bi-Lo Center's two sold-out 'N Sync shows, was fiercely possessive and deeply protective of their five faves.
"I hate the term 'boy band'," said Lauren Williams, 14, of Greenville. "The Backstreet Boys write their own music. They deserve more respect than 'N Sync."
Rebekah Wilson, 20, of Asheville, wore her allegiance on her back: a homemade T-shirt reading "N Stink."
She views the Backstreet Boys as the originators and 'N Sync as the Justin-come-latelys.
"The Backstreet Boys started on their own. They're not manufactured. They are about singing and talent ... and they don't hang out with Britney Spears," said Wilson, whose favorite Backstreet Boy is tattooed hipster A.J. McLean.
While the group may be all about the music in the eyes of their fans, Tuesday's show featured almost as much banter between the Boys and the audience as music. And of course, there was pyro a-plenty, as the Backstreet Boys' entrance was preceded by video of the cosmos and very real comets exploding onto the stage.
The five guys arose on lifts below stage to soar above fans. Lowered to the stage, the singers performed a few robot-like dance moves, then leapt into "Everyone." It was a high-energy, thoroughly choreographed performance that nonetheless managed to feel a little less scripted-to-the-nanosecond than many pop concerts.
Throughout the two-hour performance, each member chatted with the audience, introducing songs or members of their backup band or talking about the charitable foundations each has established.
There were a couple of videotaped skits as well. One of them showed a group of geriatric Backstreet Boys, circa 2050, still talking about busting a move despite hip-replacement surgery. The other purported to take fans into the Boys' dressing area, where they bickered and fought over girls' phone numbers as they changed clothes.
Another segment sent the singers to a round platform near the back of the arena, where they performed a couple of songs before sauntering down a boardwalk back to the stage, waving and blowing kisses as they strode the catwalk.
The band gave fans plenty of their favorite songs, too, from a slowed-way-down "I Want It That Way" to an energetic, super-dance-charged "The Call" to a harmony-drenched, almost a cappella "As Long As You Love Me."
The latter song is the key to the Backstreet Boys' staying power. Judging from the intense waves of devotion the crowd was sending to the stage, there's time left on the clock.