8 Days - November 02, 2017

STORY JASMINE TEO

Oh my god,

they’re back again.

BACKSTREET

BOYSbrought a

bit of Las Vegas to

our sunny shores

— their sold-out

National Stadium

gig shared the

same setlist as

their Sin City

residency show.

Except that things

got a little hotter

over here.

Backstreet's cred,

alright!

PHOTO UNUSUAL ENTERTAINMENT

28

8 DAYS

scene & Heard

HAWT!

WHUT?

That chair dance! You know, that iconic sequence in the vid for

their 1997 hit ‘As Long As You Love Me’ (Millennials, please YouTube

it). Seeing (from left) Nick Carter, Brian Littrell, AJ McLean, Howie

Dorough and Kevin Richardson perform it live probably made the

20,000 fans wish they were the foldable chairs getting up close and

synchronised with them.

The setlist! Their best yet, out of the four times they’ve played here.

The line-up of hits was identical to that of their Las Vegas residency

show (which is the fastest-selling one in history). The unabashed trip

down memory lane included smash hits like ‘Quit Playin’ Games’,

and BSB oldies but goodies such as ‘We’ve Got It Goin’ On’.

The modified dance moves. They’ve still got that swagger, though

they’re admittedly less sprightly now. The mic stands were their BFFs

that night — they went great with their blinged-up blazers, added

some pizzazz to snazzy dance moves, and were perfect to lean on

when they needed to catch their breath. Replacing big dance steps

with shrugging of shoulders and stylo flicking of jackets probably

helped to preserve energy throughout the 100-minute show. The

Backstreet men, aged 37 to 46, may not be prancing around as

much these days, but hey, their fans have, er, grown up too and could

do with a breather or two themselves, no?

The vocals. AJ and Brian struggled with several high notes, but we’ll

put that down to the heat and wonky sound system. The rest of the

time, though, BSB still sound like what we remember from the ’90s.

(Yes, Nick’s voice still sounds like it’s on the verge of breaking).

The banter... They weren’t as spontaneous as they were at their

last gig here in 2015, an intimate affair with 5,000 fans at the Star

Theatre. Yup, the one that AJ forgot about when he quipped that the

last time they visited us was “Formula One [in 2009].”

The “EDM dancers”... The posse gyrated to an EDM medley of BSB

hits while the guys were changing outfits backstage. Er, did we come

to a Thai disco by mistake?