OK, so I have to admit I wasn’t exactly excited about going to see the Backstreet Boys in concert — even with the offer of a free ticket.

I didn’t even have time to warm to the idea of going to watch the boys perform because the promotion for the concert was … where? If it wasn’t for a billboard I spotted near Senayan on Sunday afternoon, I would have had no idea the former teen heart-throbs were coming to Jakarta.

The Backstreet Boys’ Unbreakable Tour kicked off Feb. 16 in Tokyo, Japan, with two shows, followed by three shows in Australia (Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne) then Jakarta.

It is the boy band’s first tour without Kevin Richardson, (36), who left the group in June 2006 to pursue a solo career. The now four-member group still includes original members Nick Carter (28), AJ McLean (30), Brian Littrell (33,) and Howie Dorough (34).
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Fifteen years on, the Backstreet Boys have lost neither their talent nor appeal.

EVEN back in 1993 when the Backstreet Boys were formed, people were scoffing at the concept of boybands. Other than their pre-pubescent fan base, they were given little credit – members of boybands are apparently pretty boys who can’t sing, and dance to cheesy choreography.

Two nights ago, Malaysians at the Sunway Surf Beach at Sunway Lagoon Theme Park in Petaling Jaya were witness to the flaws in this argument. Fifteen years on, the Backstreet Boys are still pretty, can still dance and showed that they indeed can sing.
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Take 40 caught up with Brian and Howie from the Backstreet Boys recently while they were in the country for their tour, and found out a bit about ex-BSB Kevin Richardson’s buck’s night!

Even though Kevin has left the band, the boys say they still keep in touch. Howie even went along for his spur of the moment bachelor party recently!

“Poor guy…” Howie said. “We were on tour at the time, I think we were in Canada… and supposedly AJ told him he was going to set up this whole bachelor thing for him… and unfortunately he thought about himself at the last minute and ducked out… so the poor guy really didn’t truly have a major bachelor party…”
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PETALING JAYA: Even the possibility of a huge storm couldn’t stop the 10,000 strong crowd from showing up at Sunway Surf Beach at the Sunway Lagoon Theme Park last night to catch American boyband Backstreet Boys live.

Barely an hour before the concert was due to start, thunder and rain threatened to dampen the atmosphere at the concert, the band’s first concert in Malaysia since the Force of Nature Tsunami Relief Concert in 2004.

“The skies are clear, and we are here … Backstreet’s back!” shouted McLean as he thanked the crowd for showing up.

The band members – Brian Littrell, AJ McLean, Nick Carter and Howie Dorough – had the crowd eating out of their hands throughout the one and a half hour concert, belting out almost 30 songs.
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Backstreet Boys’ A.J. McLean tells Michelle Chan why less is more

Backstreet Boys are back after three years in the musical wilderness. And the first thing fans will notice is that the five-piece that were one of the biggest names in pop are now a quartet.
This comes across from the opening track of their sixth studio album – Unbreakable – a sweet a capella that was the hallmark of the Florida-based outfit during their multi-platinum peak in the mid-1990s.

When founding member Kevin Richardson opted to step away from the limelight so he could start a family, Brian Littrell, Nick Carter, Howie Dorough and A. J. McLean decided to pick up where they left off with their last “comeback” album Never Gone (2005).

“It’s definitely a little bit weird for us just because we were a five-piece for 13 years, but we’ve definitely got used to it,” says McLean.
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