THEY'VE STILL GOT IT

August 6, 2010

Before Justin Bieber and the Jonas Brothers captured the hearts and dominated the music players of millions of tween and teenage girls, the Backstreet Boys reigned supreme.

Friday night the celebrated boy band, a little older and a little wiser, brought their classic harmonized pop melodies to their devotees packed into Rogers Arena.

The stadium erupted as the red curtain fell, the first notes of "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)" sent fans into an uncontrollable frenzy that escalated to near riot when the band burst through a giant screen.

When AJ McLean requested that the crowd throw their hands up in the air, he didn't have to ask twice, the sea of waving arms was at his beck and call.

The choreographed routines were polished and energetic. Dressed in black and white with some sequins for good measure the group kept the stadium on their feet, singing along for the almost two hour set.

Treating fans to popular singles that catapulted them to unparalleled success in the mid-1990s, the quartet, entertained with "We've Got it Going On", "Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)" and "As Long As You Love Me".

The years have not weathered their hit-making formula or passion for their craft. AJ, Howie Dorough, Brian Litterll and Nick Carter, along with former member Kevin Richardson who left the band in 2006, sparked the boy band pop phenomenon of the 1990s that spawned acts such as N*Sync and 98 Degrees.

Working in music from their latest album This Is Us, the Backstreet Boys could seemingly do no wrong. The most eardrum-splitting screams however were reserved for their bread and butter, "Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely", "All I Have to Give" and the like.

The crowd was composed mostly of fans who loved them when they first broke out in 1996 with their debut album Backstreet Boys and couldn’t resist the the trip down memory lane. Brian asked the crowd who had been to a Backstreet Boys show before and the cheering was so deafening it is safe to assume that 99% had.

For the generation born in the '80s, the Backstreet Boys were huge. So huge, that even the boyfriends scattered through the crowd of homemade BSB 4-EVA t-shirts and signs, dragged reluctantly to the concert, probably could sing along, the lyrics buried in their pre-teen subconscious.

With over 130 million albums sold worldwide and a consistent presence on the Billboard Hot 100 Songs of the Year Chart, the Backstreet Boys continue to pump out tight pop-dance hits.

Even still, the undeniable highlights of the show were the tried, the true, the Backstreet Boys classics. The screams and singalongs to "Shape of My Heart" and "Larger Than Life" were overwhelmingly loud.

The band gave their loyal fans exactly what they came for, a true Backstreet Boys experience. And as long as you - or their millions of fans - love them, they'll continue to do so.