"We promise."
His remark couldn't help but ring with a hint of doom.
The Backstreet Boys, five Florida singers
ranging in age from 16 to 25, are the latest group of young men to emerge from the pop biz cauldron with the sole purpose of being a flash-in-the-pan, pre-teen-scream sensation.
They've been passed a magical torch that hasn't dimmed in the five years since the fall of New Kids On The Block - to whom the Backstreet Boys bear an uncanny resemblance. They continue a proud tradition that dates back to such luminaries as Menudo and The Bay City Rollers.
The Backstreet Boys came seemingly out of nowhere in the last couple of months and scored the sixth best-selling single of the year in Canada.
Their star shining in this country, the Backstreet Boys proved Saturday that they are heartily prepared to do their duty for today's pre-adolescent (mostly) female.
It took only seconds after the curtain opened to whip the youngsters in the crowd of 2,000 - moms and dads included - into a frenzy.
There, on a metallic catwalk, stood A.J., Kevin, Howie, Brian and Nick, frozen like store mannequins in the window of Le Chateau, surrounded with cold, chain-link lighting - very street.
The pumpin' backbeats blasted from a sampler. The Backstreet Boys started to dance. The Backstreet Boys continued to look like store mannequins. But the choreography was sloppy enough for a couple of near-collisions on stage - not un-street, either.
With just enough generic, robo-sexy gyrations to activate the scream-factor, the Boys - looking like young Chippendales dancers - fought to harmonize on thin soul ballads and upbeat dance jams.
The group let fly with a slice of We Got It Goin' On, a sort of Backstreet Boys theme. They repeated the song later in the show, apparently unabashed by the fact that it pilfers Montel Jordan's This Is How We Do It to an undeniable degree.
Get Down (You're The One For Me) and Boys Will Be Boys followed, the Boys chiming in occasionally with a bright "Hello, ladies!" or "Let's get this party started!" - the latter being the group's mission statement.
They delved into a selection of their favorites: Nick offered a facsimile of Bryan Adams' Heaven, a song that is as old as he is. Brian did a karaoke-like version of the Bee-Gees' How Deep Is Your Love, which is older.
This was clearly not street. But the kids didn't care.
Music and dancing aside, the Backstreet Boys are squeaky-clean fun, masters of fluff.
Only five more years until the next sensation.
SUN RATING: 3 OUT OF 5