¬ philadelphia, pa - 7.16.98

My mom, my best friend Amy, and I went to a Backstreet Boys concert on July 16, 1998 and it was DA BOMB! Since the concert started at 7:00 we left our house at 3:30 pm. Even though it wouldn't take us 3 and a half hours to get to Philly from the Jersey shore, I wanted to make sure we got in before the opening acts came on. We got there about 5:30pm. It didn't take us that long to get there but we had to stop for gas, food, and cameras on the way. When we got to the Corestates Center my mom sat in the parking lot for about 15 minutes since we were right in front of the building (we had VIP parking passes) and I had to finish my letter to Nick. So when I was done we got some BSB stuff. I got a BSB necklace, a small pic of them and a program and Amy got another tee-shirt, a program and a small pic of them. Then we heard screaming coming from the fence that was not too far off. In the screams we heard "I just saw Howie, I just saw Howie". So I asked my mom if we could go over and she said "yeah" so we handed her our stuff and ran over to the fence. We waited by the fence and a little while later we saw Nick get off the bus then Brian. It just turned out that Howie had gotten out first and A.J. was soon after. After we saw our 2 faves (me Nick, Amy Brian). We walked toward the line. When we got in line it only took us 10 minutes to get in the door. Check this. Then DIDN'T check for cameras but we were prepared we had them in our pockets. They also didn't take our posters away. So we found our seats. But our seats were like behind the curtain so we couldn't see the guys. My mom talked to the bartender that was up there and he said we could sit somewhere up by them but somewhere where we could see. So we sat to where we could see the stage and backstage!

At about 7:30 my section started to scream. We were looking at the guys who were praying (a routine they do before every show). I could see, thru my binoculars, that Aaron was trying desperately to get in on it he kept sticking his head thru their legs. So at about 7:45 the lights went dim and the guy from Q102.1 came out (Diego???). He was testing the mics. He got us pumped up. He was like "so do you guys know someone who is 4' 11"?" Well, everyone started to scream, about 2 minutes later we heard a small little voice. It was Aaron! He sang 2 songs. "Crush On You" and "Shake It". Before Shake It came on he said "I'm gonna teach you guys how to do it, do you wanna know how?" The screams answered his question. He taught us how to do it then said "Do you guys know my big brother Nick?" And the place erupted! After he left S.O.A.P. came on. The performed 3 or 4 songs w/ one that will be their next single. They performed "This Is How We Party". After them Jimmy Ray came out. He also performed 4 songs including "Are You Jimmy Ray?". After Jimmy Ray they had about a 45 minute intermission. So at about 9:04 the lights again dimmed and the screams again erupted. The boys came out of these boxes that you see on their Top 40 Countdown. And they started singing a mix of "Mo Money Mo Problems" by Notorious B.I.G., Puff Daddy, and Mase, "Too Close" by Next and another song. The first song they did together was (I think) "That's The Way I Like It". I think that there was a song after that but I'm not sure. The introduced themselves. They were wearing these silver shiny outfits. Brian had a red backwards hat on. Nick had his goggles on his head. And I forget what the others looked like. Then they did their solos. Howie was first. He did "My Heart Stays With You" Kevin was next. He did "Nobody But You" A.J. was next. He did "Lay Down Beside Me" Brian was next. He did "That's What She Said" He told us that "You guys don't know this song yet but I'm going to teach it to you." As soon as we heard the first beat my friend started to bawl. We had the song sent over my computer from my friend. She cried thru the whole song. After Brian (good they saved the best for last in my opinion) came: Nick. He sang "Heaven In Your Eyes" It wasn't the full song because I had heard that they had cut out his solo totally the night before but I'm glad that he did one.

After the solos, Nick came out and said "After that beautiful performance how about we pump up the volume?" They then sang "Let's Have A Party". They sang all the songs off the US debut album except "Set Adrift On Memory Bliss" and "If You Want It To Be Good Girl Get Yourself A Bad Boy". Before they performed the slow songs they changed into light blue outfits. They looked so HOT! in everything that they wore. Before they performed "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)" they went backstage and came out in coffins. They performed the song and then they did "We've Got It Goin' On". That was their last song. It was their last song but they were wearing jerseys that had their names on the back. I could remember seeing that their names were on the back as they ran back and forth across the stage. When they were going off stage Brian and Nick stopped and looked directly at our group. Since we were the only ones who were still jumping up and down with our hands in the air they looked at us. They pointed, waved and smiled at us. It was so cool!!!

After the concert was over we saw them getting on the bus. We were at the Center for about an hour after the concert. Then we went home. If you saw us at the concert we were the ones that had the rose and bag full of stuff for them!

That is my review. Hope you liked it. If you get the chance go to see a Backstreet Boys concert. THEY ROCK! Karen