¬ radio city music hall - nyc - 7.17.98

On July 17, 1998, I went to the Backstreet Boys concert at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. I was so excited that night, since I had just gotten back from camp and I just barely made it to Radio City in time! It was also my very first BSB concert! I went with my cousin, and our seats were all the way on the left, but we were in the 6th row…I was so lucky to have good seats! I was kind of worried that they were checking for cameras, but I got mine in and took lots of pictures!! When we got to our seats, it was 7:30…we waited for about 10 minutes and then the show started. Or more like the opening acts (Aaron Carter, SOAP, and Jimmy Ray) started! Aaron was so cute, he sang "Crush On You" and "Shake It" in this oversized blue suit, he is so talented! He had 2 backup dancers and his dance routine was incredible! Then SOAP came on, they sang 3 songs, one of them being "This Is How We Party". Then Jimmy Ray came on, he wasn't that bad, he sang 2 or 3 songs along with "Are You Jimmy Ray". Then there was a short break, as we waited for the BSBs to come on. I remember there were a couple of beach balls bouncing around the audience.

The audience was screaming the whole time, and then the black curtain that was on the stage came down and their band was behind it! Then the BSBs themselves rose up from onto the stage on platforms behind the band with all these sparks around them, it was awesome! They were dressed in these red outfits, I don't remember exactly what! Except I do remember that Nick was wearing these goggles, he looked so cute!! And Brian was wearing his usual backwards red hat! They sang "That's the Way I Like It", everyone was screaming really loudly the whole time, it was kind of hard to hear. But they all looked really good! Anyway, then they came down onto the stage and they introduced themselves, I remember when AJ came on, he said something like: "Like my new hair-do?" and he pointed to his red hair, it was so funny! Then I think AJ said, "We're gonna do a little acapella for you, something from one of the groups that inspired us." And then they sang Shai's "If I Ever Fall In Love" acapella, it was beautiful! And at the end, Nick said something like, "Hey, how come I don't have a solo?" And then they did another verse with Nick's solo, it was really cute. Then I think they sang Hey Mr. DJ, and after that there was this cool dance medley which was a bunch of dance songs (non BSB) mixed together!

Then came the solos, Howie's "My Heart Stays With You" came first, he was wearing this red suit, and he was throwing out roses to the crowd! And then the rose petals came down, it was beautiful. Then after Howie came AJ, with "Lay Down Beside Me". He was wearing this long white jacket over another red shirt, when he came on the audience went wild! Then Kevin came on, with "Nobody But You", he looked really good too! He has such a good voice! After Kev, Brian came on with his guitar and played "That's What She Said", he got the audience to sing along a little. He was so sweet!! It was so beautiful, except some people just couldn't stop screaming. The screaming got even louder as Nick came on, he looked soo cute! He was standing up on the platform in back, and he had one of the microphones from the ALAYLM and AIHTG vids! He sang "Heaven In Your Eyes". As he got to the last part, he held the note "Heeeaaaven" for a really long time, and then he looked around and smiled for a couple of seconds (how adorable!) and he said, "Let's pick things up a little with a song from our first European album." And the other BSBs came out and they sang "Let's Have A Party"! Oh, and during the song, someone threw up a teddy bear at Brian, and he picked it up and started bobbing its head to the beat! Awwwww, it was soooooooo cute, Brian's such a sweetie!! Also, AJ and Kev came over to the side of the stage closest to me and started doing this little dance together, waving their arms in the air! Yeah, and then the streamers and confetti were showered onto the audience.

Then they started "Quit Playing Games". Of course the band played it wrong twice, and then one of the guitarists said, "Well, if we can't do it why don't you guys try?" And so the BSBs went up and took their instruments, Nick on drums, Kevin on keyboards, Brian on the conga drums, AJ on the bass, and Howie on guitar! As they were warming up, I remember Kevin started playing something really corny sounding on the keyboard, it was really funny. And then Nick started playing the drums really fast, and then he and AJ broke into a little bit of a Smashing Pumpkins song, it was cool! Then they actually started Quit Playing Games, it was awesome! The band was in the back, clapping and waving to the audience, and at the end the BSBs introduced the whole band.

The next song, I think, was "Darlin'", and Kevin did his little speaking part, the "Tell me what to do to get things back, the way they used to be" thing in the beginning, I love his deep voice! They got the audience to sing a little bit of it, one side sang "Darlin" and the other side sang "Tell me what to do to make things right". After that I think they sang "Anywhere for You", one of my personal faves! Nick and Brian were in front with their solos, and the others were singing backup. There were 2 big screens showing close ups of them all, I couldn't choose between watching the screens or watching the stage! Then came "I'll Never Break Your Heart", they were all sitting on black and white stools. Kevin came forward and did his other speaking part at the beginning, the audience loved it! Then they changed into black and red satin outfits for "All I Have To Give" and they all had hats. It was really cool, the audience screamed really loudly when Nick's solo, "Hey girl, I don't want you to cry no more…inside" came on! After AIHTG came "As Long As You Love Me", also one of my faves! They did the whole chair routine, and then they said goodbye.

Now ALAYLM seemed like it was their last song, but they came on again after a quick change and sang Get Down and We've Got It Goin' On! They were all wearing warm up pants and these vests which were velcroed on the side. Nick was wearing his goggles again, he looked soo good. Oh yeah, and his hair was wet!

After that, it seemed like the end, but it wasn't! A shortened version of the Everybody video came on, and everybody screamed when Brian woke up screaming, I also remember the usher doing the dance in the video! Then a guy on stilts dressed as the grim reaper came on, and 5 coffins were pulled out and then turned around to reveal who else but the boys inside them! They were wearing something similar to their costumes in the Everybody video, and they did the whole dance to the song, which was their last number. After it was over, the stage was lit up with pyros, and all these fireworks went off, a perfect ending to the show! The boys said goodbye to everybody and that was it!! Christine