Spectrum Arena Sports Hall: Guildford, England
7:30 pm November 30, 1996
Submitted by Amy Borro
At about 7:45 the lights went out and the BSB tour manager and the English BSB fanclub boss came on stage. The tour manager was saying not to buy the whistles because it puts a strain on the guys voices and they can't hear themselves sing. Then the fanclub boss said that they had some free stuff to give away: some (new, not worn) BSB underwear, AJ's sunglasses and some T-shirts. I don't know how they chose the winners. Then they went off stage and I saw AJ walk up some steps onto the stage behind the curtains in a red jacket. The intro music for We've Got It Goin' On started to play. From behind the curtains I heard "Everybody groove to the music, Everybody jam!" Everyone screamed and the curtains went up.
At the back of the stage was a stand type thing with steps going up to a long platform. At the bottom located on both sides of the steps was their band. I don't think any of the BSB were standing on the platform. The BSB were wearing black trousers and each one wearing a different coloured jacket. All I can remember was that AJ was wearing the red jacket and there being a green, orange, blue and possibly a purple one. The BSB were dancing to the tune of WE'VE GOT IT GOIN' ON (they weren't singing).
When the tune finished one of them, I think it was Kevin said, "Wow, there are a lot of beautiful ladies in the audience tonight!" and they also kept saying "All the ladies in the house!" Which I think was a bit of an insult to all the boys in the audience--and there were quite a few! Then they started to talk about some stuff but no one could hear what they were saying because everyone was screaming. After that, they started to sing their first song of the night, Anywhere for You. They were doing their little dance moves and Nick showed the top of his Backstreet Boys underwear. I think by now they'd taken their jackets off and were just wearing the black trousers and a black t-shirt.
Kevin was the only one bending down and letting people touch his hands on our side and on the other side Nick was doing the same. AJ was first to take his top off. When the song had finished they all went off stage and got changed. Well all they really did was put on their long black leather jackets and then came back on stage. Howie was in the middle and AJ and Kevin were on my side. So that meant that Nick and Brian were on the other side. They did the usual thing which people did at concerts, which was to see which side could scream the loudest. Howie was talking to the audience getting us to scream and then said that so far the other side was the loudest. So kevin was standing there doing all this stuff that they probably did in America with his hands and making faces at Nick and Brian. Howie then told our side to say "BACKSTREET" and the other side to say "BOYS" after he had split us in two groups. We were the "PARTY" side and the other side was the "CRAZY" side.
So anyway, we were all screaming "BACKSTREET BOYS" just after each other and then Howie said "Let's have a party" and then the music for Lets Have A Party started and they all got in a circle and started dancing. When the song finished Nick and Howie came over to our side to get a drink of water from a bottle and were just talking to each other. BSB then sang Shai's If I Ever. Howie was doing the little talking bits in the song, after that they sung I Wanna Be With You using the microphone poles to dance with. After that, one of them said they were going to sing their next single to be released in Britain, Quit Playing Games (With My Heart), which they did. Then came their little acting bit.
All the guys except Nick walked off stage. Nick was standing there looking at them with his hands out saying, "where are you going?"
Kevin walked back on stage and said "What are you doing? You've got to go!"
"Well, I'm not leaving them." He walked across to the other side of the stage and folded his arms like a little school boy (which he actually is...well, not little!).
Then Kevin said, "well, you can't just stand there, they need to be entertained,"
"There's just one thing which will entertain them, just one thing!"
"What's that?" said Kevin.
"If I play the drums, that'll entertain them!" replied Nick.
(I think this bit's soooooo stupid it's funny)"And oh look, there just so happens to be a keyboard here. Well, what if I play that?" And he sat down on the stool and Nick went further back and sat on a stool behind the drums. Two spot lights were on them.
Then Kevin said, "We are about to play you a song by one of our favorite artists and the artist is quite famous so sing along!"
The artist was Elton John. Nick started playing the drums and then Kevin joined in with the keyboard. I can't remember but I think they were both singing at the same time. They sang Don't Let The Sun Go Down.
They both went off stage and a couple of minutes later someone came on the stage but we couldn't tell who it was because the stage lights hadn't been turned on yet. He was standing on the platform and then the funny bit at the beginning of Nobody But You started. Everyone was screaming really loud. Then the stage lights went on and the spot light went on Kevin. He was wearing a nice, black, silky, shinny shirt and some black trousers. He had his back to the audience and his arms out.
Underneath the platform was a big fan which was blowing air upwards and his shirt was blowing about everywhere which made him look really nice (oh yeah, he had his hair nice that day too, he had it all gelled back to the side). After that AJ came on singing Mark Morrisons' Return of the Mack and then Brian sang the Bee Gees How Deep Is Your Love. Last but not least came Howie singing Prince's The Most Beautiful Girl. But unfortunately Nick didn't sing a solo.
Somewhere during these songs AJ took his trainer off and was waving it about. Nick showed Brian a sign, he pointed at it and started laughing. A girl went on stage to get AJ's sunglasses and got a hug from each of the guys. I remember that Nick was last to give her a hug because one of the guys said, "there's someone missing!" Then Nick came running on and gave her a hug. At the end Howie had a cup of water and threw it into the crowd.
The next song was Get Down. Everyone was jumping up and down. They sang two more songs. I remember the first of the two best. It was I'll Never Break Your Heart.
One of the guys came on stage and said, "How many people have ever had their heart broken?" Everyone screamed.
"If I was yours would you break my heart?" A lot more screaming!
"And if you were mine, I'd never break your heart!" The screams got soooooooooooooooo loud.
Then they said, "we need three lovely ladies to come on stage and help us with our next song!" Everyone carried on screaming just as loud. I don't know where the girls came from. Luckily Nick was on my side so I spent the whole time watching him. The girl Nick was standing with had long, dark curly hair. Nick said something to her and I could see the girl mouth "what?" I was suprised she hadn't fainted. She moved her head forward so she could hear him better. I think Nick asked her what her name was. He kept looking at her in the eyes and sat her down on the seat. Still looking in her eyes after a couple of minutes he took her hand and stood her up. She was facing the back of the stage and Nick was facing the audience, singing and dancing with her from side to side. He sang over her shoulder. Towards the end of the song, they were standing with their sides to the audience and he moved her hair out of her eyes, still looking straight into her eyes. He took one hand yet again and got down on one knee. He sang a bit more of the song and as he got up he had a rose in his hand. I think he got it from the back earlier. Still looking into her eyes he kissed the rose slowly and softly and then gave it to her. Then the song finished and he walked her quickly, still holding her hand, to the back of the stage and straight across so she could get back to where she was standing.
Then a massive net from above was let go on one side and all these red, heart shaped balloons with "I'll never break your heart" written on them fell down. Everyone ran into the middle to try and get one and loads of people fell over.
The last song of the evening was We've Got It Goin' On. After that was sung, AJ went round on stage introducing the band. When he was talking he said something wrong and made a wierd noise down the microphone and said, "I can't spoke today, I can't speak today!" He disappeared off stage and the band was just playing for about 5 minutes.
That was that. The best night in my life was over--until next time!
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