Before the One Direction or BTS era, the Backstreet Boys were THE sensations who left people enthralled with their soulful music, teenage charm and power-packed performances. The much awaited Backstreet Boys DNA world tour made a pit stop in New Delhi yesterday on May 5.
By Srimoyee ChowdhuryAs the spotlight was turned on, the crowd waited with bated breath to catch the first glimpse of the OG boy band who ruled the music charts back in the day.
One by one, the members of the Backstreet Boys appeared on the stage and the electrifying energy and screaming fans proved that they never left our hearts, even after decades. The much awaited Backstreet Boys DNA world tour made a pit stop in New Delhi yesterday on May 5. Gurugram’s Airia Mall was the stage for the performance by one of the most popular boy bands in history.
Before the One Direction or BTS era, the Backstreet Boys were THE sensations who left people enthralled with their soulful music, teenage charm and power-packed performances. That’s why when the group announced their tour stops in India, fans already made a beeline to book their tickets for the concert. The group had last toured India back in 2010 and it was literally a ‘Backstreets Back alright!’ moment for desi fans.
Now, many of you will vigorously nod when we say that your introduction to Western music was through one of the songs by the Backstreet Boys. You had heard I Want It That Way or Backstreets Back Alright once and fell in love with the hip and peppy songs they had to offer. And it’s just not that! The OG boy band guided many teenagers like us through those years of heartbreak as they held our hands and soothed our simple souls with songs like Shape of My Heart and Show Me The Meaning of Being Lonely.
Gather all those thoughts from your years of growing up and just imagine the trance one would be in when the 5 members walked on stage decades after their tour in India!
The Airia Mall arena was buzzing with eager fans of the Backstreet Boys hours before the concert was supposed to start. Surprisingly, the crowd consisted of fans who grew up with the Boys and also teenagers who had the taste of the 90s thanks to the band. As the audience flooded the grounds, an incredible amount of energy was visible amid the placards and frequent squeals of joy.
Band members Nick Carter, AJ McLean, Brian Littrell, Howie Dorough and Kevin Richardson assembled on stage with all their swag and it didn’t feel like even a year had passed since the band made their debut back in 1993.The show started with a bang as the members performed I Wanna Be With You’ began followed by The Call.
By now, the crowd was pumped up to see their idols live on stage. Without an inch to move, each and every person was soaking in all of the charm the Backstreet Boys had to offer.
In between the songs, each member took turns to interact with the audience and bowled them over with “Namaste” and “New Delhi make some noise!”. It was a special event as Brian Littrell performed on stage after a long time and made everyone remember why they stanned the fandom in their teenage years.
The members took turns to show their gratitude to the fans and going by Kevin Richardson’s words, “We have 3 generations right here showing all the love!” Fun factKevin was not part of the 2010 tour and he was shook by the warmth he received on this tour.
After some brisk costume changes and solo performances from their 2019 DNA album, the group moved on to the classic. Don’t Go Breaking My Heart, Chances and No Place was sung unanimously by the entire crowd.
If you think performing is the only thing the members did during the concert, you are so wrong. AJ McLean and Kevin Richardson took their sweet time to tease the audience with a naughty episode of throwing their ‘very personal’ stuff into the sea of screaming fans. *Wink
Adding the cherry on top of a concert to remember, the band sang their iconic songs I Want It That Way, Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) and As Long As You Love Me. Apart from their iconic songs, the band showed off their jaw-dropping A-Cappella skills with ease. Autotune and lip-syncing took a backseat as the Boys worked their vocals overtime to make the audience jump with joy and heave a sigh of relief that their favourite stars have not changed one bit.
But wait! There’s more. After bowing down, the group exited the stage only to come back with a dhamakedaar performance of Larger Than Life. The show concluded with a lavish display of fireworks in true Indian style and confetti cannons.
It was refreshing to see a boy band that sold over 100 million records worldwide, became one of the world’s best-selling music artists and was the first group since Led Zeppelin to have their first ten albums reach the top 10 on the Billboard 200, perform with such sincerity, passion and love for their fans as if they were starting from scratch.
As members of the 90s generation, we came back with our eyes brimming with nostalgic tears and hearts bubbling with happiness. And just like AJ and Brian promised us, “as long as there’ll be music we’ll be coming back again!”.
Kraig Prohaska
Rodrigo Wolf