It feels like it was only yesterday when I spent my days learning the lyrics, listening to their songs (even at school with my Discman). My best friend and I could not get enough of them. We each had our favorite and we were happy to open a magazine and find a poster inside. Yes, the Backstreet Boys were a huge part of my teen years.
Honestly, I do not know what it is about boy bands that makes girls go crazy, but they do. Even though I thought those years were long gone, last week I got to reminisce and, oh, it was fun! I went to a Backstreet Boys concert and had the chance to re live the incessant screaming, some of the other attendees even sported what looked like very old t-shirts, their faces painted BSB, the whole nine yards.
The coolest part was to get to see my fellow thirty-something year old hard-core fans. One or two were clearly pregnant, but that of course did not stop them. A whole generation under one big roof just enjoying every song, every dance move and all that excitement that sparks so much joy. Nick, AJ, Brian, Howie and Kevin brought it.
Two solid hours of singing and dancing oldies and surprisingly, new material that did not disappoint. These men (obviously, it is weird to keep calling them boys) are all in their forties (one of them turned 51 the day before) still got it; they delivered like all of us expected they would. I mean, they first got together in 1993, which means they will celebrate their 30th anniversary next year. What other boyband can say they are still going after three decades with a virtually sold out world tour?
I cannot say that I have been a fan for 30 years, but 25 seems likely. I could feel my teenage heart rejoicing and I wondered how much space do all these songs take up in my brain. I still knew every single word, like it was 1999.
