Live Review: Backstreet Boys
DNA World Tour at the Perth RAC Arena, 25 February 2023
Review by Sheldon Ang
Photos by Sheldon Ang Photography
The giant screen projects the visual ques of explosive anticipation through a digital overlay on the five individuals, with montages prepped in reversed periodical nostalgia across three decades. They dance, they step, they stare, they move, brewing the lingering air of palpability. Through the kaleidoscopic trance of superimposing colours on the display, fans are tranced and transported back onto a journey of high school and university anthems with pre-recorded punch lines; we got it going…don’t want you back…I want it that way…baby don’t go breaking my heart…ALRIGHT!
The music stops. Seconds spill.
Silence ensues.
Everybody…The crowd are awakened to live music again in the year 1997, casting a hysteria not seen in the Arena for a while. Everybody…rock your body right, Backstreet’s Back, alright!
The men are raised from beneath. They are draped in all-white, donning the archetype of the 90’s boyband, with Kevin in tenchcoat. Jump, jump, jump as we hear Brian sparking the remix version of one the most sing along club bangers. The fans are obedient. The vocals of fifteen thousand propagated across the arena, and visually triggered by the mellifluous dance synchronisation, and corralled by the atmospheric excitement of the lasers as if possessing a life of its own with tentacles swish swooshing across the sea of people, culminating in a euphoric sing and dance at the indoor Colosseum.
Backstreet Boys are back – not that they had ever left. No matter how many puns churned from the lyrics, the cheesy lyrics such as “I’d rather die than to live without you” have always engrained onto our sentimental diaries. Success was formulated, churning them into the highest selling boy band in history with over 100 million albums sneaking into the living rooms of teenagers and grownups across all demographics. They sang the anthems of the broken souls, lovers, the unrequited wonderers and the first timers. BSB are also the only band after Led Zepplin to shred ten Top 10 albums on the American charts. As for this photographer/writer and the men at the Perth RAC Arena, the DNA World Tour transported the fans onto the era when we pretended to be Nick, Brian, Kevin, Howie or AJ; except there were no ostracising in the opening night of the Australian/New Zealand tour as everyone became the self-appointed member of the Backstreet Boys.
After scintillating across the land of tear-jerking sappy ballads in far east Asia, the boys – now men in their forties – soulfully graced the stage fuelled by the hysteria of the Perth fans. They were initially smitten by the upbeat dance pop I Wanna Be With You from their 1996 debut album Backstreet Boys – it was a surprising spark but a notable confetti of welcoming lyrics. The next two tracks were The Call and Don’t Want You Back from Black and Blue and Millennium albums.
After few songs in, it was clear that the quintet sounded fresh, modern and matured, but still expelling their striking boyish enigma through stage presence and vocal delectability. The dance harmonisation and fluidity were visually enticing, with great breathing synchronisation of a well-timed choreography – part of that successful formula.
“Perth Australia is in the house…Aussie, Aussie, Aussie Oi Oi Oi…I can’t believe what my eyes are seeing at the moment…it is incredible, all the way up there…back there…does that mean you still love the Backstreet Boys after all these years? Hysteria. It’s hard to believe…because the Backstreet Boys have been around for thirty years in April this year…”
That was Nick. The men were engaging, each given a talking moment. The topics of conversation were family-friendly given the eclectic demographics from young children to septegenurians. It will be some time before the BSB retire, given the sea of young recruits in the crowd. The only moment it got a bit hot and heavy was when AJ and Kevin changed their wardrobes on stage – behind a privacy board.
“We will change on stage, but not that kind, we have kids in the audience, we don’t want to be creepy…we had clothing thrown on stage back in the days, so we would like to return favour.” So they did flick their underwears onto the audience – assuming not the ones they were wearing.
BSB showcased their latest work with the likes of New Love, an electronic pop track of their latest album, DNA, release in 2019. The new tracks gelled with the electronic pop era are popular with the younger fans in droves. No Places was also heard for the first time in Perth, a song in dedication to their families, with video images of members sharing the warm comfort of their families on the big screen.
The hit single from the DNA album Don’t Go Breaking My Heart performed at the encore stays fitful with BSB’s harmony driven pop sounds while keeping in time with the current musical landscape of electronic dance music. Nick may not sound as boyish as he was in his early teens, but he still speaks and sings with the boyish high range baritone. Just like in the studio version, the live performance – despite the electronic gestures, do not overshadow the 90’s and 00’s boyish signature – and what we witnessed in 2023 live throughout at the Perth RAC Arena spelled the DNA of Backstreet Boys – the tacky words sung with squashy faces and chest pounding animation that we all come to love.
The DNA Tour bears the name of the latest album, but fans were also here for the cheesy lyrics. The first major hit came in the “Cinematic” setlist – with Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely from the 1999 album Millennium. For the old schoolers, it was the first hit that brought the melancholy of loneliness and the lingering heartache after a breakup. So for many, the moment poignantly sipped into the conscious through the lingering harmonies, the synchronisation, the lush orchestration and the blending vocals of the quintet. The beautiful harmony of the intro by the quintet, followed by Brian and AJ diving into verse one, beautiful trailed by the chorus, then doused in verse two by Kevin and Nick and finally in the bridge by Howie are exemplary, earning them the quintessential boyband of the late 90’s to the noughties.
Time after time, BSB climaxed the night with bangers after bangers, such as Incomplete followed by Shape of My Heart down the track. For five minutes, there was a sense of realisation that no genre could emotionally fused fifteen thousand people under roof together like the ballads of a love-sick soul, through the no holds bars of sentimental connectivity.
The most nostalgically driven ballad of the night was I Never Break Your Heart, with all five singing on a raised platform of twenty feet. As soon as the 90’s spoken word at the intro “Baby, I know you’re hurting…” and AJ kicking into the first verse, the audience knew this would be a swaying, mobile lights moment. Brian’s squeezy face were beamed across the big screen, still begging for a chance since 1995. Nick and Howie’s hips were swaying and gyrating, as they weaved their arms in a circular-and-startled motion like The Platters would do, and that “stop right there” gesture after every revolution, with Nick trying to control his laughter.
I Want It That Way was the final song before the encore, again sparking another karaoke festival in an extended version, before finishing the night with Don’t Go Breaking My Heart and a festival like and rowdy Larger Than Life.
The night was a journey that siphoned the emotions and poignancy of the last millennium. They made us smile. They opened old wounds. Thy made us laughed. It was a masterclass display of showbiz for Perth, seemingly the perfect spark to the DNA World Tour of Australia. In short, we had just witnessed the performance of Backstreet Boys, the most successful boyband in history.
Backstreet Boys are touring across Australia. Visit Live Nation Australia for tickets and info.
Sheldon Ang Media expresses his gratitude to Live Nation Australia, Revolutions Per Minute and Backstreet Boys for the Press Accreditation and Reviewer seats.
About the Writer/Photographer: Sheldon Ang Media (est. May 2022) have been accredited to photograph and review the hottest acts in Perth including Red Hot Chili Peppers, Post Malone l, Sting, KISS, and Harry Styles, with reviews shared by the likes of UB40, Delta Goodrem, The Fabolous Caprittos and Synthony on social media. He has interviewed rockers Ace Frehley (KISS), John Steel (The Animals), Frank Ferrer (Guns N Roses), Phil X (Bon Jovi), Andrew Farris (INXS), Floor Jansen (Nightwish), Ian Moss (Cold Chisel) and forty other legends.
