Une revue pour Thers

Via the NY Post -

March 22, 2005 -- BACKSTREET'S back.

Ten years since the boy band hit big and five since they went MIA, The Backstreet Boys played the first of a two-show engagement at tiny Irving Plaza last night.

For a band that at the height of its popularity was able to sell millions of albums and fill stadiums, this club gig was an unexpected way for them and their fans to mark their comeback bid.

The vocal quintet's original lineup of Nick Carter, Kevin Richardson, Brian Littrell, A.J. McLean and Howie Dorough was intact at this nearly two hour gig. where the Boys blurred the lines between bright pop and bump 'n' grind ballads.

The BSB harmonies were crisp during a set centered on a greatest hits program that also included a few new tunes that were getting a road test for an upcoming album.
The guys looked good and sang well, especially when they were covering their strongest songs like "I'll Never Break Your Heart," "Show Me the Meaning Of Being Lonely" and of course "I Want It That Way."

What last night's concert illustrated was no matter how cheesy a band's reputation is, tight harmony never goes out of style. (Hear that, Thers? You and your Motorhead.....) Clearly Backstreet is a band that has continued to work at its craft.

The white dinner jackets the band used to wear were dusted off for a few tunes but for most of the show the guys looked casual in unmatched street clothing. Their look and their sound projected a welcome musical maturity.

Like the Boys, the kiddies who were their devoted core followers were also older and a little wiser, having developed a taste for less bubbly pop.

That was clear when the Backstreeters played a terrific new tune called "Weird World." There were still a few love ballads that could send a grown man into sugar shock, but those were rendered with a restraint that said the Boys were now extracting passion from the words and their fans were now old enough to know the power of lusty desire.

Since the stage at Irving is so small, the band's famous footwork was more than a little strained, yet they still had enough dance fever to move in formation with practiced hand jive. What the band lacked five years ago when they took their long break they have regained, which is a sense of fun.

Although this band will remain a guilty pleasure to many, and more than a little cheesy to any self-respecting hipster, the fact is this is a band that's gotten better, albeit a little grittier, with time.

Yeah, grittier... that's a word... you could use...