You ain't seen the last of the Backstreet Boys yet
As they grow older, Backstreet Boys know they can't keep up with their energetic dance routines for much longer, so alongside their greatest hits, they gave Israeli audience a taste of the next phase - a band that writes its own songs, and plays instruments.
Kevin, Howie, AJ, Brian and Nick gave the Israeli audience exactly what they wanted – a slew of their greatest hits (and there were many over the past 22 years), but they were also more than proud to showcase the next phase of the Backstreet Boys.
An older, but more experienced, band, the five veteran pop stars are no longer strictly about singing hits churned out by the likes of Max Martin – they have and continue to write their own songs.
Peppered in between old favorites like As Long As You Love Me and Quit Playing Games (With My Heart), the Backstreet Boys sang songs from their newest album, In A World Like This, many of which they wrote themselves. They seemed proud of that fact, telling the audience which of them wrote what song and what was the inspiration behind it.
Like the touching and beautiful ballad Show 'Em What You're Made Of, penned by the band's "big brother" Kevin Richardson and "bad boy" AJ McLean, which was written "for our babies," Kevin told the audience, as four of the five members are now fathers.
During a stripped-down acoustic set, Howie Dorough expressed concern that they will not always be able to "shake what their mama gave them," as they were all getting older (the band's "baby" Nick Carter is 35 years old, while Richardson, the oldest, is 43 – dinosaurs in boyband terms). But Carter didn't seem concerned. On top of singing songs, he told the audience, they can write them and also, it seems, play instruments - albeit to a limited degree. But still. Carter, along with Dorough and Brian Littrell, played acoustic guitars, while Richardson played the keyboards (in lieu of a piano) and McLean brought up the rear on percussion.
The audience, compiled of mostly dedicated fans, took to the "newer" music well, singing along at least during the chorus. But what really got the entire audience dancing were the very early hits, including the We've Got It Goin' On, The Call, Larger Than Life and of course, Everybody (Backstreet's Back).
The ballads also went down a storm, with older songs like All I Have To Give (which included a slick-looking dance routine with fedoras), I'll Never Break Your Heart (let's dip those microphone stands, boys!), 10,000 Promises and Show Me The Meaning of Being Lonely, and "newer" songs including Shape of My Heart, Incomplete, and Drowning.
The Backstreet Boys went right where Robbie Williams, who performed in Israel earlier this month, went wrong. They found the right combination between their biggest hits and their recent music and were able to both give the audience what it came for, and leave it, perhaps, interested to hear more.
The Backstreet Boys have never been gone, they've always been here. And it feels like they always will be, because as long as there'll be music, they'll be coming back again.
