CALGARY -- It was a command that both the Backstreet Boys and their opening act, Sisqo, made often of the predominantly young female audience who filled the Saddledome last night for the first of two shows in our fair city.
A little advice guys: They don't need any encouragement.
Screaming is something those pink healthy lungs are extremely adept at, as the 13,000-plus fans proved time and time again over the course of the evening.
They screamed during Sisqo's set, they screamed when the lights went down, they even screamed when a camera commercial featuring the Backstreet Boys was played on the big screens during intermission. (For the record, Brian's picture flashed on screen illicited the loudest display of lung power.)
But most importantly, they shrieked and squealed when their beloved quintet took to the Calgary stage for the first time in three years, kicking off a glitzy, slick, high-production value performance.
In a good indication of what was to come in the next two hours, the show began with a crazy occultish opening which, as near as I can figure, was intended to depict how the Druids were killed off by a spectacular meteor shower.
When the smoke had settled, Nick, AJ, Howie, Brian and Kevin launched into the uptempo Everyone from their latest release Black & Blue.
The rest of the evening was a professional, polished and well-paced love-in akin to a Las Vegas-lite stage show (ie: Without the pasties).
There were plenty of dramatics, plenty of costumed dance numbers -- notice I didn't use the word songs -- and plenty of opportunity for the girls to scream.
Reformed Backstreet badboy AJ, was the recipient of an especially loud roar when he announced himself 84 or 85 days sober (he wasn't sure, he said, because his head wasn't working so well ... um? ...) during the meet the band portion of the evening.
Again, it was another well-staged moment in a carefully scripted and somewhat entertaining show that gave everyone who shelled out the $100 or so exactly what they paid for. This despite the fact the concert's lineup had dropped from two, to only one opening act -- Sisqo.
For an artist known predominantly for the naughty hit Thong Song, the performer's half-hour set was the epitome of harmless hip-hop.
Not that it was bad, he actually has a quite decent voice, which he deftly switches from soulful R&B to sharp machine gun rapping.
It was just a little too safe and middle-of-the-road.
Then again, anything else last night would have seemed terribly out of place.
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