Joey & AJ – A Legendary Night

Thursday night Joey from *NSYNC and AJ from the Backstreet Boys teamed up for a legendary night at the Oakdale Theater in Wallingford, CT.  We had purchased Soundcheck upgrade packages and needed to get there early to check in for the 3:30 soundcheck.  The guys tried a couple of new things with the band and then answered questions from the fans that were in attendance.  It was absolute chaos, as expected.  After the soundcheck we waited for the M&G with Joey (AJ’s was before soundcheck) and then had some time to kill before doors for the show.

I opted to sit in the front row center spot I had snagged for my friends and I, and while I did have a couple of moments where I thought I might stand, seeing how close AJ was coming to the edge of the stage I knew I would never be able to handle it.  The show was more fun than I was even expecting – they started with some *NSYNC and BSB songs, AJ ended up doing some of his own solo stuff as well.  They did a medley of TV Show themes, a medley of “Girl Power” songs by female artists.  They also had and inflatable die and bounced it through the crowd and when the DJ’s music stopped whatever number it was on was the song they would sing.  This is also when the fans with couch passes were on the stage. They had intended to do 3 songs for this but ended up doing 4. They closed the set out with more *NSYNC/BSB songs.

Pop / I Want You Back
Larger Than Life
Tearing Up My Heart
Burning Up
TV Themes (Cheers, Duck Tales, Full House, Fresh Prince, Golden Girls, Knight Rider, Friends, Greatest American Hero)
If I Ain’t Got You
Hit Me Baby
Bad Romance
Always Something There To Remind Me
All The Small Things
No Diggity
Part of Your World
My Own Worst Enemy
Good Enough
Electric
Poison / This Is How We Do It
Space Cowboy
Everybody
I Want It That Way
Bye Bye Bye

 

 

Backstreet Boys The Axis Las Vegas

A couple weeks ago I made the trip out to Las Vegas to check out the Backstreet Boys residency. (Which has since been extended for a few more months throughout 2018 if you’re interested)  We opted to also stay at Planet Hollywood which was really nice – easy to take a nap and then get ready before the show and then just head downstairs to the venue.  A nap was definitely needed as the show started at midnight EST.

While BSB aren’t my favorite and they didn’t play my favorite song (I wasn’t really expecting them to) the show was pretty much all up beat hit after hit and was a TON of fun!! Our seats turned out to be really great as well – minus the amazon husband who of course was right in front of us.  But the boys made great use of the catwalk and AJ even came down the aisle of our section during the show!

For Shape of My Heart they usually bring a fan up on stage – this night was a special one because Brian’s family was in the audience and they ended up bringing his Mom up on stage for the song which was really special 🙂

Throughout the show they played a lot of old videos of the guys from when they were little and as well as touring as the Backstreet Boys which was a lot of fun to watch. We also ended the night getting a $10 glass of water/soda in a BSB branded cup.

A lot of the merch sizes were sold out because it was supposed to be the tail end of the residency – but it had just gotten the extension announcement a couple of days before. The shirt I bought was completely gone from the merch store the next day! It’s cool and has a BSB poker chip on the front – appropriate for a trip to Vegas AND since I developed a poker chip magnet obsession while shopping for souvenirs.

Throwback Thursday: Backstreet Boys 12/13/07

 

Headliner: Backstreet Boys

Recap:

I have this show marked as “canceled” on my listing of shows, but it really wasn’t canceled.  There was a snow storm and by the time my friend and I would have had to leave to get to the show in time, most of the highways in CT were closed down.  But since BSB was able to make it to the venue, the show went on… without us.  And all of us poor suckers who had to work and didn’t take the day off to get to the show in time, couldn’t even get a refund, despite there being no possible way to get there from where we lived due to there being no roads that it was actually legal to be driving on!

Nick Carter The All American Tour 2016 New York City

Saturday we made the trek to New York City to see Nick Carter on his solo tour. I had never seen him solo before so I was very excited to finally see him on his own.  Times Square was an absolute nightmare – so many people! I couldn’t figure out if something was going on or if it was just typical Saturday tourist insanity.

Opening the show was Riley Biederer who I guess was on the most recent season of The Voice. I stopped watching the show so I didn’t know anything about her, but I enjoyed her set.

Nick took the stage at about 9pm and played until almost 11.   His set was made up of a mix of his solo songs, new and old and some Backstreet Boys songs thrown in for good measure.  I wasn’t all that familiar with all of his solo stuff (I have most of his CDs but don’t listen to them frequently) but really enjoyed the performance.  We were looking forward to the “acoustic set” of the show which seemed to have the most Backstreet Boys songs in the set (I cheated and had a couple of setlists on my phone to help me keep track incase no one posted anything for the show) and when he said “Tonight is a special night” my friend Shea that I went with turned to me and said “Because Brian is here?” and sure enough Nick started I Want It That Way and Brian came out on stage and the place erupted in screams.  Brian also stuck around to sing Show Me The Meaning Of Being Lonely as well.  His son is in Disaster! the Musical on Broadway so we kind of figured he’d at least be in the city.  Also at the show was Erik from O-Town who I spied near the end of the show on the side of the stage.

While I would say I didn’t know the words to most of Nick’s set, I still had a TON of fun and he puts on a great show and has a ton of energy. I am glad that we made the trip! Super bummed that they took our tickets at the door though and the guy said he’d come bring them back and never did… and I didn’t see him after the show to ask.

 

Nick Carter Setlist PlayStation Theater, New York, NY, USA 2016

Throwback Thursday – Backstreet Boys

01-06-28

Headliner: Backstreet Boys (Black and Blue tour)
Opener(s): Krystal, Shaggy
Cost: $83
Setlist:

Everyone
Larger Than Life
Not For Me
What Makes You Different (Makes You Beautiful)
Yes I Will
More Than That
I Want It That Way
Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)
As Long As You Love Me
I’ll Never Break Your Heart
I Don’t Want You Back
Show Me The Meaning (Of Being Lonely)
I Promise You
How Did I Fall In Love With You
Time
The Answer To Our Life
If You Stay
Shining Star
Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)
Get Another Boyfriend
The Call
Shape Of My Heart

 

Recap:  For this show I couldn’t get 2 seats together, but got 2 seats in the same row, 8 seats apart.  Once we arrived at our seats, the people in between us offered to move over so we could sit together, which was nice! I went with my friend Lisa and her cousin was working at the venue so she was able to move us up a little bit closer during Shaggy’s set!  We also got to meet Krystal before the show.

Where Are They Now:

Shaggy is actually still out there touring and I just got an email that he was going to be playing somewhere nearby recently!

Krystal has been still performing and as of 2013 was in Krystal Peterson and The Queen City Band.

96.5 TIC Acoustic Christmas Show

I was super excited for the TIC Christmas show because Backstreet Boys were headlining. I was also able to get a VIP M&G package from the BSB fanclub so I’d be meeting them before the show.  Then winter storm Ashford decided that he was going to come at 9am and get the worst at 7pm and turn to freezing rain at midnight.  With the show at 7:30, it would be horrible once we all got out of the show.  But as they say – the show must go on! and no one was canceling the show.  I knew I could make it up there and back for the M&G before 7pm hit.  So I got there for VIP check in which was supposed to be at 4:20 but ended up being a bit later than that.  Basically from 4pm – 6pm I was standing. And most of that time without anything to lean on – and yet somehow I survived it. (Very proud of myself because I was seriously doubting my ability to do that!)

We checked in and got our VIP pass and then waited in line to get in to the room to meet BSB.  While we were waiting, they all walked by us from I guess sound check or backstage or something.  The line seemed to be going fairly quickly once it actually got moving.  Everything was super organized, you had enough time to hug all the guys, chit chat a little bit and then get your photo.  This was individual photos too which was great! (and why I did it.  Usually VIP individual pics is like $500 and this show was a bargain at $150)  The order was Brian, Howie, AJ, Nick and Kevin.  I stood by Nick and AJ for the picture. It was funny listening to everyone chatting trying to figure out where they’d stand and hope that they didn’t get rearranged before we got there.  After we got our pic we were given a signed Christmas card from the guys that is done so you can put your photo on the front of the card.  Cute! But I’ll probably just end up scrapping the autograph or framing it 🙂

After the M&G (about 6:10) I had intended to go home but bumped into a family friend who works at the venue.  When I told her I was leaving she said she would take me home and I could crash at her house until the weather got better the next day.  We checked that my car would be OK there overnight and then I told my parents not to expect me.  She said if it got real bad they might leave early so I told her to find me if they did and I’d leave early too.  (Then I ended up switching seats and she couldn’t find me during the show – but they did end up staying!)

Plain White T’s started the show off and did a set of 1,2,3,4 Should’ve Gone To Bed, Giving Tree, Hey  There Deliliah and Rhythm of Love. They chatted with the audience a lot and were pretty good, they were the only act at the show I had no yet seen before.

Next up was Gavin DeGraw. I was kind of bummed he wasn’t later in the show – he puts on a great show! He even was in the crowd for a few songs.  His set was In Love With A Girl, Make a Move, Chariot, Mirrors (probably not a good idea to sing a Justin Timberlake song at a show with mostly BSB fans… from what I heard of reactions around me lol!) I Don’t Wanna Be, Best I Ever Had,  and Not Over You.

Then it was time for Avril.  Groan.  She kept walking off the stage and I think she was mad at the sound guys because a few times there was a lot of feedback when she was singing. Her set was Here’s To Never Growing Up, Girlfriend, Sk8er Boi, What The Hell, Black Star, Let Me Go, My Happy Ending and ended her set with Complicated.

Next up with Sara Bareilles who also puts on a great show. Her set was (sorry if I don’t get all the names right) Chasing The Sun, Gonna Get Over You, Many the Mines, Love Song, I Choose You, Gravity, Manhattan, King of Anything, & Brave. She seemed to really like the crowd and the acoustics of the room and split us up to sing a few times and was overall very funny and put on a great set.

Then it was time for the Backstreet Boys! They played until just before midnight and did The Call, As Long As You Love me, Show Em (What You’re Made Of), In A World Like This, Safest Place to Hide, 10000 Promises, Madeleine, Quit Playin Games, It’s Christmas Time Again, I Want It That Way, Everybody (Backstreet’s Back).

After 4 songs they broke it down to an acoustic set or their “insurance policy” where they played instruments so that they have a backup plan when they can no longer dance. It was pretty neat to see them play Quit Playin’ Games during this set!

The show was a ton and fun – though I’m not sure I could have made it back to my house without completely panicking if I had stayed the whole time without an alternate plan!

Backstreet Boys at Foxwoods

Friday night I headed up to Foxwoods to see the Backstreet Boys!  They added a few year end shows which unfortunately didn’t include Kevin because he had decided to re-join after these shows were booked. (OR it will just be easier to sell more tix in 2013 if he wasn’t at these shows.)  My friend Kim was coming with me, but got stuck in traffic so she had to meet me up there instead of us going together.

There was no opening act and at about 8:20 the boys took the stage – except that the music started and where were the boys?  I turned to my left and there was Nick Carter just walking down our aisle.  Then he stopped about 3 rows in front of us and sang.   I had lost 2 closer pair of tickets before their fanclub let me buy these, which I was NOT happy about.  Until this point.  I’m not sure where the other ones were but I was so close to Nick I was over it.

They seemed to do a lot of the older songs in the beginning – We’ve Got It Goin On, Larger Than Life, Get Down… which are the ones I know the best.  I have all the albums but the later stuff I don’t really listen to all that much while the earlier stuff has been pounded in to my brain from back in middle school when there was nothing better to do than listen to boybands. (I wish that was still the case!)

Each of the guys did a solo song – AJ’s was PLARS “Party Like a Rock Star”, I was not really into it at all and the guy in the row behind us said something like.. don’t quite your day job so I guess he wasn’t really much of a fan of it either.  After he was done – Nick asked AJ if he was going solo.  AJ said he thought about it and Nick said that if he did, they don’t want him back!  And… then it was time for “Don’t Want you Back”  Ah Nick, you are so good at transitioning into songs.

They all sat on the end of the stage at one point, Brian asked everyone to take a couple steps back and teased about how as they start singing everyone starts creeping more forward.  They talked a bit about how there was a storm and it was difficult for them to get to the show.  Howie had the hardest time – getting suck in Jersey Shore where it flooded – Nick of course got him to talk about this for a bit about how he almost needed to swim to the show.  Of course – this led them in to singing DROWNING.

At this point, Kim arrived so I ran off to give her her ticket so she could get in!  When we got back to the seats it was time for Brian’s solo song and he was talking a bit about the Newtown shooting and how everyone didn’t get a chance to say goodbye.  He sang a song called Gone Without Goodbye.

A couple songs later it was time for CLUB BACKSTREET where they had all the girls who got Platinum VIP packages ($500+) come on stage.  They said they had never done it before and wasn’t sure how it would work out.  It was pretty funny to watch.  Girls were taking their pics with the guys, dancing with them, etc.  I think it helped make the VIP package worth it!

Howie did his solo song of 100 kisses.  He seemed to spend most of his time on the top level of the stage (they had stairs going up) and unfortunately that part of the stage was really poorly lit.  It was really hard to see any of them when they went up there, let alone get some photos.

Then they did some more older stuff (hooray!) Quit Playing Games, As Long As You Love Me and I Want It That Way. (My second sing a long to that song this month!) Nick did his solo song – Burning Up.  He was out of control on the stage by himself. Out. Of. Control.   Then the other guys joined him for The One and then…. The Call started and the guys all marched through the crowd right up our aisle again!  A bunch of girls ran to get a glimpse of them, but I didn’t really want to get trampled.  Next thing I know, AJ is *right* behind me!!! Once everyone else realized it I ended up getting shoved into our seats but it was so awesome! (And then I was REALLY ok that we had the further back seats!)

They ended the show with Everybody! After the show, Howie did an after party at the club in the Casino.  The line seemed out of control, so we didn’t even bother trying to get in.  We walked over to the Foxwoods side of the casino instead to pick up some bears from the Hard Rock and to see if we found the other boys wandering (no such luck).

I am looking forward to 2013 when they will tour with Kevin being back!

Backstreet Boys Setlist

I went to see the Backstreet Boys tonight at Foxwoods.  I think this was the first date on their small new years run so I figured I would post the setlist incase anyone is curious.  The review and photos will be posted sometime in the new year as I am off for 3 shows in 2 days in New Hampshire… find out all about THAT in the new year too ;)

 

Incomplete
Larger Than Life
Straight Through My Heart
We’ve Got It Going On
Get Down
Aj Solo – PLARS (Party Like a Rock Star)
Don’t Want You Back
Inconsolable
Drowning
Brian Solo – Gone without Goodbye
Bigger
If I Knew Then
Howie Solo – 100 Kisses
Quit Playing Games
As Long As You Love Me
I Want It That Way
Nick Solo – Burning Up
The One
The Call
Everybody

Mixtape Festival – Day 2

Day 2 of Mixtape Festival definitely had the better line up (in my opinion of course – but hey its my blog so everything is my opinion don’t forget!) and I was very, very excited.  We decided to sit at the North Stage for almost the whole day and moved to the South Stage only once – for 98 Degrees’ reunion.  As soon as we sat down we loaded up on sunscreen – Hawaiian Tropic Silk Hydration – which I will be reviewing over the weekend so look out for that 😉

First up was The Dan Band – a cover band. We finally figured out during their set that they were actually the wedding band in The Hangover. Apparently they pride themselves on covering mostly female pop songs w/ added swearing.  This became obvious quick when he had the crowd shouting the F word back to him.  Kind of awkward especially since they were the first act and there were a lot of kids around. But whatever. (I hate when bands use swear words simply to make themselves seem more “cool”)

Then on the South Stage was The Ready Set. Unfortunately with The Wanted coming up on the North stage next, I didn’t pay much attention to The Ready Set, in fact I paid so little attention I completely missed a song on the setlist! It ended and I realized my oops.

Then it was time for The Wanted. I was so, so, so excited.  Jay mentioned that everyone should put on sunscreen and he knows from experience because he was very pale.  They seemed to just be having a TON of fun on the stage and although I do love boybands that dance, I didn’t really miss it with their performance. (They were all jumping around anyway – I guess that is close enough to dancing)  I did feel their set was too short though and wish they just played forever. They were so good and I can’t wait to see it all again on Friday!

Carly Rae was next up on the South Stage and while we weren’t over there, it didn’t seem like anyone was all that in to her.  She talked a lot, but we couldn’t really understand her from where we were.  She also apparently didn’t warrant the video screens to show her for the first half of her set. Then when the camera did turn on, the sound board tent was blocking her and then they did a different shot of just part of her band, not her.  Very strange and Im not sure what happened to the camera they had been using during The Ready Set! She also said she was going to change up her last song – which was obviously going to be Call Me Maybe – but it was funny to see the delayed reaction from the crowd near us because the beginning didn’t sound like what we are used to hearing on the radio.

LL Cool J was up next – we weren’t sure what he was going to do with an hour set and we dubbed this our bathroom and snack break time. (rootbeer float!)  The crowd seemed to be into him though.  He tried to rip off his shirt at one point and it didn’t rip all the way. I don’t know if he did that on purpose or not.  He also gave away a laptop to one of the guys in the audience and was tossing out roses as well.

We left before LL was done and ended up opting to get a spot on the rail for 98 degrees instead of going into the ADA area. So we were “front row” of the Field area at least for their set! (VIP A and B had barricaded areas in front of us so we weren’t really that close) I had never seen 98 Degrees before so I was really excited for their reunion.  Unfortunately, one of them seemed to be a bit flat on the singing. We think it was Drew.  (I had noticed something being off from the videos from the Today Show but was hoping they’d pull it together for the show) It didn’t really take away from seeing them though.  They only had a 45 minute set though, wish it was longer! (if I was in charge I totally would have changed up a few set times – plus if 98 Degrees was on the north stage instead of LL we’d have never had to leave our seats!)

Before 98 degrees was over (they had a song or two left) we went back to the North Stage to get our seats again for NKOTBSB.  This would be the last performance of the super group – though they did mention possibly getting together again sometime.  For the most part,  the set was the same as when I had seen them last year.  However, there were a few changes because it was their last show and each band had some tricks up their sleeve.  At one point AJ had on an LMFAO jersey, ripped off his pants to have on these tight shorts and next think you know… they’re shufflin’!  Brian and AJ came out during Joe’s ending of Please Don’t Go Girl to sing with him, Joe came out during BSB’s set with a phone and was singing with them… just to name a few things (I don’t know if I’m remembering everything – it’s been quite a weekend)

At one point NKOTB was talking about The Wanted and the band started playing Glad You Came, and I thought NKOTB was going to sing it – which would have been cool… but next thing you know, Max is walking up the stairs on to the stage and I completely lost it. (So much so it is now 2 days later as I write this and my throat still is hurting from the scream I let out lol)  Also at one point, NKOTB, BSB and 98 Degrees were all on stage together as well. Which was awesome.. but…. made it painfully obvious there was still one boyband missing.. (NSYNC!)

At the end, NKOTB came out wearing BSB shirts and then BSB came out wearing NKOTB shirts.  There were lots of hugs – NKOTB announced they’d be working on a new album and a new tour and BSB would of course be having Kevin rejoining the band and doing a new album and tour because they have now been a band for 20 years.

 

Setlists for most under the cut!

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