Wednesday May 30, 2001 the Backstreet Boys one-hour concert special, Backstreet Boys: Larger Than Life aired on CBS. Part of the show was taped at the BSB concert at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Fans who weren't able to attend the latest Black and Blue Tour got to see Brian, Nick, AJ, Kevin and Howie perform songs from their Black and Blue CD. It wasn't all new stuff though, they threw in some old faves from Millennium too.
I went to the Vancouver Black and Blue concert but it was cool to see the guys up close and personal. The best part about the special was the behind-the-scenes footage of BSB they aired at the beginning of the special. It's never been aired before so even the veteran BSB-lover saw something new. In the footage, Nick (now 20) was a tiny little guy and only 13 years old. We got to see little snippets of early performances and how the guys have changed over the years. You can barely recognize AJ who was clean shaven and had a lot fewer tattoos and piercings in the early years. Their stage performances and confidence have come a long way. They seemed kinda awkward in the beginning.
The special also showed the guys hangin' out in places like Sydney, Australia and Brazil - where the fans are absolutely nuts about BSB. My favorite performances were The Call with AJ on his cell phone and Everybody (Backstreet's Back). The guys were able to interact with their fans thanks to a high-tech concert stage and ramp that went out over the audience. The guys even came up through circular stage in the middle of the crowd during one of the ballads.
Backstreet Boys: Larger Than Life was a pretty cool special. It gave fans a chance to see some great footage of the guys just hangin' out but also showed us the demands of being in the band. It's obvious Backstreet Boys are no O-Town. They were the result of a lot of blood, sweat, tears and determination. Now they're all about making their fans happy and giving them everything they've got.
