OTTAWA -- This can't be the easiest of times for the Backstreet Boys. First, the second leg of their "Black & Blue" tour was delayed by several weeks after A.J. McLean entered a rehab clinic for treatment of alcoholism. Yet as witnessed last night at the Corel Centre (rescheduled from the originally slated July 13 date), the "bad boy" of the Backstreet Boys empire was in a much better state of mind. This past week, the 'larger-than-life' world of the Orlando-based fivesome was overshadowed by the horrific terrorist attacks in their native American homeland. Tragedy fatally struck carpenter Daniel Lee, a Backstreet Boys roadie, who was a passenger aboard American Airlines Flight 11 on his way to Los Angeles to be by his pregnant wife's side. It was one of two hijacked planes that struck New York's World Trade Center Tuesday. Had the need arose to postpone again, it would've been understandable. Instead, the Boys opted not to let their fan base down. This is show business, after all, so they took the gutsy move and decided the show must go on. Judging from last night's 11,000 larynx-tearing faithful, who've been Backstreet-less since their last Ottawa appearance on Nov. 12, 1999, the sight of the 73-days-sober McLean, Brian Littrell, Kevin Richardson, Howie Dorough and Nick Carter was perhaps a welcome respite from all the dirge and gloom of the past four days. That's not to say it was all spectacle, choreography and flash. For their part, the Boys, performing on a circular riser towards the back rows of the Corel Centre floor seats, dedicated mid-set number Show Me The Meaning of Being Lonely to the memory of Lee, honoured The Answer To Our Life to the various charities each of the singers supported and interspersed some intra-hemispheric flag-waving on Shape of My Heart. (In another charitable move, the Ottawa International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Local 471, took up a personal collection that totalled $450, which they'll send to Lee's widow Kellie, who gave birth to an 8 lb., 12 oz., baby girl on Thursday.) Sandwiched in between that slice of reality, in typical over-the-top pop fashion, the five singers, 10 dancers and slick backing band transported everyone into a two-hour fantasy world filled with explosive fiery flashpots, sparklers, a variety of video vignettes and too-numerous-to-count costume changes, from the dark black capes that kicked off opening number Everyone, to more capes for The Call, to blue tuxes during a medley of Quit Playin' Games (With My Heart)/As Long As You Love Me to white suits and tails for each member's good-as-gold introductions. In return, their razzle-'n'-dazzled public screamed their troubles away to the strains of I Want It That Way, Larger Than Life and Everybody (Backstreet's Back), a heavy dose of Black & Blue material and finale Drowning -- from their forthcoming greatest-hits package, Chapter 1, due in late October. While pop music can't save the world from the present unrest, at least for a few hours last night, the Backstreet Boys and opening acts Sisqo and Krystal tried to take us away from the overwhelmingly sad imagery. (More on: Backstreet Boys)