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TORONTO - When the Backstreet Boys last played Toronto, they were still living in a boy band world.
Thankfully, those days are somewhat gone, but it hasn't resulted in any loss of popularity for the quintet judging by the sold-out Molson Amphitheatre on Tuesday night.
In the initial stages of its world tour, the group mixed material from its latest album Never Gone with radio staples that made stadium sellouts for them the norm years ago.
Opening with a video montage of the hysteria that once surrounded them before performing The Call, the Backstreet Boys were greeted by screams and howls from the primarily teenage and early twentysomething female crowd.
Standing five abreast, the group marched during the song while A.J. McLean and the highly animated Nick Carter got the loudest roars. Not to be outdone was Brian Littrell, who twirled a beachball on his finger like a Harlem Globetrotter during My Beautiful Woman.
"Toronto, Canada! How you doing tonight?" Howie Dorough asked the hordes standing, some of whom waving grossly overpriced glow sticks. Nonetheless, the band managed to sprinkle in favourites like Shape Of My Heart with safe, mid-tempo ditties like More Than That and Climbing The Walls.
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Perhaps the oddest thing of the evening though was the group's insistence on the "hey look what I can still try to do" choreography, which seemed at times like a boy band now trapped in a man band's body. This was evident during The One with all doing little spins and moves throughout.
One strong suit for the band was how well they paced themselves, singing songs like Show Me The Meaning Of Being Lonely and the slightly groovy As Long As You Love Me from a seated position. They also used different video vignettes during costume changes capturing highlights from different albums.
And while the stage setup was rather tame by previous standards, some of the props were a bit much, especially the confetti supposed to resemble snow for Siberia. Another such moment was Littrell timing his jump during Just Want You To Know with a display of pyrotechnics. It was also the band's lone moment of "rock" as Nick Carter strapped on an electric guitar.
None of this fazed the audience however, who often drowned the group out during Larger Than Life, I Want It That Way, Drowning and Quit Playing Games (With My Heart).
A piano was whisked out for the encore with Kevin Richardson tickling the ivories as the other four gathered around. While it had all the aura of a hotel lounge act, the group were able to deliver Weird World and Incomplete without problems.