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WINNIPEG - Wasn't that whole boy-band craze supposed to be over? Then somebody tell the Backstreet Boys. Please.
The leaders of the 1990s wave of cute males who can harmonize while dancing stopped at the MTS Centre last night as part of their Never Gone Tour, which is really a comeback tour in disguise, since they've been missing from the pop landscape for five years.
It seems no one told the crowd of 9,500 extremely excited female fans the fad ended either. The arena walls rattled with ear-piercing screams after every song and every time one of the aging Prefab Five -- A.J. McLean, Brian Littrell, Howie Dorough, Nick Carter and Kevin Richardson -- spoke to the audience.
One by one the boys thanked the audience for being such great fans and letting everyone know they were going to party "Backstreet style."
Here's the recipe for a "Backstreet style" party:
* Sing a couple of slick dance-pop numbers while performing finely tuned choreographed moves.
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* Slow things down with a syrupy ballad while sitting on stairs or stools.
* Kickstart the momentum with another couple of upbeat hits.
* Slow it down again, but this time walk around the stage mournfully. Look down. Hold your chest.
* Repeat for 90 minutes.
And every so often take a break from all that dancing and emotional heartbreak by showing a video of one of your past hits.
That's right. The BS Boys (abbreviated pun intended) didn't even perform a few of their songs live, letting their old videos entertain the audience while they changed costumes.
The material was an overview of their 10-year career, with the poppy chartbusters from their heyday sharing equal time with the more adult-oriented fare off their new album, Never Gone. Both phases featured plenty of slower songs dripping with simple sentiments aimed directly at tugging the heartstrings of young girls.
The new material was well received, but it was the older material like Shape of My Heart, I Want it That Way, Larger Than Life and As Long As You Love Me that elicited the most ferocious screams.
The group were backed by a five-piece band playing on a simple stage. The only major prop was a set of lighted stairs leading to a riser behind the band and a video screen. An intense light show and blinding green lasers gave the show its spectacle feel.
At press time 75-minutes into the concert, the group was crooning their way through I'll Never Break Your Heart off their 1996 debut album.
Former Little Miss Texas Grand Talent winner Kaci Brown, 17, opened the show with a 25-minute set of disposable dance-pop fluff backed by a canned instrument track and flanked by two male backup dancers.