Backstreet’s back, alright!
Twenty-five years after their “Millennium” album, the Backstreet Boys are dropping “Millennium 2.0” and heading “Into the Millennium” with a residency at Sphere Vegas this July.
“Extra’s” Mona Kosar Abdi spoke with Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, AJ McLean, Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson about being the first pop act to headline Sphere.
The guys also reflected on how life has changed since their 1999 Millennium tour, with all of them having families now.
Carter said, “I have daddy duties, you know, so I’m probably going to be, you know, double time… taking my son to baseball, taking my kids to school.”
Howie added, “Life has changed for us and now it’s like you know, while we’re doing the shows, like Nick’s saying, we’re not only just thinking about ourselves and, ya know, being up onstage, ya know, in our young 20s. We’re now thinking about, ‘Okay, well after the show, we got to get back home,’ or before the show, we got duties to do, you know.”
The guys shared how they’ve stayed so close 30+ years as a group.
AJ joked, “We pay each other very well.”
In all seriousness, Howie said, “Communication is, I think, the biggest thing… We’re all five individuals and when we come together, it’s magic… We all have the same passion and the drive to make good music, not only for ourselves, but for our fans. To constantly challenge ourselves, never get complacent, always pushing an envelope… Besides that, we also respect each other’s individual space and individuality and that’s really importantly.”
Howie also expressed the importance of “supporting each other” with life outside of the group.
Brian chimed in, saying, “When we started this thing, it’s actually been 32 years… we started it with all these goals in mind, you know, this was as kids… I’ve always said, ‘We’re running a marathon, it’s not a sprint.’ A career is longevity, it’s good, quality music, it’s listening to one another, being compassionate, being respectful… We came up as kids and to be thrown in this band and have so much success, you can lose your marbles really quickly in this business, but having each other to lean on, I think has captured those special moments in our journey.”
As for their Las Vegas residency, Nick believes it will be great, explaining, “It’s about your sight, it’s about your ears, it’s about the sensations that you get paired with the music that we’ve done, the hits that we’ve had throughout the years that are nostalgic to certain people… We pair that all together in this environment that brings you back to a good time.”
AJ dished, “We’re going to still do what we do, like, we’re going to be dancing, we’re going to be running all over the stage. We’re going to have hopefully a couple of fun little gags and treats for the fans, but you will hear the entire ‘Millennium’ album from start to finish, as well as some of the greatest hits.”
Tickets for “Into the Millennium” go on sale February 21, and “Millennium 2.0” is out on the first day of the residency, July 11.