Backstreet Boys Encounters Page 4

Encounters

Page 4

Hi, I'm Ang.

I'm 23 and I live in Ontario, Canada. A friend and I went to Toronto on the 13th of September, we had no intentions of going to the concert, but we were going to the hotel where the boys were staying, just to hang out, see the hype, and maybe meet some friends! All of the above we did indeed! During our stand in the cold out in front of the hotel, we mingled with about 30 fans, and awaited the boy's presence outside. As we all stood and waited, Leighanne comes out with one of the dogs in her knapsack. Security accompanied her past the fans and across the road for the dog to "do his thing." Leighanne wanted to stop and say hi, but security insisted that they hurry. They crossed the road and came back, and she stopped this time anyways. Without security by her side, she graciously signed autograph after autograph, as she mingled with the fans, laughing and talking. A few fans asked to see her wedding ring, and she showed them, but she wasn't being conceited or anything. She was very genuine. Finally, security was literally pulling her away, and she was appologizing up and down for having to leave. - Just for the record, any "Leighanne bashers" out there, I think you need to experience this first hand like I did, instead of making up stupid nonsense rumors. Leighanne is genuine, and very down to earth.
Aside from that, we witnessed the boys coming and going from the hotel, Nick accompanied in the van by a blond girl, of which I have NO idea who she is. We after, went inside the hotel and roamed around, floor to floor just for something to do. My friend got Nick's autograph inside the hotel, and a girl I met there had a picture of the last time she met AJ, and she said he is very very nice, and very funny.
That was my experience, if you'd like to chat more about this, for this is all just in a nutshell, e-mail me anytime!! angielee_is@hotmail.com
Love,

Angie L. Brant

A Fans Front Row Experience in Chicago

(22/09/01)

The dream of every BSB fan- to be in the front row.
Last night, September 22, 2001, I had my dream come true as a HUGE backstreet boys fan. I was sitting in the front row for the Backstreet Boys Black and Blue Tour in Chicago. I seriously don’t even know how I ended up with these tickets, but I got them the day they went on sale for face value because of a computer glitch on ticketmaster! It was such a freak thing! Since the day I got the tickets I was totally going crazy knowing that I was going to be so close to the boys I love so much. The concert was originally scheduled for July 21, 2001, but then when I was on vacation I found out that it was rescheduled for September 22 because AJ was going into rehab. I’m so proud of him for doing that!! I had already started on my sign for Brian, which said… “BRIAN, remember me from the 2-12-01 fan conference? I asked for your water bottle!” It was on bright yellow fabric and all the letters were embroidered with blue and silver sewn on sequence. I worked on it from July until early September, and then finally it was the day of the concert!
If you have been to a BSB concert, you know the feeling of excitement before it. It is so unexplainable! I had no idea what I was in for that night! As usual I had on all my BSB gear and then wrote Backstreet boys with a bar of soap all over the tinted windows of our van. It was about a 20-minute drive to the Tweeter Center, and when we got there at about 3:45 my mom and I went right into line. At around 4 the Backstreet Boys busses started to come in and I was chasing them down to the parking lot! The windows were so tinted that you couldn’t see inside them, but you never know who could have been in there! After those busses came in, it didn’t seem like any others were coming so we went back to the van really quick to get something to drink. As we were walking back we saw another bus coming in the distance. This time we were on the opposite side we had been on because we were walking back to the van, and there were only about 10 people there who were walking to the lines. The bus kept getting closer and then we noticed that the window of this one was open and AJ was sitting in the window with a smile on his face!! OMG I was freaking out! Then a few more busses came and we went back in line.
From the line I started to hear really loud music playing and I realized it was BSB doing their sound check! I ran over to the fence and heard them sing “Drowning”, “Everyone” and the band warming up! It was sooooo cool! After that I figured that Brian, Nick, Howie, and Kevin must have been in the other busses that came in, but just didn’t have their window open! Finally they let us in the gates and I had my camera and sign hidden and actually got them in! The first thing we did when we got in was go to our seats to really bring it to reality that we were in the front row! Section 102 row A seats 15 and 16. Then I went to buy a shirt, a purple Howie bear for his charity, and tour pins. There was a contest from kellogs where if you brought in 7 box tops from kellogs cereal that you would get a tattoo and they would pick out some people wearing the tattoo to go backstage before the show! So I brought my box tops to the tent and put the BSB tattoo on my arm, but no luck being seen!
We were in the very long line for the bathroom when we heard it be announced to stand in recognition of those who died and their families in NY and WA. That was really sweet! By the time we got out of the bathroom the first opening act, VI 3, started. They use to be Faze 4 but a member quit so they changed their name. They were pretty good and were wearing red, white and blue! During their last song they threw out t-shirts and one was coming our way and my mom ended up catching it! Krystal had a Radio Disney show in Dallas so she couldn’t make it. Sisqo’s set was getting prepared and this huge red banner of him came up for the back round. Sisqo was really good and wants you to scream! He is also an awesome dancer! There were a lot of explosions and in the front row you can feel the heat and force of them like you are in the middle of it! During the “thong song” black and blue confetti came pouring down and it was so cool!
After a while the pop tart girls came out and called out seat numbers of people that won prizes. When they were done, we knew the boys would be on stage soon! During that time we were talking to the security guards and being really friendly with them. This one security guard who was in front of me the whole time kept saying like 5 minutes until they come on because he knew the exact time everything was going to happen! At about 8:35 the lights were turned down low and it was time for the show to begin!
An image of the Earth showed up on the big screen as 10 meteorites, resembling Idaho potatoes, crashed into the Earth followed by thunderous booms, blinding flashes of light, and extreme forces of heat. The feeling of being so close is just incredible! Then the Backstreet Boys who seemed literally “larger than life” were raised from below the stage on 5 pedestals. They were all wearing black leather trench coats, either a black or blue shirt with silver lining designs on them, and black leather pants. Brian was in the middle and was wearing a bandana, and AJ surprisingly wasn’t! They were lowered down to stage level and I was holding out my sign, jumping and screaming like crazy! They did an opening dance routine to some pounding beats, at one point they froze with these serious looks on their faces, facing our section. Brian spotted my sign immediately and you could see the shock in his face when he saw Brian on the sign! You could see his eyes and head moving from line to line reading the sign word for word when all the other boys were still and then when they moved out of that pose he looked over at me with the classic Brian smile and shook his head YES! AHHHHH!!!! I can’t believe he remembered!!! He then proceeded in watching me go nuts!
“Everyone” began and the boys sounded better than ever! They did the dance with the salute to the chorus and it was great! It went straight into “Larger Than Life” with the spectacular dance break with all the dancers. At the end of the song they went down the stairs to change into their black and red outfits for “Not For Me”. The round screen turned to a blazing red and they came back out all wearing sunglasses except for AJ! Brian was acting to the lyrics of his verse like a play by having a note with a number. Right after the first chorus, all of the boys came right in front of us and all did a nice dance move if ya know what I mean!! Haha! I absolutely love the part where they stop in front of air blowers and all of their clothes are flying everywhere! At the end of the song while singing, “well let me tell you it’s not for me!” they all drop below the stage in their 5 trap doors! The looks on their faces as they fall down are just priceless! Within seconds of falling down the trap doors, Brian came rising back up his to give his welcoming. He was saying, “How many of you have the Black and Blue album? (Screams) Who wants so see some more of Howie? (Screams!) “How many of you have the Millennium CD? (Screams) Who wants to see more of Kevin? “How many of you have BaCkStrEEts BaCk? (Screams!) Who wants to see more of AJ? (Screams) Now here is the real test! How many of you have the backstreet boys very very first CD? (Screams!) Who wants to see more of ummm Nick??? (Wow big screams!)” And he thanked us for coming and then was slowly lowered down his trap door as AJ came up his.
AJ came up already wearing his white suit and went on to say, “ Finally I’m at an even number here! Today is 80 days sober! Thank you all for the love and support!” I can’t remember what else he said but up next was Nick. The first thing he said was, “C’mon everyone lets give it up for AJ one more time!” and then said; “Now lets give a big round of applause for America! Ya!” And thanked us! After Nick was Howie and he was talking about how he was at White Star on Friday night and how the people of Chicago and B96 helped him raise $6,000 for his charity! Then out came Kevin and he dedicated “What Makes You Different” to all the ladies in the house! The rest of the boys came up wearing white suits with the spotlight on Howie as he sang his first lines and then moving over to Brian as he sang his part. In the middle of the song Brian saw me singing along and jumping and waving and looked right into my eyes and held the microphone out to me! I was like OMG!!! And then he smiled like he knew I was having the time of my life! AHHHH! After that was “Yes I Will” and Brian had a scarf on along with the white suit and he would wipe his fore head off about every 30 seconds! Poor Brian! He must have been so hot! They did the cane routine to it and it was awesome!
The lights turned out again and you could see the shadows of the boys going up the stairs onto the raised platforms to sing “More Than That”. It was so cute how Nick would get so into it and start spinning around! There was steamy smoke flooding throughout the first few rows as dancers rose up and down doing ballerina type moves. It felt as if I was on a cloud, which I was because I was so close to the Backstreet boys! Then Nick climbed under the rail and jumped down to the main stage, and Brian and AJ went down the stairs! “I Want It That Way” started to play and everyone went crazy! When it was Howie’s solo he added in Chicago! I had no clue at the time because I was staring at Brian, that after Kevin’s solo he went down the stairs and jumped off the mini wing, and started walking on this platform right in front of our section!! Before I knew it I was being pushed by the security guard that we had gotten to know right in front of Kevin and he looked at me and touched my hand!!! He touched my hand about 3 times because he kept going back and forth and then I touched the bottom of his pant leg! OMG OMG OMG!!! When he touched me it was like something came over me and I couldn’t stop crying and looking at my hand in amazement like OMG KEVIN TOUCHED THIS HAND!!! When I touched his pant leg it felt like wool and like it would be very hot and itchy! I hope it wasn’t though!!
After “I want it that way” a video came on the screen that showed the making of the IWITW video. The kept showing close-ups of all 5 hotties! Everybody would scream when they saw their favorite BSB’s close-up on the screen and tonight AJ got the loudest one! It’s so fun to watch the guys joke around! Then a video from the year 2050 came on and it had what all the boys would look like then. They were all so hot still! All the boys kept touching nick’s stomach because they wanted to know what he was hiding in there! Nick was like, “Hey, that’s 25 years of Twinkies right there!” Howie had a hip replacement and he was doing a little cha-cha dance and cracking jokes that Joey Fatone of *nsync auditioned to take his place! Haha! The point of it was that they will always be the backstreet boys!
Up next was a medley of “Quit Playin Games” and “As Long As You Love Me”. The boys came out wearing blue suits and they sang the medley without much music in the backround. Brian would keep jumping on and off of the black blocks that were on the stage, and from my view, I couldn’t see AJ the whole time they were on the blocks! The lights dimmed again and when they lit up again they were in a “V” formation with their microphone stands and sang “I’ll Never Break Your Heart”. Nick had the funniest look on his face when he was doing the dance routine during the chorus like, “Is this cheesy or what?” Awww! So cute! Whenever Brian had a solo he would hold the microphone out like he wanted everyone to sing, but not that many people knew the words! I was with ya Brian!!! After that AJ took center stage and the other boys were further back on the stage. Then Howie went up to AJ and said, “What is all this with I’ll Never Break Your Heart? You’ve been lying for the past 8 years…c’mon show them what you really mean!” And then that was the start of “Don’t Want You Back”.
At the moment it looked as if we were all in for a strip show, as they took off their blue suits piece by piece. Ahhh! Brian was having trouble with his and he had to stick his hand down his pants to get his shirt off!! LOL! They were wearing baby blue wife beaters and blue pants and looked sooooo hot! The dancing was awesome, and it went into the dressing room skit. They asked us, “Do you like the clothes we have on right now? Would you like us to change right here on this stage in front of you all??” OMG ya!!! Then Brian jumped into the BSB wardrobe box without saying anything. Then Nick went down followed by Howie. At that point AJ and Kevin were left and then Brian came back up out of the box wearing a white wife beater and pulled AJ down in the box with him by the ear! Kevin shut the box and sat on it and then this big purple cowboy hat came flying on stage! I think it was for AJ and Kev picked it up and was like this must be for AJ and said he wanted to introduce us to some new solo material he had been working on. A song began to play and he sang for about 10 seconds and went, “Nah, I was just kiddin ya there! Would you like to come inside?” So Kevin went in the box. As he was climbing down, a prerecorded video came on of the boys changing in their dressing room!
AJ was telling us about a new tattoo he had gotten that says Ajiggidy I think. He said it’s his new nickname too! AJ was also swinging from a pole in his boxers!!! Nick and Howie tried to get AJ a date that ended up being an inflatable girl named Sally! Then, nick got a number from a girl in the audience and Howie took it because he said that nick got all the girls! They were all trying to see in the mirror and then started to sing part of “Just to be close to you”.
Following the video the boys were suppose to rise up from a mini stage in the back of the stadium, but the Tweeter Center is an outdoor venue and they couldn’t accommodate it. So instead of that, they came back up onto the main stage and they dedicated “Show Me The Meaning” to Daniel Lee who died on one of the terrorist flights to LA. They also said that everyone is so depressed now they went on with the tour to brighten people’s days! So sweet! Throughout the song pictures of Daniel were flashing on the screen in his memory. They were all wearing grayish colored suits now and started singing on the wing right in front of us! OMG they were so close it was unbelievable! They all seemed to have their eyes closed really taking in the song! They moved on to the other wing to finish the song and then went back to the center to sing “How Did I Fall In Love With You”. At that time I noticed a blonde woman coming from under the stage and walking in front of the front row where I was. I didn’t have to think twice, I just knew that it was Leighanne! She went and sat down in front of the barricade, towards the center of the stage. She really seemed to be enjoying the show, and she is so short in person! In the middle of the song Brian and Nick came walking over my way and I started jumping up and down and waving my arms like crazy! Then Brian looked right at me and started doing the same crazy waving motions that I was doing! I was like no way!! He was laughing so hard when he saw how nuts I went when I saw that he saw me! Being in the front row is just so incredible!
“Time” was next and then they all sat on the edge of the stage. Brian said, “Did you know that the Backstreet Boys have been together for 8 ½ years now? That was when Nick was only 13!!” And then they started singing. Leighanne was still sitting in front and she was directly in front of Brian. It was so adorable because Brian kept pointing to Leighanne, who was right in front of him, and she would mouth the words along with Brian with this huge smile on both of their faces! They are so in love! Then someone in the center section pulled out silly string and started spraying the boys! Brian saw it coming and I think he might have gotten some in his eye! Then ducked for cover! LOL! They had it all over them! Nick said the cutest thing during his solo that goes, “remember the days when we would sing at the drop of a dime oooo” and then he added in the sweetest voice, “Or maybe even a penny!” Then Nick and Howie had their arms around each other, and Brian discovered some silly string on stage when the song was over and slipped it into Howie’s pocket! Howie had this look on his face like he was going to use it later and Brian patted it in Howie’s pocket for safe keeping! Then Brian started making voices pretending like he was Nick when he was 13! Ahhhh! It was so comical just like something he would do!! Then Nick went, “hey dude I am still 13!” Brian just kept making the voice!

At one point they sang “America The Beautiful”, which was so breathtaking, in dedication to all the people that died September 11th and to their loved ones. Their harmonies sounded like angels from above and just perfect! At this point they all changed into USA clothes and flag bandanas.
They all went to instruments except for Kevin during “Answer To Our Life”. Kevin said, “This song is about making the world a better place and I think it could be right now!” Brian was on the bongos and guitar, Nick on drums, Howie on the cowbell and AJ was on guitar I think. Kevin stayed in center of the stage. There was a powerful nature video on the big screen. At the end of the song Nick pretended to fall and was laying on the stage and Kevin would keep putting the microphone out so we would scream when it was out and be silent when he pulled it away. It sounded so cool because he would put it out for a long time and then do short ones! You really had to have been there to know what I’m talking about.
Up next was the “All I Have to Give”/ “If You Stay” medley. Nick came out alone to sing his solo and then he was joined by the rest of the boys by the chorus. They did a hat dance with a western flavor to it and then that went right into “If You Stay”, which has a really good dance routine to it. Brian even threw out his hat, and it landed in the front row in the center! All of the boys went out of view as the lights dimmed. When the lights turned back on AJ was in the center of the stage and started “Shining Star”. He was followed by Nick when it was time for his solo, and he came down a set of stairs and even pretended to answer a phone when he said the line, “doesn’t matter if the phone might ring”. All of the boys were on the stage by the chorus, and the choreography was so great! With this being my 5th Black and Blue tour concert, I knew most of the dances, and I was dancing along with them the whole time! OMG one of the best parts of the whole concert had to have been when Nick was shakin it and getting down, if you can get the picture, like one after the other!!! AJ must be rubbing off on Nick cause he was being sexy hot baby! Not that he isn’t always, but this was something to see!!!
After “Shining Star” was the band and dancer intors. All the boys were having such a good time introducing them all, and when Nick was introducing the drummer he was like sitting on a rail and really getting down yet again! Go nick!!! Then they all went off stage. About a minute later all of the dancers were on the stage and there was this huge explosion. Then the boys came soaring from under the stage out of the 5 trap doors! They were like rockets blasting through the stage, it was so awesome! From the front row you could practically feel the adrenaline coming from the stage, it’s the coolest feeling in the world! This song is just classic in concert! The best question asked of the night was, “Am I Sexual?!?!?”, and I’ve got the answer!!! Heck YA! Just imagine Nick crouched down, head between his knees, and pulling at his hair while singing that like 3 feet away!! The dancing was spectacular as usual too! With a short pause “Everybody” went right into “Get Another Boyfriend”. Brian was in front of our section like the whole time and he was sooooo adorable!! He even let loose and pulled an AJ, or maybe I should say a Nick after tonight, but it was so small but yet so HOT! It must have been because Leighanne was watching! The dance break in this song it just awesome! When the song was over AJ came back out and said, “I have some good news, and I have bad news! The good news is that you all have been a hell of an audience tonight!! The bad news is that we only have time for TWO more songs! (His call phone starts ringing) Should I answer it? Should I answer it?? (He answers it) Hello? (Looking at someone in front of the front row barricade, Kev’s wife?) Kristin? Why are you calling me?” or something to that extent. That was the beginning of “The Call”. Yet again the dancing was great, and on the second chorus Nick yelled, “Let’s get down with the remix!” and they did a different routine. It was so cool! The last time they say “Gotta Go”, before the break in the song, they all dropped down the trap doors while saying it. From the front row you can’t really see their feet so when they would drop down the holes the multiple times during the show it looked like they were just falling and never stopping! They came back up wearing blue choir robes and then ripped them off and threw them like right in front of us! Then the crew was picking them up and bringing them backstage. They finished up the rest of “The Call” and then went down the stairs again.
After a little while the boys came back on stage and sang “Shape of My Heart”. Normally this would have been the end of the concert, but AJ said they had time for TWO more songs! During “Shape of my heart” Brian came out with 2 Brian Littrell healthy heart club for kids shirts, and he signed them on the stage. Then he told a security guard to give one to the handicap girl who was having such a great time directly a few rows behind me, and one to this mom that was holding her sleeping daughter. At that time Kevin came back over to where he was shaking hands during “I Want It That Way”! OMG I didn’t notice him over there until he was there for like ten seconds because I was staring at my baby Brian who was right in front of me, so when I tried to go over there I was too far back for Kev to reach. He was so sweet though because he kept trying to reach as far as he possible could and he almost fell off the stage trying! The next thing that happened I had no idea even happened because I was over by Kev! LOL. Luckily my mom was there! From what she told me AJ went and got a water bottle and started drinking out of it and then sprayed the audience with the rest of the water. He then threw the water bottle right in front of my mom, but in front of the barricade! This guy we met at the BSB fan conference that works for them was sitting on this black storage box right next to where it landed, so my mom was smart and asked if she could have it! He was like SURE and then my mom ran over and showed me! I totally didn’t believe her because I didn’t see any of it happen, but I was freaking out so bad! Now I have Brian and AJ’s water bottle! Ahhhhh!!!! I tried to throw AJ this leopard slap bracelet I had gotten for him, but it missed the stage! AJ was also parading around the stage with his shirt lifted over his head so we could see his chest and a huge American Flag, which was so cool of him! I thought this night couldn’t get any better but there is still more!!!
After “Shape of my heart” there was this huge rush of people that came flooding to the front! It was like a stampede of BSB fans! LOL! Then out of nowhere the boys came rising back up on the same pedestals they came up on during “Everyone”, but they were all even with one another, and sang “Drowning”!!!!! They stayed raised in the air until after the first chorus, and a spotlight would go on each of them individually as they sang their solo. Then they were lowered to stage level. It was so weird because hardly anyone knew the words so it was almost silent and I could hear myself singing word for word with them! AJ still had his shirt pulled over his head and he looked soooo incredibly HOT! Kevin’s solo sounded so good because it has been a while since he has had one in a song! Before I even knew it they were taking their final bows and then being lowered down under the stage waving their last goodbyes!
Within a minute of the concert being over, a guy that works for the Backstreet Boys came out from under the stage. He was holding a whale stuffed animal and he was coming straight towards my mom and I. Naturally after the concert I was on total Backstreet high like OMG I can’t believe all this happened. The guy was in front of the front row barricade and he went up to my mom because I was freaking out enough already, and said, “The boys wanted your daughter to have this!!!” And then something like they saw her sign, but I really can’t remember because it happened so fast! At that point I was shaking and crying “Like a Child” and he handed me the stuffed animal that said Nick Rocks on the bottom. It must have been something someone threw on the stage for Nick! I was in total shock and I couldn’t stop crying for at least 45 minutes! I still don’t even believe it when I see the whale in my room like a shrine. That really shows how much they care about the fans and actually notice and acknowledge them! I never thought in a millennium that I would be in the front row of a Backstreet Boys concert let alone have them send a stuffed animal to me from backstage because they saw how big of a fan I was! When I think about it, they must have had to describe me pretty well for the guy to be able to come and give it to me! OMG they were talking about me! Ahhhh!!! My guess is that it was Brian who sent it even though he said “the boys” because I had a sign for him and he saw me so many times throughout the show!
When we were walking out all of these girls kept coming up to my mom and I wanting to touch AJ’s water bottle! It was also so weird how all of these people knew who I was! I wished that night had never ended because that was one of the best nights of my life, right up there with February 12, 2001 when I went to the fan conference and got a hug from Brian and he gave me his water bottle!
Other things that happened during the concert but I can’t remember when….
· Kevin caught a Goofy stuffed animal on the stage and said something like, this is AJ!
· Leighanne went back under the stage to put on a light blue sweatshirt
because she was cold, and then she came back out and was dancing with one of the BSB crewmembers and having a great time!
· Howie picked up a stuffed animal that looked just like him with the long hair (I think it was homemade) and the same one was thrown on stage February 12th!
· Howie pointed to me!
· Nick almost slipping right in front of us!

*~Jenny~*