Backstreet Boys – DNA World Tour Review

‘I would hope somebody out there will still want to hear a Backstreet Boys song when I’m 50-something.’ – Brian Littrell

I was asked by another BSB fan the other week how many times I’ve seen them live and it took me a while to sit and work out, but eventually came to the realisation that the DNA world tour would be my tenth time. So quite apt really that I was able to see them for the tenth time with two of the three people who have stuck with me all the way through my obsession fandom; Ang and my mum (the third person being Meagan who sadly couldn’t make it over this time and was a huge miss).

I’m not one of these people who likes to be surprised so as soon and the tour kicked off in Portugal I was straight over to setlist.fm to check out what they were singing. I have to say, bar a few dullers which they always insist on singing every tour *cough*I’ll never break your heart*cough* it was pretty much my dream setlist. The fact that they bring back old album tracks was a real surprise but an absolutely epic decision in my eyes. It was going to get emosh.

I was slightly worried before the show that since seeing the setlist and a LOT of videos shared on instagram I wouldn’t be able to look at the whole thing objectively but at the end of the day when I reviewed their most recent album (the one they’re touring on now incidentally) I all but gave it a panning so safe to say I’m now shy about saying when something is shit, even if it’s my boys.

The SEC Hydro was completely sold out which made for a fantastic atmosphere and I’m happy to report that my boys didn’t disappoint. They sounded absolutely incredible, and it was probably the slickest most polished performance I’ve ever seen them do. Considering they have an average age of 43, quit frankly their dancing has never looked better and they clearly still love what they do.

The setlist consisted of 33 songs which meant they raced through a lot of them. All the hits were present and correct however to get through everything they didn’t sing everything all the way through, which did at times make it feel like they were rattling through things. It did mean however that they were able to fit in some of my favourite deep cut album tracks which I never thought I’d get the chance to hear them sing again like That’s The Way I Like It and my all time fave BSB choon ever Don’t Wanna Lose You Now. That’s where it got totes emosh. I mean, the videos speak for themselves:

The biggest problem with them having such a large back catalogue which are prominently mid tempo or slow ballads means there’s the inevitable slow section in the middle where Quit Playing Games was followed by As Long As You Love Me, No Place and Breathe but who doesn’t love a good croon along, especially when you’re jazzed up on red wine like we were. Probably my biggest bugbear of the whole night? Their wardrobe.

The outfits for previous tours have always been spot on and they’ve always looked amazing. I’ve no idea what went wrong this time round but the whole camo/top gun/desert manoeuvres look was doing nothing for me. They must have been boiling more than anything else. As such their signature white outfits for the latter part of the show (incidentally when they started dancing again) was a welcome return.

What was also really nice was that whether you were a fair weather fan or a die hard nut like me, everyone was there for a good time There was no bitchiness or catty side eyes like there was when we were teenagers. Even the blokes who’d been clearly dragged along under duress were singing along to I Want It That Way by the end of the night. Which helps back up my dream of getting Dave to a BSB concert one day.

You know what my yardstick is for judging a good concert? Whether I look at my watch at all during the show. And for the almost 2 hours they were on stage, I didn’t look at my watch once and the time just flew over. So despite the jam packed set list, I still had a great time.

I said in my album review, was it a good pop album? Yes. Was it a good Backstreet Boys album? No. So in the same vein, was this a good pop concert? Absolutely. Was it a good Backstreet Boys concert? Ah who’m I kidding? Of course it was!

See the set list:

Everyone
I Wanna Be With You
The Call
Don’t Want You Back
Nobody Else
New Love
Get Down (You’re the One for Me)
Chateau
Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely
Incomplete
Undone
More Than That
The Way It Was
Chances
Shape of My Heart
Drowning
Passionate
Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)
As Long As You Love Me
No Place
Breathe
Don’t Wanna Lose You Now
I’ll Never Break Your Heart
All I Have to Give
Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)
We’ve Got It Goin’ On
It’s Gotta Be You
That’s the Way I Like It
Get Another Boyfriend
The One
I Want It That Way
Encore:
Don’t Go Breaking My Heart
Larger Than Life

*thanks to my mate Joanna for letting me use her pics from the show