New York Goes Crazy For The Backstreet Boys

Back - Index - Submissions - - What is RSS? Date: Nov 22, 2000 Source: CDNow/Allstar Daily News Submitted By: Sarah H. Tanned and ready, if not entirely rested, the Backstreet Boys descended upon New York City on Tuesday (Nov. 21) for the last in a series of worldwide press conferences in honor of the release of their latest record, Black and Blue. The rollicking press conference took place in Manhattan's Hudson Theater in front of throngs of press and hundreds of screaming teenaged concert winners. The conference, which included a brief, a cappella rendition of the group's new single, "Shape of My Heart," was more lively than it was actually informative. Some high points and low spots: • The Boys announced their 2001 world tour, set to begin in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. on Jan. 22. The first American leg will be all arenas, followed by a North American stadium tour this summer. Tours of Mexico, South America, Europe, and the Pacific Rim respectively will last until next November. • Despite what must be formidable cases of jet lag, the Boys were in good spirits, with much joshing, mugging, and impish smiling for each other and the assembled masses. Only Kevin Richardson (who, with his thick eyebrows, long nose, and facial hair looks increasingly racoon-like) seemed, as Al Gore might say, a little snippy. • There was lots of slavish, we're-doing-it-all-for-you sucking up to fans. "Thank you so much for being here. 'Cause you know what? Just like Nick said, we now have the Black and Blue Army, just like Kiss had the Kiss Army," said A.J. McLean at one point. • The sucking-up by reporters was equally shameless. "It's good to have you guys back safe and sound," a Canadian reporter told the group, as if they had been fighting with U.N. forces in Kosovo instead of touring the world in a private jet (see our story on the plane on this page, as well). • Standard answer to the 'NSync one-week sales record question, from Howie Dorough: "Materialistically, it would be nice to break new records and to start a whole new trend again. It would be nice." He later added, "But if we don't, we don't." • "We all have facial hair now," said McLean when asked how the band had changed. • The [fairly brief] press conference ended with the band getting up and leaving en masse -- with the hundreds of screaming fans following along -- to head to a nearby Virgin Megastore to check on their sales figures. A spokesperson for the Mitch Schneider Organization, which handles the Boys' press, via cell phone from the street likened the scene to the Beatles' A Hard Day's Night. The press conference topped off the Boys' 100-hours-straight promotional tour, which took them to places as far-flung as Tokyo; Sydney, Australia; and Cape Town, South Africa on a luxury jet provided by the king of Saudi Arabia. The band held press conferences in each city and, as a press release put it, "visited local landmarks." The Boys planned to hit MTV's nearby Times Square studio later Tuesday afternoon, for a rooftop live show to be shown on the network Tuesday night. Comment on this item. Next Item: Backstreet's back, circling the globe Prev Item: Howie invites Madonna to go clubbing