THIS IS US TOUR: Backstreet Boys To Deliver A 'Show In The Fullest Form'

Nick Carter has noticed a few similarities as well as changes in the crowd during his current Backstreet Boys tour compared to when the group first toured in the 1990s.

“The crowds are just as hyped,” Carter said during a July 22 phone interview from Los Angeles, where the group had just performed a taping for the George Lopez show. “Some (fans) are a little older, but they’re bringing younger ones. There is fresh blood for the Backstreet Boys.”

The popular boy band of the 1990s performs at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 5 at the ShoWare Center in Kent.

Band members certainly are a little older. Carter, 30, is the youngest. Howie Dorough is 36, Brian Littrell 35 and AJ McLean 32.

“The years are adding up, but it doesn’t feel like it,” Carter said. “We’re always looking to the future and not living in the past.”

Fans, however, can expect to hear many of the hit songs from the past.

“A lot of people come to hear the old songs,” Carter said. “We give them all of the top hits. They will hear ‘I Want It That Way.’”

Fans can also expect to hear “Quit Playing Games (with My Heart),” “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back),” “All I Have To Give” and many others from the past 17 years.

Carter understands the crowd wants to hear the hits.

“If you go to a Prince concert you want to hear ‘1999’ and ‘Raspberry Beret,’” he said.

Thousands of women and girls are expected to check out the Backstreet Boys at the ShoWare Center.

The Backstreet Boys attracted mainly female audiences with their tours in the 1990s and continue to draw similar crowds since opening their current tour last fall.

“We’re hearing from other buildings that it’s a wide range of ages from junior high to high school to 40-plus ladies and it will be predominately female,” said Beth Sylves, ShoWare Center marketing director. “There are a lot of girls night out activities.”

Girls just want to have fun at a Backstreet Boys concert.

“It’s female, probably 75 percent,” Carter said. “You trickle in grandmothers and newborns and you’ve got a Backstreet Boys show. And there are some guys there.”

Carter’s uncertain how many of today’s fans came to concerts when the boys were teens.

“We probably see some of the same people, but it’s hard to tell when you’re up there on stage,” he said. “They look a little older, maybe closer to your own age.”

Personal lives have changed over the years for the Backstreet Boys. Littrell and Dorough are married, Carter and McLean remain single.

“I’ve got a girlfriend,” Carter said. “And AJ has a girlfriend.”

Carter hopes that doesn’t keep any women away from the show.

“Just because someone is dating someone they should not stop listening to the music,” Carter said. “That would really suck. And you can fantasize.”

The group released their “This Is Us” album last year. After performing adult contemporary songs for a few years, the boys returned to their roots with an album full of their dance-pop sound.

“It’s the rebirth of a whole new era to this group,” Carter said. “It’s the stake in the ground, the flag on the moon. It’s the start of what’s to come.”

As far as the concert, the four singers are joined by a disc jockey as well as four dancers. Fans also will see video vignettes about each band member and plenty of costume changes.

“It’s a show in the fullest form,” Carter said.

The Los Angeles resident looks forward to visiting Kent. The group played July 24 in Boise and plays Aug. 4 in Wenatchee before heading off to a nine-tour stop in Canada after the ShoWare concert.

“It’s beautiful up there and it has the freshest air you can breath in the country,” Carter said.

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