May 5 was a night where a concert brought me back to the 90s and early 2000s and made me feel like I was a teenager again. After years off the spotlight, the biggest selling boy band in the world and my numero uno love, the Backstreet Boys came back to Manila for a concert!

I was about 24 or 25 when the boys last came here to perform. I’m almost 30 now! The concert is a celebration of their 22 years in the music business. Tagal na noh? Most of the boy bands from their time have already disbanded and some even had members who came out of the closet. During their heyday, rumors were swirling about Nick’s sexuality, that he’s actually a girl or gay just because he sported that one-length hair style. Well, he’s not. None of the Backstreet Boys are gay. And after all these time, they are still all together, making sweet music!

Being such a big fan of these guys, when I read online that they were coming back to Manila for a concert tour, I said to myself I cannot miss that chance to catch them perform live again especially since they’re all complete!

This time, I chose to share the concert experience with another big fan of the Backstreet Boys, Anerine. We were both crazy for Nick. It’s that love for the Backstreet Boys and that blonde blue eyed guy that brought us together as friends back in sixth grade.  
Erin bought herself a BSB concert shirt souvenir

The Backstreet Boys In A World Like This concert happened on a Tuesday night. A working day. But we were there early (around 5PM!) at SM Mall of Asia to ensure that we didn’t stress ourselves trying to get to the concert on time. Excited kung excited, di ba?

We were already inside the SM Arena at exactly 8PM. See those empty seats? That got filled out later on in the night. It was a sold out concert! The boys still got it going on. 
It’s show time! 
During the concert, the boys laid down a couple of rules. The rules according to Nick? “Go crazy” and “Act like you’re 15 again.” We, the fans, all happily obliged. We screamed like a bunch of teenagers! We truly embraced the fan girl inside of us that night.

The Backstreet Boys sang a lot of their big hits from all their albums in the past such as the swoon-worthy, melt-your-heart I’ll Never Break Your Heart and All I Have to Give, to their groove-to-the-music, Everybody and We’ve Got it Goin’ On down to the hugot songs like Quit Playing Games (with my heart). I wish they sang Anywhere for You and Get Down too though! There were also songs from their new album, In a World like This.

The boys showed off their amazing vocal blending singing accapella.

And their dance moves on stage (though as PhilStar described it, their “vertical leaps are a half inch off” compared to when they were younger, the Backstreet Boys showed us all that they still got it 🙂 ) 

The SM Arena was all lit up with the audience’s cellphone flashlights. Oh what a beautiful sight to see!  
The Backstreet Boys really brought their A-game during the concert. It was really an awesome night and I so want a repeat of that! Well I may have to wait for awhile again as the boys are just about to go back to the recording studio after this world tour for a brand new album. And a new album means a new world tour – that’s what Brian Littrell said. 

The Backstreet Boys may well be in their 30s and 40s now, married and have families of their own but that’s okay. Us fans are older now too! We love them still though. I love them still.

Nick’s rocking the dad bod nowadays. But that’s okay. I will always be a Nick Carter girl at heart.

I’m glad I shared this with Erin too. We sang along, we took photos and videos and we screamed our hearts out.


Backstreet’s Back all right!