Backstreet Boys Bring the DNA Tour on the Road

Darien Lake, NY – July 9^th, 2022: Charlie Meister

Almost two and a half years ago, my wife and her best friend from high school bought tickets to see the Backstreet Boys on their DNA Tour, when they were scheduled to come through town in the summer of 2020. Like every other tour of that year, we all know how that story ended. While 2021 brought the return of live music, it was hit and miss. Tours were constantly being pushed back, rescheduled or canceled due to ongoing COVID issues. Even today, we’re still dealing with the impacts of COVID, albeit to a much lesser extent.

Just as I’ve done with several pop tours in the past, I decided to cover this tour as it was another opportunity to

The show began promptly at 7:30, with Australian pop star Delta Goodrem opening with a 30+ minute performance. Complete with a full band, Goodrem immediately captivated the enthusiastic crowd as they poured in to wait for the headliner. Her performance included her hits “Lost Without You” and “Sitting on Top of the World,” along with a fantastic cover of the newly revived Kate Bush song “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God).” Goodrem alternated between performing songs from her piano at times, while strutting across the stage for the majority of the performance. As my first experience with her music, I was impressed and there’s no doubt this tour will only help bolster her almost 20 year professional music career.

Shortly after 8:45, Backstreet Boys finally took the stage and delivered on their promise to truly be “back again” in Western New York. They opened their performance with “Everyone” off of their 2000 album ‘Black and Blue’ before heading into a 33 song set, which included all the hits from their first three albums and a heavy dose of material from their 2019 release, ‘DNA.’

“Their energy was awesome and they made me feel like a teenager again.” – Kerri Meister

It would be impossible to pick a particular high point from the evening, as the Backstreet Boys poured on hit after hit. From my point of view, glossing over the greatest hits is the easy part. The challenge lies with the ability to introduce your fans to new music 20+ years into your career, and that’s just what they did, performing nine of the twelve songs on their latest album. While there was little representation of anything released between ‘Black and Blue’ and ‘DNA,’ they did work in a few songs from that era, including “Undone” from 2009’s ‘This is Us’ and “Incomplete” from their 2005 album ‘Never Gone.”

The home-stretch of the show was probably the biggest highlight, however, as Nick Carter donned a blue Josh Allen Buffalo Bills jersey and Brian Littrell sported a Buffalo Bills hat. The already-screaming crowd peaked heading into final quarter of the show, beginning with “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back).”

While I caught a few glimpses of my wife in the general admission pit area that she and her friend splurged for, I didn’t get to really connect with her until after the show. After we caught up, of course the first thing I asked her was what she thought of the show. In her own words, “They haven’t lost a step since their concerts in the 90’s” and “Their energy was awesome and they made me feel like a teenager again.”

It was fairly evident that most of the fans in attendance probably felt the same way. COVID may have delayed this tour for two years, but it’s on now and I wouldn’t wait another minute to grab your tickets if you’re interested in catching this one!