With Nick Carter starting his solo tour in Mexico and South America this week, I thought I would look back at my Nick Carter solo-touring life and why I will always support him.
As anybody can tell you, I’m a Nick girl. While I love all the Backstreet Boys immensely, there has always been a special place for Nick Carter that controls my heart.
Nick Carter on his “Now or Never” tour in Valdosta, Ga. / Photo by Karah
In 2002, when news was really breaking that Nick was doing a solo album, I followed it closely. I remember when clips of the songs snuck online, especially “My Confession.” A clip of “My Confession” got online from some music review website that July 4th weekend and I cried like a baby. See, my website was called “My Confession” at the time.
So when he announced his first solo show at Guavaween in Ybor City (aka Tampa), I was going. I bought tickets the second they went on sale at a, I believe Publix, where the local Ticketmaster was. It was a very warm October day, even for Florida, but I stood in front of the stage for eight hours or more to make sure I was in the very front and I was.
Seeing him perform solo for the first time was something special and is something special that I will always hold close to me. During the show, when he performed “My Confession,” I was singing along with him and if you watch bootleg copies of the show, you can see him ask me “you know the words?” as he was singing the verse. I knew the words. I knew everything. I took three rolls of film at that concert (before digital cameras!).
As you can see, the photos aren’t great. I should really rescan them (haven’t in, well, probably since 2002). The lighting there sucked, but that didn’t matter. Nick was amazing.
After that, there were the Christmas shows and I saw a few of those. They were short sets, usually with only about five or six songs, but he killed it every single time. He also took time out to punch inflatable snowmen.
Nick Carter performing in Orlando for a Christmas show in December 2002. / Photo by Karah
When it was time for his solo tour to start, I can’t tell you how many shows I went to because I honestly lost count. See, I had dropped out of college at the time, severely depressed and so I decided to go to as many concerts as I could. How I afforded that? I have no idea. I really don’t. I wish I had an answer. Concert tickets were cheap then and I remember sleeping in my car a time or two. But I went.
The best one had to be in my hometown of Valdosta on April 5, 2003.
Nick Carter in Valdosta, Georgia, on his Now or Never Tour, April 5, 2003. / Photo by Karah
That concert was everything to me. I fought with the guy who booked shows there to book Nick and he did. I ended up with about 6 front row and second-row seats that I split amongst friends and we lived our very best life that night. It was one of the last few shows on the tour, with, I believe, the last two being Orlando and Ft. Lauderdale.
There was just something about seeing him solo back then that gave me this spark. It was my happiness. I have so many more photos that I’ve never scanned that maybe I will someday.
During that time, seeing Nick Carter in concert was my medicine. It was my anti-drug. He was a drug. Some might call it an obsession, (but this is my confession lol) but to me, it’s what kept me sane.
Since then, I’ve seen each of his main tours – “I’m Taking Off,” “Nick and Knight” and “All American.” I haven’t seen them as many times as some have or as many times as I did the “Now or Never” tour, but even now, 15 years later, there’s something about just him being on stage that gives me this boost of excitement.
While I’ve loved every tour he’s done, “Now or Never” will always hold a special place to me. One of my favorite parts of that tour, besides the tour in general, was Nick performing “Just What I Needed” by The Cars. Every single time, I lost my shit. I loved it.
During his soundchecks on the “All American” tour, he asked people online for suggestions of songs he should sing in soundcheck. Before the Nashville shows, I told him “Just What I Needed.”
And he did it. You may hear me lose my shit in Hannah’s video of the performance below.
Having seen him from his first solo show to one of his last in Nashville, Nick as a solo artist has matured and only gotten better with age. He understands the art of a concert and what fans want and meanwhile is the nicest guy alive. In all of my times talking with him, whether at a meet and greet, on a cruise, or alone in a bar, he has never been nothing but great.
So, people sometimes wonder why I support Nick Carter. It’s because at a time when he wasn’t his best self, he had his own troubles, he helped save me from myself, just by being himself.
