Ladies and gentlemen, the Backstreet Boys are BACK! How sick are you of reading articles that start like that? They didn't go anywhere.
Anyway.
The big Backstreet Boys news this weekend was obviously the Into the Millennium shows kicking off in Germany on Friday. A show that had absolutely no impact whatsoever on the productivity of American Backstreet Boys fans trying to finish their workday Friday afternoon.
Not me. I swear.
But once we got our first look at the show, something else started almost immediately.
The comparisons.
“Well, Germany got the ladders and hoverboards, but Vegas got ‘Siberia.’”
“Vegas had the Sphere visuals.”
“Germany got this.”
“Vegas got that.”
“We deserved this.”
“They deserved that.”
And here we go again.
Can we just enjoy things?
This Is NOT the Same Show
Yes, they're both called Into the Millennium. Yes, they're built around the same album and the original Into the Millennium Tour. But Germany is not simply the Sphere show moved into another venue. This is a different production.
The hoverboards alone should have made that pretty freaking obvious.
Then we got the ladders.
And yes, I made videos about the ladders.
I will continue making videos about the ladders. I never saw the original Into the Millennium Tour. I couldn't afford those tickets at that time so I didn't get to experience Nick Carter climbing that ladder in 1999 or 2000. Now I'm an adult with my own money.
I want to see Nick Carter on a fucking ladder.
Let me live.
But the ladders aren't proof that Germany “won” something over Vegas. Just like “Siberia,” “I Need You Tonight” and the massive Sphere visuals don't mean Vegas fans got something “better.”
They're different shows. And that's okay.
Nobody “Deserves” a Better Show
This is the part of the conversation that bothers me. I keep seeing versions of “we deserve this.” German fans deserved their show. Vegas fans deserved their show. American fans deserve something. UK fans deserve something.
Everybody apparently deserves something.
Can we stop? No country owns the Backstreet Boys. No group of fans is better because of where they live. And no individual fan is better because they've attended 50 shows instead of five. The number of concerts you've attended doesn't determine how much you love this group.
Neither does the number of cruises you've taken, VIPs you've purchased, countries you've traveled to or times one of the guys has recognized you.
We're all fans.
That's supposed to be the point.
And Germany DOES Have an Important Place in BSB History
We also can't talk about the Germany shows without acknowledging why Germany matters so much to the Backstreet Boys. Long before America caught up, European fans were already paying attention. Germany was one of the places where the Backstreet Boys found major success early in their career. Those fans were there before many of us in the United States even knew who the Backstreet Boys were.
America was actually tardy to the party. So seeing them bring a huge Into the Millennium production back to Germany all these years later feels pretty special.
That doesn't take anything away from American fans. It doesn't take anything away from Vegas. It doesn't mean German fans are “better.” It's part of BSB history. America is their home. Germany helped give them their start. Those things can exist together.
And 30-plus years later, we're all still here screaming over the same five men.
That's pretty damn cool.
Do We REALLY Think They're Building This for 10 Shows?
Now let's talk about the elephant in the room. I've seen people worried that they'll never get to experience this version of Into the Millennium because they're not going to Germany.
My $1.99 thoughts?
Look at that production. Look at that stage. Look at the amount of work that obviously went into putting this together. Look at them flying through the air on hoverboards.
Do we REALLY think they spent that much money developing this show just to perform it 10 times and pack everything away forever?
Come on.
I don't know what they've planned, and I'm not pretending I have some secret information. But I would be shocked if this production doesn't have a life beyond these Germany dates. Maybe it becomes a traditional tour. Maybe they do extended stops in certain cities rather than moving every other night. Maybe they follow something closer to what other major artists have done with longer runs in select markets.
We don't know yet.
But I have a very hard time believing the UK never sees some version of this show. I have an even harder time believing it never comes to the United States. There's too much money, production and planning sitting on that stage for me to believe they're doing all of this for 10 nights.
So maybe we don't need to panic because somebody in Germany got to see a ladder before we did.
Our time may come.
And when it does, I will be ready.
For the ladder.
Okay, But Which One Do I Prefer?
Since I know somebody is going to ask… Germany. There. I said it. From everything I've seen so far, I think I prefer the Germany show.
That's MY opinion.
I know some fans are obsessed with the Sphere visuals, and I understand why. Sphere can do things no other venue in the world can do. Some of those visuals are incredible.
But if I'm at a Backstreet Boys concert, I'm watching the Backstreet Boys.
I don't really care what's happening on a giant screen behind them.
Give me the guys.
Give me choreography.
Give me live vocals.
Give me a giant stage.
Give me callbacks to the original Into the Millennium Tour.
Give me hoverboards.
Give me Nick Carter climbing a ladder like it's 1999 again. Apparently that's all it takes to make me happy.
Someone else may watch the Germany footage and still prefer Vegas. Cool. That's the fun of having two completely different versions of the show.
We Don't Have to Turn Everything Into a Competition
That's really my biggest takeaway from this weekend. And I know beating a dead horse in this fandom because everything is always a competition. Vegas doesn't have to beat Germany. Germany doesn't have to beat Vegas.
European fans don't have to prove they deserve something more than American fans. American fans don't need to remind everyone that BSB is an American group.
And the person attending 20 shows isn't a bigger fan than the person who saved for two years to attend one.
We're all here because, somehow, after more than 30 years, these five men still have us rearranging work schedules to watch videos from another continent.
Again, NOT ME.
They still have us analyzing setlists. They still have us freaking out over old choreography. They still have grown women losing their minds because Nick Carter climbed onto a ladder. And now there's an entirely new version of Into the Millennium for us to obsess over.
That's a good thing.
Germany got an incredible show. Vegas has an incredible show. And I'm willing to bet we haven't seen the last of this new production.
So maybe instead of arguing over who “deserved” what, we can enjoy the fact that the Backstreet Boys are more than 30 years into their career and somebody is still willing to spend enough money on them to send five grown men flying into an arena on hoverboards.
Because that sentence alone is ridiculous.
And I love it.
Now bring those ladders to America.
Please for the love of all things holy. Bring the ladders to us.
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