23rd March 2013: Twin Towers @Live 2013, Day 2! (I skipped Day 1.) That is a rather cool-looking building, looking a lot like a funky CPU casing.
I brought my Sony Alpha 99 and Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 135mm F1.8 ZA this time, but only got into the free area. So here’s Mizz Nina, on screen.
Maybe it’s Maybelline! (Edit: Nope, it’s Cleo Lee; thanks Maybelline for the heads up!)
I came, really, to catch the Backstreet Boys. Here’s Nick Carter and Brian Littrell! It was my first time catching them. Although just as any other guy my age, I’d have denied the musicality of a boy band, I realized, after school, that their songs had their merit. They had a way of sticking in your head, such that you’d hear them on the radio and if one guy started singing along, the rest of you could chime in with all the vocal parts and harmonies.
The above picture is a 100% crop.
They started their set with Incomplete. They also accepted modern-day pop, by breaking into PSY – Gangnam Style in the breakdown of Larger Than Life!
They made full use of the live band to sound different than the record; We’ve Got It Goin’ On had a more piano-like sound instead of the synthesizer sound.
(Click image for full-resolution version)
They sat on stools for Show Me The Meaning Of Being Lonely and As Long As You Love Me, complete with the bit where Nick Carter gets off the stool for the first verse and does moves while singing, very much a reenactment of the music video!
They’ve probably done these moves a thousand times before, but it was still very cool to see it for the first time.
This picture is actually out-of-focus; otherwise I’d be linking it to the full-resolution crop.
I think this was either I’ll Never Break Your Heart or Shape Of My Heart. Every not-so-teenage-anymore girl’s dream come true.
100% crop of Alexander James “A.J.” McLean.
100% crop of Kevin Scott Richardson.
100% crop of Nickolas Gene “Nick” Carter.
(Click image for full-resolution version)
Here’s one that shows a bit of the stage.
From the above image, this is a 100% crop of Howard Dwaine “Howie D.” Dorough (sorry, I don’t have a clearer shot of him.)
A.J. and Kevin.
A fuller shot of the band.
They did Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) for the encore, complete with the signature dance! It was the Gangnam Style dance of its era… but cooler. They seemed to be in top form, compared to the last time they were down in Malaysia, where some said they weren’t as fit as before.
I couldn’t find my notes for this show, so I’d have to rely on the setlist found online:
1. Incomplete
2. Larger Than Life
3. We’ve Got It Goin’ On
4. Get Down (You’re the One for Me)
5. Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)
6. Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely
7. As Long As You Love Me
8. The One
9. All I Have to Give
10. Drowning
11. I’ll Never Break Your Heart
12. Shape of My Heart
13. I Want It That Way
14. The Call
15. Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)
By album:
Backstreet Boys (4)
Backstreet’s Back (3)
Millenium (4)
Black & Blue (2)
The Hits: Chapter One (1)
Never Gone (1)