The Backstreet Boys are Back – and ready to "flip everyone upside down on their head".
The 90s boyband will return to the stage this summer with 21 shows at Sphere in Las Vegas – the first pop act to perform at the interactive venue – and AJ McLean and Brian Littrell tell HELLO! that fans are going to need to return for a second, third and fourth time to truly experience what they have cooking.
© Getty Images for Stagecoach"There are going to be a lot of sections of the show, both content and live, that people are going to be talking about," says AJ, teasing that it will "literally feel like the band is singing directly to you".
"I would assume half the crowd's going to watch us, half the crowd's going to watch the screen, and then you're going to have to come back and switch it because you're just not going to be able to see everything at the same time – which is awesome!"
© Getty ImagesThirty-two years on from their formation, they're cognizant of how the world has changed, and how music and art is consumed.
"We talk about it a lot: it's almost like two different shows going on at the same time because there's the show on the screen, but there's a show on the stage, and so the important part is to integrate those two shows together because you don't want to lose anybody," adds Brian.
A show at Sphere offers opportunities for creativity and modern storytelling, but, "that's a big job" because of the nature of the band.
"We're not The Eagles," quips Brian. "We don't stand up there in one spot and play instruments. We dance around, we hype the crowd."
"I don't think there's any fear, just excitement as we ask: 'How do we do it differently?' And we've got some tricks up our sleeves," he teases.
© WireImageThe band – AJ, Brian, Nick Carter, Kevin Richardson and Howie Dorough – have finalized the set list which will feature a few "surprises" thrown in for longtime fans.
"There is one song in particular that will surprise fans that we haven't done live since the Unbreakable tour," says AJ.
"We did it on Never Gone with Kevin, and then we did it again on Unbreakable with just the four of us, but we haven't done it since then."
The set list will also feature the entirety of their 1999 album, Millennium, which the boys are re-releasing on the same day as their first show on July 11, 2025, with "vault tracks" left off the album at the time, and newer versions of popular songs – including "I Want It That Way".
BSB fans have AJ to thank for the re-release, with the 47-year-old sharing that it was him who first planted the seed to dedicate something new to Millennium, their third album and the one that they believe was "a true turning point in our career".
It was nominated for five Grammys, and became one of the best-selling albums of all time, selling 24 million copies worldwide.
© AFP via Getty ImagesTwenty-six years on from Millennium's release, the Backstreet Boys are all a little older – Nick is the youngest at 45 and Kevin the oldest at 53 – and the world has dramatically changed in the last three decades, with fans still screaming along at the top of their lungs but with their phones recording every moment.
It's something both AJ and Brian are aware of, acknowledging that fame and social media would "probably affect quite a few of us," if the band were to have been formed today.
© Getty Images"I'm actually thankful that when we started we didn't have social media because AJ was 15-years-old when I met him. Nick was 12!" says Brian, calling social media "rude and invasive".
"They were babies. How would you deal with social media nowadays and be a boy band? I wouldn't wish that on anybody."
