I bet a lot of you laughed disparagingly when you heard the Backstreet Boys were coming to town for a concert. But I also bet that deep down, at least half of you wanted to go. After all, it’s been over ten years since the legendary “Quit Playing Games with My Heart” was released, which is more than enough time to turn the music I hated as a 12 year old into a deep nostalgia. This plus all the practice I’ve had singing the BSBs at KTV recently made me extremely excited about the concert. And yes, I squealed with delight when I scored some last-minute tickets.

The concert was, by far, the cheesiest thing I have ever experienced in my life. But really – would you expect anything else? The dancing was ridiculous (I have videos at home if anyone’s really interested), and the production was not as impressive as one might have hoped. It’s clear these guys are close to the end – I mean, they’re down to only four members now (Kevin Richardson left in 2006) – and making as much money as possible before the ride is finally over. One thing that struck me about the show is that they kept sitting down, and when they did dance, their movements were kinda slow. So I assumed they were all in their mid-40s and forgave them. But now it turns out that Nick Carter just turned 30! So really, no excuse.

But enough griping. The show was awesome. The stadium was packed. And though you all pretended to be too cool when you first heard about the concert, I saw a huge number of expats there. Some of you were dancing like teeny boppers. You know who you are.

And I was screaming and giggling and singing along, I’m not ashamed to admit. During the course of the show, it turns out that not only do I know almost all the lyrics to far too many of their songs (thank you, Party World), but I also found that I could remember all of their names (for those who forgot: Nick, Brian, Howie and A.J.). Maybe it was just all the Seventeen magazines I used to read, or maybe I never really hated them at all…

Bottom line: Totally silly, but totally awesome. I can’t wait to KTV all their songs again! BSB 4eva!