By Deepak Tijori 
Backstreet Boys performed in Mumbai on Thursday. The boy band returned to India after a gap of 13 years.
Popular American boy band Backstreet Boys performed in Mumbai on Thursday. The five-member group, comprising Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, AJ McLean, Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson, kicked off the DNA World Tour concert held at Jio World Garden with the song “I Wanna Be With You”. They went on to perform their hits, including “Backstreet’s Back”, “I Want It That Way”, “The Call”, “Get Down”, “Incomplete”, “As Long As You Love Me”, “Drowning”, “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”, “Larger Than Life”, whipping up fans, from all age groups, into a frenzy.
The combination of the music, the lights, and the atmosphere was incredibly exhilarating and it looked like a unifying experience. The videos doing rounds on the internet showed the crowd grooving and singing along at the concert.
In the middle of the over two hours concert, Nick Carter remarked someone should have warned the band about how hot it is in India. He added, ”It is not the weather that is making it hot, it because of all you. We had no idea we had so many BSB fans here, but we now see it and we love it. It’s our second time in India and we were waiting from a very long time to come to Mumbai.”
Kevin Richardson, meanwhile, said that next time “it won’t be just two cities but four, five and six cities.”
Actors Shraddha Kapoor, Jacqueline Fernandez, Meezaan Jafri, Ram Pothineni, singers Benny Dayal, Dhvani Bhanushali, Prakriti Kakar, Sukriti Kakar, social media sensation Faisal Shaikh, politician Zeeshan Siddique and Varun Dhawan’s wife Natasha Dalal among others were also spotted at the concert.
While leaving the concert, Jacqueline said, “It was an amazing experience. I am the band’s biggest fan. This is like a childhood dream come true.”
Backstreet Boys, who arrived in Mumbai earlier this week, received a unique welcome at their hotel. In a video, Carter said, “We just arrived at the hotel near Mumbai and this is the first time I have ever seen this in my entire career, with the hotel staff dancing on a dope remix.” He captioned the video, “What cool surprise arriving at the hotel here in Mumbai, India. The hotel staff had a full out Bollywood style dance prepared remixing all our songs. I guess we really do have fans all over the world.”
The boy band will next perform at Airia Mall in Gurugram on May 5.
Backstreet Boys dominated the 90s pop music scene. Some of their popular tracks include “Everybody”, “Backstreet’s Back”, “I Want It That Way” and “Show Me The Meaning of Being Lonely”, “Shape of My Heart”, “As Long As You Love Me”, “Quit Playing Games” and “Larger Than Life”.