Kevin Richardson spills secrets behind Backstreet Boys' stunning Sphere concerts

USA Today

3 days ago

Kevin Richardson knew one of the most difficult moments of the Backstreet Boys' Sphere show in Las Vegas had nothing to do with dance moves or high notes or a flying apparatus.
Emotion would be his nemesis.
'I wasn't able to get through it in rehearsals, and I told the fellas, 'I'm going to look at you and if I lose it, you're going to come in and help me out,'' he said.
The 'it' Richardson refers to is 'The Perfect Fan,' the tender ode to the quintet's mothers that closes their landmark 1999 'Millennium' album and is performed during an intimate segment of their glitzy Sphere production.
Richardson, who talked to USA TODAY before the Backstreet Boys kicked off their 21-date residency at the revolutionary Las Vegas venue July 11, knows himself well. On opening night, as family photos blanketed the 160,000-square-foot interior screen, Richardson indeed choked up during the first lyrics, while group mate and cousin Brian Littrell, who cowrote the ballad, squeezed his eyes shut to suppress tears.
The song is part of the 'minimalistic Millennium medley' as Richardson calls it, when he, Littrell and comrades Nick Carter, AJ McLean and Howie Dorough revisit swoony less-remembered tracks from the album.
The segment allows the group to take a breather between the effervescent bounce of 'The One' and the home stretch that includes 'Quit Playing Games (With My Heart),' 'Shape of My Heart' and the extraordinary moment when they take flight (more on that later). But it also signifies how the Sphere can be molded to meet the moment.
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Backstreet Boys looked to the Eagles for Sphere inspiration
When the Backstreet Boys were initially in talks to ink a residency as the inaugural pop act to play the Sphere, they made a pilgrimage to Las Vegas (except for Carter, who lives there) to attend an Eagles concert at the venue.
'We watched the show and I was in awe,' Richardson recalls as he receives a vitamin IV for hydration during our interview. 'I'm a huge Eagles fan and this was like watching all of your favorite songs as a film but with your favorite artist performing them live. This is the venue of the future. You can take your audience anywhere you want to take them.'
Richardson, the elder statesman of the group at 53, returned for two more Eagles shows and also witnessed the EDM spectacle Anyma 'The End Of Genesys' in January and Kenny Chesney's country maiden voyage this spring.
All acts that have played the Sphere, from U2's jaw-dropping opener in September 2023 to Dead & Company's show-shifting setlist, have had to reconcile sharing equal billing with the venue itself.
Richardson says he learned quickly through observation that 'there are two shows going on – the one on the screen and the one with the people on the floor.'
Unlike their predecessors, Backstreet Boys outfitted their set with two ramps stretching into the crowd, allowing for more interaction with fans. Richardson exceeded the homework assignment and walked the nine levels of Sphere to 'see what the vibe was' and recognized that each level had its own ambiance.
'We were always self-scouting,' he says. 'What we're trying to do is like a film. Each song leads into the other in a through line, so you're going on a voyage, a journey.'
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Fear of heights doesn't keep the Backstreet Boys from flying
Tens of thousands of millennial fans have packed the venue since the Boys' July 11 debut – shows run through Aug. 24 – and experienced heaving bouts of nostalgia hearing 'TRL'-era hits including 'Larger Than Life,' 'Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely" and their 1995 debut single, 'We've Got It Goin' On.'
But the undeniable highlight of the concert marks another Sphere first: a moving platform.
Backstreet Boys buffs likely recall 'Get Down (You're the One for Me)' from the group's debut album, a worldwide smash that only rippled on the U.S. charts. The music video featured the fivesome floating on what Richardson described as 'a disco ball cut in half with fans dancing around us as we're on this big globe.'
Cut to nearly 30 years later and the Backstreet Boys are airborne once again in a recreation of the video. Their rising platform, seemingly hovering in midair, reaches about 75 feet, parallel to the 200-level of the venue.
Weeks before the residency kickoff, Richardson, McLean and Littrell, who is nervous about heights, tested the moving piece to ensure everyone's comfort.
Onstage, the guys are strapped in for safety while Littrell also (wisely) holds onto a bar staked into the platform as they sing 'I Want it That Way' and 'Get Down' while surrounded by head-spinning video of hundreds of video squares, a massive mirror ball and hyperactive lasers.
It's a fitting near-finale that embraces the cosmic theme of the show, which itself is a tribute to the Backstreet Boys' momentous 'Millennium' album.
It was a period in their career when mania was a standard response to even the slightest movement.
'We couldn't go anywhere. We were basically the biggest thing on the planet at the time, kind of like how Taylor (Swift) is now, which is crazy,' Richardson says. 'That was the pinnacle of our careers. What a blessing. What a special thing. It was so surreal that you have bouts of imposter syndrome afterward.'
Millions of Backstreet Boys devotees would surely disagree.