Backstreet Boys are coming to the Sphere in Las Vegas: How to get tickets
Since U2 christened The Sphere in September 2023, the groundbreaking venue has leaned heavily on rock acts.
Along with the Irish band, the multibillion-dollar Las Vegas behemoth has hosted Phish, Dead & Company and the Eagles.
But in 2025, the Sphere is rounding out its lineup with more genres. Kenny Chesney will be the first country act to hit the stage starting in May. And, in July, the Backstreet Boys will be the first pop act at the Sphere.
The iconic group plans nine performances in its 'Into The Millennium' residency: July 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26 and 27.
Fans can get access to presale tickets at signup.ticketmaster.com/backstreetboys through 10 p.m. PT Feb. 17. The general onsale starts 9 a.m. PT Feb. 21 at backstreetboys.com.
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
Pictures from the Sphere:U2, Phish and Dead & Company showcase stunning visuals at the Las Vegas Sphere
The Grammy-nominated boy band has released 10 studio albums, and promises fans a medley of favorites like "I Want It That Way" and "Larger Than Life" inside the Sphere's revolutionary immersive technology.
Backstreet Boys at the Sphere dates
Friday, July 11
Saturday, July 12
Sunday, July 13
Friday, July 18
Saturday, July 19
Sunday, July 20
Friday, July 25
Saturday, July 26
Sunday, July 27
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
San Francisco Chronicle
2 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
S.F.'s newest dining trend? Old restaurants
In her March 1987 review of Izzy's Steaks and Chops, Chronicle critic Patricia Unterman described the transformation of an Irish pub in the Marina into 'an elaborate stage set' inspired by prolific bootlegger Izzy Gomez's North Beach saloon. She wrote, 'The place projects a history, a resonance, even though it's only a couple months old. The ambiance makes you want to have a shot of whiskey and a steak.' Those sentences could have been written by me a few months ago, although I'm more of a whiskey sipper than a shooter. After an extensive renovation overseen by the late owner Sam DuVall 's daughter, Samantha Bechtel, Izzy's is back slinging steaks, and the projected history and resonance is as thick as the house creamed spinach. If the original Izzy's was a late '80s simulacrum of a Prohibition Era speakeasy, the new Izzy's is a 2025 interpretation of a luxurious late '80s steakhouse inspired by a Prohibition Era speakeasy. This year, at least as far as dining is concerned, what's old is new again. Izzy's is one of a handful of legacy San Francisco restaurants that have recently been given a fresh lease on life. Old standbys like Turtle Tower, Wayfare Tavern and Crustacean have reopened in sparkling new locations. Others have overhauled their interiors and given menus the spit shine. But the house specialty is reliably the same — nostalgia. The current economic climate is an arduous one for independent restaurateurs, especially those looking to launch their first business. My colleague Cesar Hernandez and I recently introduced the Now List, a quarterly round-up of the best new restaurants in the Bay Area. Of the 25 entries, 15 are either an additional location of an existing concept or are operated by groups that have at least one other restaurant. Like Marvel franchises and the Polly Pocket movie, restaurants that can trade on existing IP have an advantage. Sam DuVall was wise to that in 1987, when San Franciscans would still have remembered Gomez's Barbary Coast gin joint. Well, maybe not all San Franciscans, but certainly Herb Caen, who described 'the long climb to the second floor, where the bar was jammed with winners, losers, beauties and beastly bohemians' in a column that year. DuVall crammed the walls with Gomez-related memorabilia, old-timey advertisements and sepia-toned photographs. Much of that ephemera, together with memorabilia from Izzy's Steak and Chops, remains on gallery walls on the second floor, but the downstairs is dominated by a new mural by artist Matthew Benedict depicting the characters from William Saroyan's 'The Time of Your Life,' a play inspired by Izzy Gomez's clientele. Saroyan himself looks approvingly down at the refurbished dining room, with its long soapstone bar, milk glass pendants and checkerboard floors. Design firm Gachot Studios understood the assignment. North Beach Restaurant, which served Tuscan fare from its opening in 1970 until it closed in 2023, reopened under new ownership late last year. Its dining rooms, spread across two floors, have received a similarly respectful treatment courtesy of local designer Maria Quiros, melding the old — a black-and-white photo of former ownerLorenzo Petroni mugging for the camera, a mirror so weathered it's more Rorschach Test than reflective surface — with the new. Booths have been upholstered in a sumptuous mossy green. Arresting canvases from Robert De Niro, Sr., brighten up walls. I don't know whether the glassware and china are holdovers from North Beach's previous incarnation, but their heft and quality are unusual for a contemporary restaurant. It takes very little to make the nostalgia flow at North Beach. One evening, seated downstairs next to the Willie Brown room, which boasts its own private entrance, I asked our server about the mayors, governors and other political players who did their deals at the restaurant during the Petroni years. Our server needed but the gentlest encouragement to dish. It would be unseemly to repeat his ranking of the least gracious political clientele, but apparently Arnold Schwarzenegger is a real gent. And the food at these establishments? Generally solid, but somewhat besides the point. You're not going to the latest Superman film for the dialogue, but rather to visit old friends and see what the new director has done with the joint. At Izzy's, stick to steaks and the dynamite potatoes au gratin, saving room for the warm cruellers, fried and glazed to order. At North Beach, the tweaked menu features more dishes reflective of the new chef's roots in Emilia-Romagna. Pastas and braised meats are a good bet. The caveat here is that I was not a patron of Izzy's or North Beach 1.0, and I therefore have no basis for comparison. I called up my uncle, who dined at Izzy's with some regularity during his bachelor days in the '90s. His voice took on the aural equivalent of a Vaseline-lens flashback as he recounted the cocktails he and his pals would throw back before dinner, the skirt steak that they definitively decided was the best cut on offer, the hot sauce bar with dozens of selections. He'd been back post-remodel, and I asked him how it measured up. 'Well I don't drink anymore, so that probably doesn't help,' he admitted, 'but it's never as good as you remember.' Nostalgia — and alluring new interiors — will get people in the door. If superhero movies are any indication, these historic restaurants have a bright future ahead of them. Izzy's Steaks and Chops 3345 Steiner St., San Francisco. Noise level: Moderate Meal for two, without drinks: $100-$150 What to order: Drinks: A martini would be an excellent place to start, but with any classic cocktail, you're in good hands here. Wines by the glass, including Coravin pours, draught and bottled beers, and a few N/A cocktails. Best practices: If you don't have a res, the bar is a beautiful place to dine. If you prefer something more secluded, angle for one of the private booths in back. Upstairs, there are club chairs by the fireplace for lingering over a nightcap. Skip the appetizers and the burger. North Beach Restaurant 1512 Stockton St., San Francisco. Hours: 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday Noise level: Quiet to moderate Meal for two, without drinks: $90-130 What to order: Tagliatelle Bolognese ($31); osso bucco ($36) Drinks: Cocktails are excellent and all the better for being served in weighty, high quality glassware. N/A options are available. The lengthy wine-by-the-glass list is exclusively Italian and Californian. Best practices: North Beach Restaurant is popular with large groups; on one visit, a party brought their own accordion player, so… be aware that that could happen. The main floor is light-filled during the day, while the basement level reminded me of 'The Cask of Amontillado,' but in a cozy sort of way.
Axios
2 hours ago
- Axios
Films that put Columbus on the big screen
"Superman" flies into theaters this week, putting Cleveland at the center of the cinematic world. But we can't let them have all the fun. Why it matters: Big movies bring big money to Ohio. Film tax credits and a rising reputation have put the state on Hollywood's radar in recent years. The big picture: Columbus has yet to host a blockbuster on the same scale as Cleveland, but it's no film desert. We often play a supporting role. Inspired by the new Ohio Goes to the Movies program we highlighted last week, here's a list of films you may not realize had local ties: ✈️ "Air Force One" (1997) Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base served as the Ramstein Air Base in Germany in this Oscar-nominated action movie starring Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman. 🏛️ "Traffic" (2000) The Ohio Statehouse was a federal courthouse for some scenes in this Oscar winner starring Michael Douglas about America's war on drugs. 🎓 "Little Man Tate" (1991) The university for gifted students that 7-year-old Fred Tate attends featured landmarks from a few Ohio colleges, including OSU's Wexner Center. 🍎 "Teachers" (1984) The old Central High School — present-day COSI — was the setting for this dark dramedy set in Columbus. 🫢 "Speak" (2004) A Lifetime movie with a cult following that launched Kristen Stewart's career was filmed at Eastmoor Academy. The film is an adaptation of a young adult novel. 💪 "Aftermath" (2017) Arnold Schwarzenegger loves Columbus, so it's no surprise he starred in a locally shot movie — which even included a cameo by former Mayor Michael B. Coleman. 🎥 "I Am Wrath" (2016) This revenge film starring John Travolta was based in and mostly filmed in Columbus, showcasing iconic locations like the Statehouse, the Short North and Buckeye Donuts. While not filmed here, this sci-fi flick Ohioan Steven Spielberg directed was set in Columbus in the year 2045, so it gets an honorable mention. We'll check back and see how it holds up in 20 years.
Los Angeles Times
3 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
Backstreet Boys' AJ McLean on bringing ‘Millennium' to the Las Vegas Sphere
AJ McLean is on Zoom on Monday afternoon from the dimly lighted living room of a house he's renting in Las Vegas. Known in the late 1990s as the resident bad boy of his pop group, Backstreet Boys, McLean, now 47, says he's getting accustomed to the area in the hopes of buying a place in town next year. 'Dude, everybody's leaving L.A. and coming out to Vegas,' he says. 'Taxes, mainly. But actually my mom lives out here, so that's an added little bonus.' At the moment, McLean's got more than family and finances drawing him east: On Friday night, Backstreet Boys will launch a six-week residency at Sphere, the state-of-the-art orb-shaped venue that opened in late 2023 and has hosted eye-popping gigs by acts including U2, Phish, Dead & Company, the Eagles and Kenny Chesney. Indeed, as we talk, McLean is due at the $2-billion building for a production rehearsal planned to start at 11 p.m. — after that evening's late screening of director Darren Aronofsky's made-for-Sphere 'Postcard from Earth' film — and set to wrap at 4:30 in the morning. 'The schedule is a little s—y,' McLean says. 'I foresee us doing a run-through and a half tonight before people start nodding off.' This isn't the Backstreets' first time in Vegas: In 2017 the group — whose other members are Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson — began a residency at Planet Hollywood that ended up running for two years. But this one is tied to the 25th anniversary of 'Millennium,' the band's 1999 blockbuster that sold more than 13 million copies in the U.S. alone, spawned hit singles like the immortal 'I Want It That Way' and earned five Grammy nominations including album, record and song of the year. On Friday, the group will drop a deluxe reissue of the LP featuring outtakes, live recordings and a new song called 'Hey.' The Sphere show also comes as Carter has been accused by multiple women of sexual assault, which Carter has denied. Asked to comment, McLean said, 'Allegations — that's all it is. We will stand by our boy.' These are excerpts from our conversation. Very important: Sphere or the Sphere?I've been told it's Sphere Las Vegas, but I catch myself because that's not proper English. Let's just call it what it is. Which of the venue's shows have you seen?Myself, Kevin, Howie and Brian went to the see the Eagles. Kevin then went back and saw Anyma — I'm not a big fan of that kind of music so I'm not really bummed that I missed that. Just recently, Kevin and Howie went to see Kenny Chesney. I'd love to take my kids when 'The Wizard of Oz' starts, because I've seen some testings and it looks insane. It's like half the normal film, and then they've integrated pyro and stuff happening live on a stage. It's pretty freaking cool. Sphere started out as a place for classic rock acts to come rejuvenate themselves. Backstreet Boys have been billed as the first pop act to the play the building, but I think it's probably fair to call you guys a legacy act as well. Does your residency feel different than the Eagles or U2?It does because those are legendary rock bands — they stand, they sing incredible songs, they play instruments and allow the backdrop to kind of narrate this whole music experience. Don Henley literally says, 'We're just the house band playing for what you're watching on the screen.' Backstreet Boys, we're still doing what we normally do and that's what's never been in this venue. We're still putting on a proper concert like we would normally do in a stadium or an arena — 85% of the show is dancing, running around, doing our thing. We have a couple tricks up our sleeve, and we'll find out Friday if we can pull it off. If we do, it's gonna be insane — I mean, honestly, it's gonna be insane. You're doing 'Millennium' from beginning to end. Are there songs on the album that you hadn't thought about in 10 or 20 years?There's a couple deep cuts: 'Back to Your Heart,' 'No One Else Comes Close.' These are songs that we literally have not done since the 'Millennium' tour. I tried to verbatim name all 12 songs on the album, and I was off by like four. The idea of doing something around the 25th anniversary, I brought it up to the boys seven years ago and it's been in talks since then. Finally, everybody was on the same page and we sat with our team: 'What can we do to celebrate this amazing record?' At the same time there were talks about Vegas wanting us to come back and do a potential residency — we heard rumblings from different hotels. Then the Sphere came up, and it was like, 'OK, well, it doesn't get any bigger than that.' Does it matter that you're a year off the actual 25th anniversary?We actually joke about that during the show. Because it took almost eight months to put this thing together visually, we obviously missed the window. But technically the 'Millennium' tour did go into 2000. So we got a little wiggle room there. The consensus seems to be that 'Millennium' is the Backstreet Boys' best album. Is that your opinion?I would have to say yes just based on record sales and the phenomenon that happened around that record. But is it my favorite album? No. 'Never Gone' and probably 'DNA' are my top two now. There's something about 'Never Gone' that was just very raw — a departure from our previous records, which had a lot of synth drums and synth sounds and whatnot. This was more organic — a little more rock, a little more live instrumentation — and some great, great songs. What I'm excited about with this whole experience is that we're making another memory together. We've told everyone coming to wear white, and it sounds like everyone's gonna do it. It's gonna be incredible to look out at a sea of white and sparkles and all the things from 1999. I think it's gonna be emotional for some of us. Kevin lost his mom not that long ago, so doing 'The Perfect Fan' — he starts the song, and he asked us, 'Would you guys mind singing the opening line with me, just in case it doesn't come out?' We've never sung the opening line of any song together, so this is a really sweet moment we get to have with our brother. A little Backstreet Boys trivia: At the 41st Grammys in 1999, you all were nominated for best new artist. You didn't win. Do you remember who did?I want to say it was Lauryn Hill. Nailed whole time, we were up against Sting and we were up against Rob Thomas and Santana [in 2000] — you can't really get mad going up against legends. It would be insane if this album, when it gets rereleased, it gets nominated again. I told the boys — I said, 'I've done my research, and no artist that I know of has remastered and rereleased their biggest album and had it go to No. 1 again.' Taylor Swift's Taylor's Versions?Again, on a technicality, that's a rerecord. This is the same album, just remastered. I talked to Jacoby Shaddix from Papa Roach a few months my boy. He told me you guys traded numbers and said you should write together sometime.I was actually gonna reach out to him this week and see if he wants to come see the show because he said he wanted to. He's such a good guy, and we're both on the straight and narrow. It's a beautiful thing. Speaking of rap-rock: In the summer of 1999, 'Millennium' and Limp Bizkit's 'Significant Other' kept trading places at No. 1 on Billboard's album it was the 'TRL' generation. MTV was dominating, and honestly I'd say five videos per week were pretty much the same five artists — it just kept switching and switching and switching. You had Blink-182, you had us, you had NSYNC, you had Britney and Christina. Then you had Limp, and then Korn came in for a while. That was where everything was for like a solid year. What does it mean that these two very different styles — teen pop and nü-metal — captured the soul of America's youth at the same time?Whether you were a fan of one or the other or both, it was good music — it was fun. And even though Limp was rap-rock, the melodies were great, the production was great, the vibe was great. The videos were fun and hilarious, and it got people excited. Same thing with us. You've always struck me as a guy with a bit of rock energy. Was there ever a part of you that wished you were in Limp Bizkit or Korn instead of Backstreet Boys?So many people over the years were like, 'Dude, you look like you should be in Good Charlotte.' It's the tattoos. I grew up on CCR and Stevie Wonder and Three Dog Night and Bowie and Michael. My debut solo record that's gonna come out end of this year — sure, it's pop, but it's a lot of R&B and funk and '80s and just stuff that I love. But I might dabble down the rock road at some point. I talked to Jacoby about it, actually — about maybe forming a little mini-supergroup. Just put together an album and have fun with it. Who gives a s—?
