I kind of love this photo. You can see the Las Vegas strip (as it was in 1998 anyway) in the background so this shoot was one of my favorites. I adore having an excuse to use it in all honesty. Sometimes, I even miss AJ’s crazy hair colors. Maybe not Howie’s overalls though. Anyways, so as well all know by now…AJ and Kevin flew out here to Vegas the other day. AJ hyped it up via Facebook but kept saying he can’t say why yet. As of 2/28 all we knew, were three solid facts.
- They brought management with them (Jenn) and no wives.
- They went to see Britney’s residency show Piece Of Me at Planet Hollywood.
- They stayed at Caesar’s Palace (who owns Planet Hollywood, FYI.)
So, this wasn’t a pleasure trip though AJ got brought on stage and had a blast. We have the answers and updates for you on this project! So read on…
If Not For Fun, Why Did They Go?
Why else? A Vegas residency. They bring it up every other year. In 2014 AJ asked (both nights cause they did back to back IAWLT concerts) if we wanted a residency. During NKOTBSB Brian mentioned they’d love to do one someday. We don’t even have to bring it up! They do. There were rumors (and a instagram photo) about a Backstreet Boys Vegas Project.
And in point of fact? Before Britney Spears had her show out here, she went to Shania Twain’s. About six months later? She announced her residency here. Jennifer Lopez? She went to Britney’s show. Six months later (give or take)? She has HER own residency here. There’s a pattern to this. Now, I did considered the possibility of a week long event at Planet Hollywood. NKOTB did one called NKOTB After Dark.
I had a gut feeling about a residency y’all.
Kevin also tweeted this. Implying maybe, their rooms were comped/they were invited out to Vegas. Possibly early talks? Could be. Brian’s in New York for Baylee, Nick’s on tour. They can’t all be there. Now that I think about it, Kevin’s tweeted a lot about the visit to Britney’s show. More than normal. Hmm…
On March 4th, AJ confirmed they were looking into a residency.
On March 13th Nick said at an event during his All American tour that the group signed a deal with Live Nation for a Nine Show Trial Run in Vegas (as in a show a day for nine consecutive days) to see if a future long term residency will sell well!
Video Confirmation on April 4th from Kevin and Nick: They again mentioned the deal with Live Nation, and gave the time frame of end of 2016/early 2017, confirming earlier rumors we’d reported.
Why is a residency a good thing? I can answer that for you!
There’s been a lot of talk about why people think it’s a bad idea.
I’ll go broke planning this trip.
As a Vegas native, I can clear up a lot of questions. Like how expensive the stay would be. The most costly thing? Your flight. Flights here aren’t super cheap. We’re a tourist city and so it comes with the package. BUT, hotel prices are crazy good if you know where and how to look. Food? I tend to pay no more than ten dollars for a dinner for two most nights because I know where to go. We ARE home of the ninety-nine cent shrimp cocktail after all. If you stay on the strip, you can practically walk to most of the casinos and there’s a bus that solely stops along the Strip’s major casinos. It’s pretty hard to get lost. You can plan a whole vacation solely around the BSB residency. There’s a ton to do when you’re not seeing their show. (Like Beatles LOVE show, aka the show Nick did a themed dance for on Dancing With The Stars with Tamar Braxton)
What about the Live Nation deal?
This could count. Now that’s a guess on my end. Don’t know about their contract beyond their having to do a set number of shows (100 I think is what’s left) within a certain time frame. I do know that tickets to Britney’s show are sold by Ticketmaster/Live Nation. So in theory, since most likely they’d have a deal with Caesar’s (well, one of their casinos), theirs would be too. So…this could fill that obligation quite nicely.
What about future albums?
If anything this would make that easier. They’re all in one place? Most residencies are no more than three days a week. The rest of their time is all theirs. Heck, Britney has all of March off. It’d be like their jam sessions in London! They could get together easily, write, produce and make some magic. Pretty sure producers wouldn’t have a problem coming to Vegas. Nothing would be holding them back from making new music. Celine Dion does it all the time. In fact, the money they make from their residency?
IT CAN FUND FUTURE ALBUMS. Think about it.
Residencies are for washed out artists!
Nope. It’s a huge honor getting one here these days. It’s a sign you’re considered a major player in the industry either now or at one time. Because our entertainment centers here consider them someone a bunch of people would travel for, or someone tourists would find out about and immediately buy tickets for. A lot of 90s artists have residencies now. Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Boyz II Men, Celine Dion, Shania Twain (did, hers ended) and Jennifer Lopez, to name a few. A few others would be Pitbull and Rascal Flatts. It’s not for has-beens.
But they may never tour again!
Residencies can be a short as three months (though most shorter ones are about six months long), or can last several years. Many artists tour the world afterwards. Just because they stay in Vegas for a bit, doesn’t mean it’s a death sign against future tours. Not to mention, it’s easy for stability for their families. Half the Boys live in California which is a 30 minute flight or families can relocation and enjoy their Backstreet Dads daily. Could be a nice break before they did decide to actively tour again. Boys II Men have a residency at The Mirage, they took a break from it to do The Package Tour with NKOTB and 98 Degrees, actually. Then they came back and continued their residency. A residency doesn’t mean they’d never tour again!
So let’s see…have I left anything out?
- Easy to record albums
- Can help pay for future albums
- It’s an honor to have one
- Easy excuse to take a Vegas vacation…
Nope, I think that’s it! Whether or not a residency will come out of this, I don’t know. Like I said earlier, I could be dead wrong. But I think it’d be fantastic. (No, not just because it’d give me an excuse to go see a BSB concert literally once a month either.) Boys, if you read this…make it happen! To my fabulous fellow fans? Let me know if you have any questions. I’ll help out any way I can and update if or when I hear any more information. Comment below and tell me your thoughts!
The Dark Side 