Back again brought to you by a weekend I was supposed to be at my niece’s soccer tournament. Since the whole state of Nevada has shutdown, including Vegas of course…obviously that couldn’t happen. It left me with four days inside my house without much to do besides write and binge watch. Things aren’t easy for any of us right now. Whether you’re working from home due to quarantine, you’re one of many layoffs due to the Coronavirus, or you like myself are still leaving for work because you’re considered an essential service. Shout-out to all the retail workers, the nurses, the doctors, the truck drivers…all of you deserve major kudos. None of this is easy.
In hard times like I said in my previous post, I believe in self care. It’s so important, especially now. This post is a reminder that life is full of peaks and valleys. It’s good to remember the high points of your life. I reached out here, on Twitter, and on Facebook asking you for a photo and the story behind it of why it made you smile. If you have one you’d like to add let me know and I’ll edit it to add it. Music is the best therapy and I know for many of us that means the Backstreet Boys.
I’ll start with one of my own. Okay, well…I only was able to narrow it down to two. So two of my own. I broke my own rules. I know. I’m sorry!
I’ve shared a lot of my stories here but this gif is one that makes me smile any time I look at it. You see back in 2018 when they just announced the first legs of the DNA World Tour they also did a live stream chat session with a group of fans that I was lucky enough to be apart of. Not only was I able to ask a question (and get the Boys to sing a bit of song that turned out to be Passionate), but NIck noticed me in the crowd. You see I was wearing my Nick Carter beanie, he noticed and as you can see in the gif that I made from this video, he made sure I knew it too. It was just a small moment but how often do you get that captured on camera?
If you’re curious you can watch the full thing here.
My other would be this moment right here with Kevin. This is special not just because I managed to get a Kevin rose. While wonderful it’s also because my friend Andie was doing anything she could to get his attention. So it not only reminds me of Kevin being his lovely self but of the great friend I found during the Vegas residency. Not to mention she also managed to record it.
Now on to your stories. You guys were so awesome in your responses. I can’t tell you how many times your stories made me smile. I only hope reading these in this post will help you do the same! I like to think that positivity is what will help guide us through this.
I was lucky that my concert was a mere week before the whole world started to close down, but coronavirus was starting so during m&g we weren’t allowed hugs or kisses, which fine, is for both theirs and our healths, we were given hand sanitizer too, and I have no complains cause March 8th was a dream come true, I got to meet them and tell them what I had essentially been rehearsing for the past 22 years. We were on a queue and I was first because I couldn’t be on my feet for long so I was in a chair waiting for my turn and when it happened it was like a flash, it happened so fast but they were there, five beautiful men I had only seen on screen till then were all looking at me, saying “hola”, I can’t even remember much of what happened because I was overwhelmed (like holy shit, they’re here! Now! In my country! With me! And pics don’t do them justice because they are so gorgeous) but I do know I blurted out what I wanted to say, Kevin looked at me intently the whole time so I couldn’t help but to focus on him, then he grabbed my hand and thanked me, then it was picture time, and AJ told me he liled my nails (blue) and he showed me his, all in different colors, then they told me to enjoy the show and I told them I certainly will and that I would be in one of the corners of the “runway” around the pit, front row. The show was… Incredible. It was fun, exhilarating, and went by wayyy too fast.
– Alma (@maneth on Twitter)
This is my favorite picture of any of my pictures with them. This was in Hawaii on my 31st birthday this past November. Nick has been my favorite for as long as I’ve been a fan. Since it was me and Susanah, we got two pictures. We’d originally planned to ask Nick if we could pick him up in the second photo.
She pulled herself away from Brian, who is her favorite, to ask. I was useless and just stayed put. Nick wasn’t feeling the idea anyway and he was like “nooo, I don’t want to. How about I just cuddle YOU closer for this one?”
Um, done. Happy birthday to me!
– Fallyn Marie
Not with the boys but my best friend and me at the Philly show last summer dressed up in our 90s best! We had such a great time at that concert and are counting down the days until we see them again this summer for the 13-15th times!
– Lauren (@yankeeslauren on Twitter)
If I had to pick just one, it would be my picture with AJ in Oklahoma last year for ATCK. The VIP was an amazing experience. He just walked around and talked to everyone. It was a really emotional day for me- I drove REALLY far (10 hours) and almost didn’t even make it because the highway was dead stopped for a really bad accident for two hours. I basically fell into his arms when I asked for a hug. When I asked him if we could hug for a picture he almost seemed offended I even asked he was like psh get in here!! And squeezed me really tight. Despite the flash making him look like a 60 year old man, I look at this picture and can remember how amazing I felt in this exact moment. ❤
– Lindsey ( @backstreet on Twitter)
This was the concert last September. I hadn’t seen them in concert for 20 years. This was an amazing evening.
– April Ann
I can’t help but smile every time I see this picture because it was my VERY 1st M&G. I was able to hug all of them and remember a few moments from the short time we had together! Like Brian being the first one I got to hug (I’m a Brian girl), AJ calling my shirt dope & Kevin looking me square in the eye right before he hugged me and saying he hoped I had a wonderful time at the show… granted I don’t remember much of my responses except for telling AJ Etsy made my shirt when he asked if I had made it!
I was 11 years old the 1st time I saw them in concert in this exact same building and it had been over 18 years since they had made it to my hometown of Portland! So almost exactly 21 years (2 weeks away from 21 years) after I saw them in concert for the 1st time. I got to meet them for the 1st time!!!
Some of you guys, like myself couldn’t narrow it to just one. And I mean if I’m guilty of that…how could I judge any of you for having multiple photos and multiple moments that make you smile in hard times like right now? I can’t.
Okay… so I actually had 2 favorites and I just couldn’t decide… so I’ll let you decide (or use both) since it probably depends on the day which one I like better! So this picture was taken on November 9th, 2018 at #BSBVegas. Six months before this picture was taken I had decided I wanted to go to Vegas for my birthday since they where having another Vegas run near my birthday! I decided to go to the show the day after my birthday! So I asked my mom to go with me but told her she didn’t need to go to the show with me. But being the BEST Mom in the world she said she would be willing. Then I found VIP table tickets to the show on the 9th. She said she’d pay the resale price to go with me! (Dream come true) I am so thankful that she did. This concert was one of my absolute favorites. It was my first ever front row concert and this fantastic moment happened between Brian and I. He was coming around shaking hands. I was trying to not freak out because this was the closest I had ever been to him (gahh). But as we were having our moment all I could think was damn he’s got good hands and I don’t want this moment to end! So as he went to turn away from me and turn to the pit! I wouldn’t let go and pulled him back. The result was a fantastic smile as I shook my head no at him and an extra moment with him! My mom got the whole thing on video and I was able to create this still picture of the moment after I pulled him back to me! This picture is still my Twitter profile picture and spent many months as my background photo on my phone!
It took 22 years for me to finally meet him. He has been my go to in my life when things got bad. But the true thing about him is, he’s such an inspiration. As a human being and as an artist. I’m an artist myself and every time I draw him I smile. He became my drawing muse :). His facial features are amazing to draw and seeing him come to life on a piece of paper makes me smile every time!
– Kimmie (@kimm_moekotte on Twitter)
This is not the best picture I have of Nick and I, but it makes me smile because it was an amazing weekend in Dortmund last December 😁💕 The organization of the whole thing was a mess, but my frustrations are always put at ease when I walk into a room and he’s standing there 😊 I was pretty nervous in this moment, because I wanted to personally thank him for making my dreams come true, and what it means to me, and I had practiced it in my head 😂 When we were done with the selfies, I told him what I wanted to say – this was the last chance I had that time around – and he was so sweet about it and thanked me, called me sweetie, and hugged me real tight several times 😍😱 It was amazing…
– Sille
This was me with the boys australia in 2010!
I get so emotional seeing this photo because by this stage I’d loved them for 14 years but had never been to a concert because they’d only toured Australia once and the closest venue was 3,000 km from where I lived, the closest capital city to the capital I lived in😆 so I couldn’t go.I had no idea that they were even touring yet, my husband got early access to tickets through his work and came home with the ticket confirmation email and I literally cried when I read it! Which meant he cried which then confused our 2 and 4 year olds 😆 then he got this photo of me with them, my pass, my ticket and the album framed for me. I always will remember that amazing moment that I read the confirmation. And he knows and is comfortable with the fact that this picture is a photo of the happiest day of my life, followed by our wedding photo 😂
– Kylie M.
My favorite picture… I’ve got 2… every time I meet them is so special. First pic was my first time meeting them all in 2013. The other is in Vegas, was so happy and nervous, I never realized Nick kissed me on the pic, I thought he was only holding on to me real tight! 🤣❤ great memories!
– Melly L.
Today feels like the perfect time to share my all time favorite BSB related picture because it was actually taken 3 years ago today! March 18, 2017 I attended my very first BSB show AND M&G! I’ve been a BSB superfan since 1997 but growing up in a lower income, small rural town household seeing them in concert was never an option. Their Vegas residency allowed me to finally live out my dream in the best way possible. My friend and I went all out! We did pit tickets for the show, then added on M&G, and then decided let’s do it all and did VIP after party. It was the most amazing experience and really cemented the idea of fully leaning into things I love and things that make me happy regardless of what other people think.The other part of the story behind this picture is that I was 5 months pregnant! Going into this, I was adamant that I didn’t want my interaction with the boys to be about my pregnancy. I had a miscarriage before this pregnancy and the anxiety of something going wrong again had made it really hard to be excited, to the point of me not really even talking about the fact that I was pregnant. I wore a black dress that I thought concealed my growing baby bump, but I couldn’t have been more wrong! Brian noticed my belly when I was still standing in line and when it was finally my turn, greeted me with a full on belly rub. So there went my plan to not talk about it! Then the next thing I knew, I was asking AJ how his very pregnant wife was doing (she was in labor!), Nick and Howie were congratulating me, and Kev was looking me in the eye, hand on my belly, telling me how wonderful becoming a parent will be. So in the end, my M&G was the complete opposite of what I wanted it to be, but it was a moment that finally allowed me to experience joy with a pregnancy that had been giving me so much worry. And I would have never thought that moment would be connected to BSB.
Oh, here’s another one! Less personal reason for making me happy when I look at it. But I love the brotherhood in this photo (and others like it)! Pictures that show the bond the guys have, their professionalism, their passion for what they do…make me SO HAPPY! We are truly so fortunate as fans that our boys have stuck out all the hard times to still be around creating and performing music and still love each other.– Julie (@jubie_1019 on Twitter)
I have a few favorites but this is one of my favorite photos. The end of 2018 was a hard year I was in a bad place then when 2019 started I wanted to get out of my bad place. the week leading up to the boys releasing their DNA album my friend and I did not have tickets to the album release or GMA so we were going to spend the night in the city, drink and go to the CD only. On Wednesday my friend won a spot at GMA for us and then Friday morning after GMA when we went to get online to get our CD and wrist band for the signing I received a call from a NY number and since i knew I entered a contest I picked it up. I ended up being the grand prize winner and won tickets to the album release party, meet and greet and a chance to go on stage and ask the boys a question along with my friend. It was such an amazing moment and this photo of Brian hugging me always puts a smile on my face.– Brittany M.
This picture means so much to me because of the pure happiness and love in the picture! Plus it has my best friend in the world in it who I met because of these guys! I would be very lonely if not for those in this picture!– Carrie
This was taken before my “moment” with Brian. If I remember well, they were singing Incomplete. I had sore throat so I started to rub it. Brian noticed me because I was in front of him in first row and he imitated my movement, so he showed me his teeth, like a rabbit. I put an face of surprise and my answer was to stick out my tongue. I remember his face: he looked so disconcerted as he couldn’t believe what had happened. When I saw him I just cross my arms in front of my chest sending love, he smiled, stood up and he run at the edge of the stage for the changing clothes with arms wide open. The other 3 just looked at him like “What the hell happens with him?”. I felt so lucky! He made the concert for me that day.-Xunaán Sak (@GwynMarchog on Twitter)
Hi! My name is Liliana and this picture was taken on the 8 of May, the day that Brian arrived in Lisbon to join the rest of the Boys on the rehearsals for the kick off of the DNA World Tour… There was a group of fans (and the bodyguard, of course, but I don’t remind which one) already waiting for him at the airport, and I arrived at the same time he passed the passengers arrivals doors out… He went to the parking lot, followed by all of us, where there was a van waiting for him ready to take him to Altice Arena. Everybody was happy welcoming him, and of course, taking pictures, and I almost lost my shot, because he was already getting into the van, but I said “I didn’t take the picture, I didn’t take the picture!”, he heard me, opened up his eyes surprised and like “oh no, we have to take it!”, the bodyguard was already closing the door, but Brian put his hand, stopping him to close it, jumped out said “come on”, I handed my cell-phone to a friend, and click, picture taken! Then, at the meet & greet I thanked him for his gesture, but he had already forgotten!Oh well, it doesn’t matter! I will always cherish this moment and his gesture as long as I live!
I use to say that Brian’s Larger Than Life, and I mean it! And as I wrote in the description when I posted the picture, I don’t have words to describe that moment, really! Just a big THANK YOU! He’s not my favourite, but because of this, he’ll AlWAYS hold a special place in my heart!!!
– Liliana
The Dark Side 