AJ McLean, Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson are returning to the stage this holiday season for a new Las Vegas residency, A Very Backstreet Christmas Party. The singers are excited to perform for their dedicated fans, and as they told ET’s Lauren Zima, are even open to an ultimate boy band stadium tour with *NSYNC and 98 Degrees.
“Backstreet boys, *NSYNC, 98 degrees stadium tour?” Carter slyly said, with Littrell calling it “the boys of summer.”
With Carter and McLean teaming up with *NSYNC’s Joey Fatone and Lance Bass for a Pride event last month, 98 Degrees previously told ET that they would like to join in on the fun as well.
“They should get in on it. I mean, why not, they have a legacy as well,” replied Richardson. As for the possibility of a joint tour ever happening, BSB quipped that anything is possible.
“There was a certain nostalgic success behind the NKOTBSB tour which was a blast, but that was just the four of us. Now we are back to the original five,” McLean explained. “I know fans have been asking for something like this for the longest time. And look, who knows what the future holds. Right now [our] number one priority for us is the Christmas album, the Christmas residency and then, thank you lord, getting back on the DNA world tour next year and getting back to our fans across the world because they’ve been waiting patiently.”
“The boys are back and yeah, who knows what the future holds,” he continued, with Littrell adding, “We get to do this for a living. We get to do something that we love and are passionate about…Other than living for our families, we live for our legacy. This is something that will continue on hopefully for another 28 years.”
The Backstreet pride is alive and well as there’s no stopping the quintet who announced their 12 live holiday shows at Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in November and December.
“We wanna be the Rolling Stones of pop music,” Richardson expressed. “Look at the Rolling Stones, they’re still out there getting it.”
Backstreet Boys, Live Nation Las Vegas and Caesars Entertainment will also donate $1 of every ticket purchased to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Nevada (BGCSNV). Throughout their Backstreet Boys: Larger Than Life residency, BSB donated $180,000 to the organization.
“We are proud to be able to continue that relationship and to be a part of it and to give back during our residency,” Carter stated.
Along with a holiday residency, kicking off November 11 and wrapping December 23, the singers are also working on a Christmas album, which they hope to share with their fans soon. The singers have previously released two holiday singles; “Christmas Time” in 1996 and “Christmas Time Again” in 2012.
“We’ve wanted to do a Christmas album for a long time and 28 years in we’re finally getting around to knocking that off the bucket list,” Richardson shared. “And with that, it’s been over a year since we’ve been off the road…We thought this would be a great way for us to reconnect with our fans, as well as perform our brand new Christmas album.”
The songs will include new takes on Christmas classics as well as original tunes. “The fact that we’re finally getting to do a proper album, not just Christmas singles, it’s a joyous thing for us,” McLean detailed. “And to share this with our families, and obviously we want to make a record that stands the test of time, that people will be listening to every holiday for eons.”
As for what fans can expect from A Very Backstreet Christmas Party, well just that, a party!
“Great girls night out. You’ve been trapped in a cage for a long time this year, and this is the perfect celebration for you to come,” Dorough described the shows.
“You can come and party with the Backstreet Boys Vegas style and listen to some classic Christmas songs and then we are going to sprinkle in a lot of more hits,” Carter teased. “I think people coming out of this pandemic, we have all kind of had this dark time so everyone wants to get out and we just want to huddle together and socialize and party. And Vegas is one of the best places to do it.”
