Oh, the teenage memories tonight! I went to see the Backstreet Boys documentary “Show ’em What You’re Made Of” with Ingrid and Nienke tonight. It was shown in cinemas all over Europe at the same time, and then afterwards there would be a small concert of the Boys shown live. I was a pretty big fan of them during their first three or so albums, in my early teens. I can still sing along to most of the songs if I hear them.
I was over at Ingrid’s earlier this week to have dinner and we got to talking about movies, as we still need to go see one with the three of us for her birthday. We did see Begin Again, but we couldn’t make Step Up 5 work with all three of our schedules and the times it was shown. While doing that, we noticed the Backstreet Boys film in the line up for tonight and we were both interested.
Once home, I showed Nienke, but she wasn’t really interested, so Ingrid and I decided to go with the two of us. I reserved us two tickets, which was a smart move as there were few seats left. Since we had some time between the start of the show and when I was off work, we figured we go to eat someplace. As Nienke was also in the city in the afternoon, we agreed to eat together.
We settled on old favourite Pappa Joe and I met up with Ingrid, Nienke and a surprise Marleen with whom she had been out and about. We had a good time, but then we had to leave to make the movie in time. Marleen had to go the other way, so Nienke walked us to the cinema.
There, she changed her mind and decided that if the seat next to us was still free (we had near edge seats and the single one beside us was still free when I made the reservations), she would also go. We headed for the info desk, as we couldn’t get the single seat from the machine, and fortunately it was still available!
The documentary was fun, it showed the 20 year history of the band and followed them while they were making their last album and world tour, showing both the fun times and the struggles. Nothing earth shattering, but a glorious view back in time to my teenage years, and a glimpse into the lives they had and have now as people, and not just Backstreet Boys.
Afterwards, it switched to London, if I remember correctly, where the Boys were present for the European premiere of the movie and where they would do a short a cappella concert. They sang about seven or so songs, both old favourites as well as things from their last album. They still sound really good, although their voices have changed some as they have grown older which sounded a little bit strange sometimes especially with the older songs where certain parts are so ingrained in memory.