The night that permanently altered my life forever.

After sitting for an hour through a terrible opening act and agonizing minutes after minutes of waiting, the lights dimmed. The screen on the stage turned on to a video of 4 guys walking through a street alleyway. The crowd was roaring and shrieking as the camera angles individually showed each group member, each girl screaming louder for her favorite. Finally when the tension was so high you could not possibly have risen it any further without causing an absolute riot, the 4 members on the screen came running towards it in the video, and the second they reached the edge of the screen, it happened. Through the very screen, leaping through and landing with such a confidence that could only come from 17 years performing, were the 4 guys I had idolized since I had been 6 years old. One of the very members being a man I had dreamed about and stared at posters of and screamed like I was in a cheap horror film at the mere thought of. Their music had literally siphoned me through my childhood. And there they were, right there! Standing on a stage in front of me, granting the wishes of all my musical dreams since my toddler years.

The Backstreet Boys.

Now, I'm not an emotional person, but certain things get me. And seeing the band live that I have obsessed over and longed for for 10 years is one of them. I sprang out of my seat, I screamed 'til my throat was raw, the tears were flowing from my eyes as if a dam had sprung a leak. It wasn't registering in my brain. THEY WERE RIGHT THERE. Performing. For me to see. This had to have been a dream. It couldn't really be happening, my life wasn't that spectacular.

Oh but it was. This became my realization as they performed hit after hit that I knew every word to. The lights were flashing and moving around so much, I'm surprised I didn't have a seizure. I could literally feel my seat vibrating from the sound. My rushes of tears were re-started time after time during songs like "Shape of My Heart," "I'll Never Break Your Heart," "Incomplete," "As Long As You Love Me," etc. They sounded as amazing as they always had on the CDs. They danced as brilliantly as they did years ago in concerts I had on video because I wasn't permitted to go to them myself. And NO, they were not lip-syncing. They never did and never will. They are truly one of the most talented groups of this millennium. And my obsession-inspired love was reignited all over again to its full potential as I watched the amazing men perform as well as I had only imagined in my dreams.

Unfortunately, this awe-inspiring, surreal night had to come to an end. But it ended with the pictures, the concert shirts, and the memories that will last me a lifetime. Sure, they weren't selling out 15,000 people stadiums like they used to when I was in elementary school. And sure, I'll never get to go to a concert of that magnitude. But I got to see them. And when they performed, their vocals were 10 times as good, dance moves 10 times as creative, and passion for what they were doing 10 times as strong, and that's all that mattered to me. Because concerts like these are put on for the REAL fans. And I have been, am now, and will always be a real Backstreet Boys fan.

I got to see a band that I grew up with, idolized, and brought me to tears by their sheer presence.
How many people can say that?