The boy-band formula is as reliable as the quadratic equation: three to five cute young guys singing simple pop songs about love equals swooning fans. Variations on the formula involve the presence or absence of dancing (‘N Sync used choreography; One Direction, not so much) and live instruments (the Backstreet Boys just sang; onstage at least two of the Jonas Brothers usually played guitars).
The origins of Boy Band Review go back about seven years, to when Bender was in a 90s-themed cover band called (in a nod to the Beastie Boys’ final album) the Hot Sauce Committee. Amid songs by the likes of Dr. Dre and Sublime, the group began performing a 15-minute medley of boy-band hits, and Bender says it got as big a reaction as any other part of their show.
“We’re really thrilled that there’s a dancing area here for when they come out,” Carlson says.
As an adult, going to a concert exclusively to hear boy-band songs you listened to as a teenager feels like an exercise in ironic nostalgia—until it doesn’t. “I Want It That Way” starts to play, and suddenly it’s like the guys onstage are singing directly to you. That obsessive childlike fandom you thought you’d outgrown immediately floods back. At least everybody else here also remembers every word to Backstreet’s cover of “No Diggity” and LFO’s “Summer Girls.”
