Backstreet Boys hold Mumbaikars in thrall as they perform in India after 13 years

Thousands of fans turned up to listen to one of the most popular boy bands across the globe, the Backstreet Boys, as they performed at Jio Gardens, BKC, here on Thursday evening. The band started the nearly two-hour gig with the hit song “I wanna be with you” and continued to belt out one hit number after another including “The call”, “Don’t want you back” as the crowd went into a frenzy, singing along.

Brian came on stage and greeted his fans with “Namaste Mumbai”. He also tried interacting with the audience in Hindi as he took out a paper and quipped ”Kaise hain aap”, and concluded that Namaste was the best one.

The band consists of Nick Carter ,AJ McLean, Howie Dorough and cousins Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson. The group was formed in 1993 in Florida and rose to fame with their debut album “Backstreet Boys”.

It arrived in India on Wednesday after thirteen years for the DNA World tour 2023 produced by Book my show for which they will also be performing in Delhi next on May 5.

As the band performed songs including “Get down”, “I want you back” and “Incomplete”, Nick said someone should have warned them about how hot it is in India. He then went on to add, ”It is not the weather that is making it hot, it is because of all you.” "We had no idea we had so many BSB fans, but we now see it and we love it. It’s our second time in India and we were waiting from a very long time to come to Mumbai,” he said.

After “Drowning“, A J Mclean came out on stage and assured the crowd that they weren’t even halfway done and asked the audience to keep singing, dancing and screaming as loud as they could.

Kevin joined him on stage and added that next time "it won’t be just two cities but four, five and six cities.” It was a night to remember as the band performed some of their most memorable songs from the 90s. People from all age groups could be spotted grooving to their beats as they performed.

The band instantly struck a chord with the audience when they performed one of their most loved songs. “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)”.

The group was dressed in all-black costumes.

The band members were pretty impressed when the staff of their hotel here on Wednesday performed on “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)" to welcome them.

Nick Carter later posted a video of himself on Instagram hailing the act. “This is the first time I have seen something like this in my entire career where the hotel staff is dancing. This is crazy!” said Carter in the video.

To show their love for the city, the band tweaked their song "I want it that way". "I want it Mumbai's way," they crooned.