A representative for the BACKSTREET BOYS has confirmed singer A.J. MCLEAN plans to continue with the boyband’s ongoing U.S. tour despite falling sick with an eye infection.

The four-piece is currently on the road with its This Is Us shows, but fans feared MCLean would have to sit out some of the dates after doctors diagnosed him with viral conjunctivitis, also known as pink eye.

A rep for the band tells TMZ.com none of the other bandmembers have contracted the condition, while MCLean is “doing fine” and is expected to continue with the tour. [Source]

They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks – and maybe you shouldn’t. With a return to the sound that shot them to success, Backstreet’s back. But word is they never really left.

The Backstreet Boys’ “This Is Us” tour hits New York City on Thursday, and while the tracks and the collaborations are new, the feel is vintage – with a kick. A quartet since the departure of Kevin Richardson in 2006, they released their seventh album, “This Is Us,” last October, and, according to Nick Carter, there’s no chance they’re stopping anytime soon.

“This is who the group is now,” says Carter by phone before hitting the stage at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Canada. “It was a little weird in the beginning, but it is comfortable now. We love him, but you know, we can’t change his mind, but we all still hang out with him. … It’s cool.” Read full article.

According to vesti.az, Backstreet Boys will be going to Azerbaijan in Sept/Oct for an all-stars concert.

Today, the details became known of the forthcoming this year, a grand concert in Baku with participation of world pop stars, organized by the largest music TV channel MTV.

As the regional director of Vesti.Az MTV Eurasia Matthew Goldstein, a concert in Baku will not last one day, as planned, but three.

“The first day will be held in Baku retro concert, which will be attended by Thomas Anders (ex-Modern Talking�), group Roxeth “,� Scorpions “,� Beckstrom Boys “, Tony Brexton and others. The main concert will be held the next day, it will be attended by Beyoncé Knowles, Murai Kerry, Riana Lady GaGa, and other stars. On the third day will perform world-famous DJs. There will also be organized a fashion show with the support of the famous Italian magazine “The Collector�.

We hope that the concert will be held in late September – early October in the main square of Azerbaijan – Square Azadliq. The price for entrance to the concert remains unchanged – only 5 manat. This concert will be broadcast in 168 countries worldwide. Unfortunately, 80% of Americans have never heard of Azerbaijan and its tourist potential. After the concert of your country know the whole world “, – said M. Goldstein.

According to him, as negotiations continue to open in Azerbaijan TV channel MTV. At the moment the opening of MTV discussion with the leadership of two national television channels.

Thanks to bsbsquad.

Boy band fans got a tuneful surprise Saturday night at New York’s Radio City Music Hall when the Backstreet Boys made a surprise appearance at the New Kids on the Block concert.

“You get two for the price of one tonight,” Nick Carter told the screaming crowd.

The New Kids on the Block – Joey McIntyre, 37, Donnie Wahlberg, 40, Danny Wood, 41, and brothers Jordan, 40, and Jonathan Knight, 41 – were sitting in front of a white curtain bantering when they launched into the Backstreet Boys’s 1999 hit “I Want It That Way,” an hour into the concert.

As the audience began to sing, the curtain lifted, revealing the Backstreet Boys – Brian Littrell, 35, Nick Carter, 30, A.J. McLean, 32, and Howie Dorough, 36, who finished out the song.

Cue the deafening screams! Read full article.

Even before Nick, Brian, A.J. and Howie triumphantly sang “Backstreet’s back!� Saturday night, the sold-out Gibson Amphitheatre crowd was already screaming like it was 1999.

There was a time when teenage girls didn’t care for vampires or werewolves, a time when a different matter occupied their adolescent minds — the choice between Backstreet Boys or ’N Sync. It was impossible to root for both; 10 men was simply too many to love. In one of this show’s numerous silly video shorts, Nick Carter, posing as Neo from The Matrix, was asked if he’d ever had “a burning itchâ€� he couldn’t get rid of. Of course, he cheekily replied: “ ’N Sync?â€�

This elicited roaring laughter from the crowd, whose exuberant enthusiasm suggested that the lasting power of the boy band era should never be doubted. After sitting through two inconsequential opening acts, these fans attempted to pass the time by chanting for the Boys and doing the wave until the Florida foursome (fifth member Kevin Richardson left the band in 2006) finally appeared.

Speaking of opening acts: seeing as Backstreet Boys are one of the biggest-selling groups of all time, couldn’t they have hired someone actually worth watching, rather than the insufferable Christian TV? The Mohawked, shoeless performer had all the consummate professionalism of an average schmo plucked from Universal CityWalk. He went from singing about wanting to be your best friend in one song to wanting to get you naked in the next.

Perhaps, the Boys were trying to set expectations low for their performance to lessen the pressure of delivering, but there really was no need. The quartet fiercely took the stage with an appropriate and in-your-face rendition of “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back),� complete with video montage and an entrance that involved bursting through a screen.  Read full article.

You don’t have to be a teenager to scream like one.

Last night an overwhelmingly female audience partied like it was 1999 with the Backstreet Boys, the last boy band standing from an era when today’s 20- and 30-somethings were screaming teens.

“Who saw us for the first time when you were, like, 10?� Brian Littrell asked midway through the 100-minute set. Apparently, pretty much everyone.

From the opening salvo of “Oh my God, were back again!� on “Everybody,� the Boys gave a nearly sold-out crowd exactly what it wanted: All of the biggest hits, and a minimum of lesser-known filler.

The now-foursome changed outfits frequently, appearing in suits, sweats, club-ready street gear and threads that could have landed them as extras in Michael Jackson’s “Beat It� video. For the high-powered “Larger Than Life,� they took it to outer space, and popped and locked as android dancers. Read full article.