It sounded like nothing short of brilliance. A FREE concert on the Esplanade, featuring Gavin DeGraw, Of Monsters and Men, and, to top it all off, the Backstreet Boys. Female college students lined up in the thousands, crafting Snapchat and Instagram captions in their heads as they patiently awaited entry.
However, many of them were about to be very disappointed. Lines were massive as early as 1 pm, though the concert would not begin until 4 pm. Hatch Memorial Shell reached full capacity fairly early, causing a lot of anger among concert-goers.
“I felt like there was a lot of discrimination involved in how the lines were formed and how many people were let in,” said Elle Harrigan (CAS ’16). “I finally got sick of waiting in line and just left.”
And for those who sweated it out, BSB performed an underwhelming set that lasted all of fifteen minutes. Two new songs (that no one knew, of course) were bookended by classics like “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” and “I Want it That Way.” There was a general consensus that Nick is an awkward dancer and that Howie probably aged the best out of the four of them.
“To be honest, I was a little disappointed by the Backstreet Boys’ performance. I couldn’t take their choreography seriously,” said Monica Almeida (COM ’15). “But it was definitely a nostalgic experience. They looked like they were having a lot of fun though!”
Photo by Rebecca Shinners