WDYM What Do You Mean?
WDYM What Do You Mean?
The Sphere with the Backstreet Boys
A vacation can change your taste, but Vegas changed our soundtrack. What started as an anniversary trip and a Backstreet Boys treat for Destini turned into a full-scale conversion at the Sphere—20,000 people in white, a Millennium theme reimagined for today, and a screen so vast it pulls you inside the music. We trace the whole arc, from Hamilton to the Strip’s heat, from a humble In‑N‑Out reentry to Venetian maze-wandering, from missing Mellow Yellow to magic with Mat Franco that made “how did he do that?” a running joke for the rest of the trip.
Before the main event, we hack a perfect morning at the Wynn Buffet: arrive early, walk the floor before committing, mark your dessert targets, and let the carvery brisket and crepe station justify every step. Then it’s merch chasing at the Sphere and the switch flips. The countdown hits, Larger Than Life rips the room open, and a casual spouse becomes a believer. The show is all the reasons people travel for music: precision, playfulness, and a community that sings every word without irony. We talk about why this residency keeps expanding, how nostalgia can feel new in the right venue, and what the Sphere adds that a normal arena can’t.
We also get honest about the Boys then vs now. Kevin’s quiet storm gone full-on presence. Howie stepping up with a stronger voice in the mix. Brian’s grit and timing, supported by bandmates who read him in a heartbeat. AJ still extra in all the right ways. And Nick, transformed from understudy to undeniable center.
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Intro by Kobeofei via Fiverr
Season 2 Artwork: Ishida1694 via Instagram
You're listening to the WDYM. The What Do You Mean Podcast? Hamilton's number one podcast. Now step back. Never relax. Here's Hamilton's own Michael Gillespie.
SPEAKER_04:And welcome to the WD YM. How's everybody doing? Everybody is doing good. Hope everybody's doing great. Before we start, I want to talk about The Walking Dead. Because that's funny that you did mention that. We finally finished 11 seasons of The Walking Dead together. And um and it's always a question always when I talk to people about The Walking Dead. Like, would you survive in the apocalypse set in the zombie apocalypse and everything? And I and if you haven't caught yet, I said we because I have my wife here, Destiny. How are you doing, wifey?
SPEAKER_01:I'm good.
SPEAKER_04:Good, good, good. And hold on. Yay. Anywho. Always ask her, like, hey, um, if you were in the zombie apocalypse, would you survive? And immediately she says, No. No. Why is that?
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely not.
SPEAKER_04:Why?
SPEAKER_01:So many reasons.
SPEAKER_04:So many reasons. Anywho, um, but yeah, I would survive. 11 seasons of The Walking Dead, and let's just get an overall um what is your take on The Walking Dead? And moving forward, we're just getting ready to start the Daryl Dixon series. And first off, uh, what do you think of overall on a scale of one to ten, how would you rate The Walking Dead?
SPEAKER_01:The whole series.
SPEAKER_04:The whole series.
SPEAKER_01:A seven.
SPEAKER_04:A seven? Not too bad. I would give it an eight because it was something that hasn't been done on TV before, even after the fact that Rick was gone. The series still was, you know, you had even though the main character was gone, Rick, you still had Negan, Daryl, Maggie, Michone that was able strong enough to carry on with the series and everything. So I'm gonna give it an eight out of ten and looking forward to Daryl Dixon series, but there's other ones. The Daryl Dixon series, we might do Fair of the Walking Dead. That's something you want to do? I don't know. I don't know. We got the Daryl Dixon series, then we have the Negan and Maggie. Maggie, thank you. Maggie series, which is what was that one's called? Dead City.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, or something like that.
SPEAKER_04:And I think that's it, right?
SPEAKER_02:Oh, the one with Michonne and Red.
SPEAKER_04:Oh yeah, the ones that live, where they kept saying at the end of the series and everything. So yeah, um good series overall. Probably one of the best TV shows that was gone for 11 series minus what? Crazy Anatomy. Crazy Anatomy. That's going on what 28 seasons now?
SPEAKER_01:I don't even know.
SPEAKER_04:That's ridiculous. Ain't nothing they ain't no hospital drama for that long, and they still go on. You watch that still?
SPEAKER_02:Um I'm a couple seasons behind. I haven't watched it in a while.
SPEAKER_04:So but yeah, that is, you know, a good series to watch. And if you ever get a chance, it's on um Netflix right now, so get it while you can before it comes off Netflix. Today's episode is me and my wife, we went to Las Vegas for an anniversary/slash Backstreet Boys concert.
SPEAKER_02:Woo-hoo!
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. Well, it makes this one special because my wife has gone to how many concerts you've been to?
SPEAKER_02:Every one.
SPEAKER_04:But how many have you been since we've been together?
SPEAKER_02:Two?
SPEAKER_04:Two, that's it? You see, you didn't go to the one in a Val d'Asta. No, one in Cincinnati.
SPEAKER_02:I went to the one with Megan and I went to the one with Emma.
SPEAKER_04:Oh. Two with us together, and then overall, how many have you been to?
SPEAKER_02:A lot. Oh, every time they tour.
SPEAKER_04:Every time they tour.
SPEAKER_02:Except for their last residency in Vegas.
SPEAKER_04:Except for the last residency in Vegas, and then there was a cruise, wasn't there?
SPEAKER_01:Oh yeah, I didn't do the cruise.
SPEAKER_04:I didn't do the cruise. So needless to say, she's a Backstreet Boys fan. She's she's a big Backstreet Boys fan, and that's nothing wrong with that.
SPEAKER_01:Since I was like 12.
SPEAKER_04:But first, we're gonna we're gonna go through the whole vacation, have some laughs in between there, and talk about everything, right? Okay, all right. So let's start with us arriving in Vegas, because when we got here, it was the heat. The heat was well, as you know, you were you're on the west coast of Vegas, and and this is my second time going to Las Vegas, and this is my wife's first time going to Vegas. You know, one of the things that you know, as when you travel from small city Hamilton, Ohio, to big city Las Vegas, you don't want to look like a tourist. That's that's the first thing we do, right? That's the first thing you you try to avoid, like make sure you don't look like a a tourist in Vegas and everything. So we get there, and the last time I was in Vegas, it was either you drive the van that we had, because I was in the military, or you get a taxi. It's changed, it is completely changed now, where everything is either um Uber. Lyft or Uber. Lyft or Uber. Immediately, you can get one within five minutes, and everything about Vegas is right there. Right? So that number one is the greatest thing about going to Vegas now in 2025. So when we get there, immediately we're hungry because we've been traveling all day. We started from Cincinnati to Chicago, Chicago to Las Vegas. So that flight was roughly about four or five hours. But I'm not here to bore you that. We decided to go to In N Out, and you know, In N Out Burger is a notorious West Coast thing where it's just a simple menu of burger fries, and that's it. So, what was your opinion on In N Out? It was good. I'm surprised that one, it was actually pretty good, and then uh number two, uh, it was kind of relatively cheap.
SPEAKER_02:It was probably our cheapest meal. It was what 20 bucks for two meals.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, and that was that was really good too. And um, I'm I'm kind of surprised that it hasn't branched out further to the east side of the United States, but we got off the plane, went to In N Out, had a pretty good experience there, and then we went to sleep shortly after that.
SPEAKER_02:I don't remember anything doing after that day one except oh no, we walked around We did, we walked to the strip, yeah and went to New York, New York, New York New York, uh-huh. And we went into like the Hershey shop and the Coke store.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. And here's the funny thing about it. Um, being on the West Coast, it is it's different because they don't have Melly Yellow on the West Coast. We couldn't find it anywhere. Anywhere. And this is this is you know, this is wifey's favorite drink. She's dialed it down from Mountain Dew to now Mellow Yellow now.
SPEAKER_02:So You would think the Coke store would have Mellowello.
SPEAKER_04:Right.
SPEAKER_02:Then when you finally asked, they said they had it in a freestyle machine. So that was like a four-dollar Coke and or Meliello, and it was the only one I got the whole time we were there.
SPEAKER_04:I did give her a warning about the Las Vegas crazies because you will you will come across somebody who ain't who ain't right in Las Vegas. And the first one, the first one that we saw was a man uh in his underwear, and these are not boxers, ladies and gentlemen. These were tidy whiteys. He was up there just taking a quick little mini bath. Yeah. Taking a quick mini bath on the strip. And I was like, yo, this is crazy, but this is this is Las Vegas. So day one was just recover from traveling. Recover from traveling, getting something to eat, and then you know, just getting our surroundings together and figure out what we're gonna do. So that was day one, and we spent a total of three days there.
SPEAKER_02:We got there Wednesday, we left Saturday.
SPEAKER_04:Okay, four days. So four days, no. Well, that last one don't count because we had to get up and early and all that stuff. Yeah, yeah. So um day one was just to recover. Um day two.
SPEAKER_02:Well, we woke up at like five a.m. Right. We were still morning.
SPEAKER_04:We were still stuck on East Time, East Coast time.
SPEAKER_02:We fell asleep in the hotel before eight eight o'clock. Right. So we didn't even experience nighttime Vegas until day two.
SPEAKER_06:Right.
SPEAKER_02:Because you closed the curtains in our room, but the room was fantastic. We stayed at the Virgin Hotel right off the strip. Shut them curtains, it was pitch black. So day two. What did we do? Day two. Oh, we went to the buffet downstairs to eat breakfast. Right. Terrible. Terrible, yeah. Breakfast buffet, we were starving.
SPEAKER_04:Just trying things out because you know, when you get there the thing about Vegas is that it's an adult playground, pretty much, but you can only do so much within those three or four days, and anything over that is terrible. It's just like, okay, I've done this, I've done that, I've done that, this, and then I've done I've done everything I wanted to do. Day two was basically kind of a recovery day. I think we did do some shopping a little bit.
SPEAKER_02:Well, we had to get our we got a vibe package for the Baxtery Boys concert, and we wanted to go to the merch store in the Baxter Boys experience. So we had to wait for the little concierge lady to get there with our our vibe lanyards. Yeah. So we didn't really do much until we got that at like eleven. And then from there we took a lift to the Venetian Hotel. Which was overwhelming and huge. There's a little mall inside of it at the gondola ride. So we looked around there until we finally found the Backstreet Boys experience.
SPEAKER_04:And the thing about the the Backstreet Boys experience was that it was like a a time warp back to 1999. There you go. Back to 1999, where um it seems like, you know, everything was focused on their Millennium album, which is arguably probably their best album. And, you know, um just taking pictures and getting merch and what else did we do just see like like pictures?
SPEAKER_02:They had a TRL pop like set up where you can like be on the set with cardboard cutouts and take pictures, lots of photo ops, and they had it was really cool because they had people there to actually take pictures for you with your phone. So they had like the inside of like a plane set up, all their old posters, you know. If you had the VIP access, you had to go behind the scenes with all their outfits and things like that. But overall it was very cool, all the details. Like there was millennium details, 99, 2000 stuff everywhere. It was so cool. Like I walked in, I was like emotional. Like I could have cried, but I was like, I'm not gonna cry. Right. But it was so cool to like see.
SPEAKER_04:One thing, you know, that I noticed was that you know, a lot of people you would think that this is a Backstreet Boys concert with a whole bunch of of women and everything, but there's a lot of dudes there. Yeah, yeah. And I was like, you know what? That's not too bad. And you know, these guys have been performing for 30 plus years, but I'm gonna stop on that because you know, that's the main attraction of this podcast. Day three. Day three. What do we eat? Day two. Nothing memorable, I guess.
SPEAKER_02:No, after like day two, we walked around a lot. I think that's when we ate at Happy Camper. That Pizza Place. We kind of explored, well, after we got the merch and I spent a lot of money.
SPEAKER_04:Tons.
SPEAKER_02:I spent a lot, yeah. I spent a lot of money and don't regret one single thing I bought. And then we walked around the Venetian, was getting lost because it was so big. And we walked around on this trip. We walked a lot of places because to us it wasn't hot, so it felt wonderful. Went to Happy Camper and ate I mean So this is Thursday. Oh, and Thursday night we went to the magic show.
SPEAKER_04:Okay, so let's set that up. Um we were like, well, what are we gonna do? You know, what do you want to do? You know, we're in Vegas, blah blah blah. So I'm looking up David Copperfield. Like David Copperfield would be a great show to scene. And the tickets were a little pricey and everything, and it was like it was a little later than the day. And then hold on, I gotta get the what's the guy's name? Matt.
SPEAKER_02:Matt Franco.
SPEAKER_04:Matt Franco.
SPEAKER_02:He won America's Got Talent. So we were either gonna go to that or we were gonna go to the Circle Soleil Michael Jackson the One show. But you didn't want to do that because you weren't seeing Michael Jackson.
SPEAKER_04:Matt Franco, that was his name. Right. I mean, it w no offense, but Michael Jackson, angle, I felt like we weren't gonna see nothing, anything new at a Michael Jackson concert or a Michael Jackson show, yeah. Right. It would have been it would have been cool to see it, but I thought the um the magic show would be better. So we go to the we go to the magic show, and here's the thing like it's magic, right? So you you think like it's a setup or anything like that. We bought the tickets the day of. So there's no way they can find out who's buying tickets, this, that, and the other. So we're we're at the magic show and everything, and we're enjoying ourselves, and so at one point, uh Matt Franco's talking about destiny, not my wife Destiny, D-E-S-T-I-N-Y, right? And I'm like, you know, I'm just listening to him, and like, yeah, he's like, I believe in destiny. And then they kept saying destiny, destiny, destiny. He's like, I need a volunteer. So I put my hand up. So, you know, I'm like, what's the odds of me getting pulled into this? And sure enough, this guy calls me out and calls the guy in the blue jersey. I say, I'm wearing my Epton jersey and everything. He's like, Yeah, you watch right. So he pulls me up on the stage. Can't, when you get on stage, you can't see a thing. The light is completely in your eyes. And he's like, he's like, Yeah, yeah, we know in Vegas we we play games and all that stuff. And he's like, You want to play a game? I said, Yeah, sure, we'll play a game. He said, Here, take this mic and make sure nobody else touches the microphone. I said, So the assistants on my right side, I take the mic, put it on my left hand, and say, Oh, you switched hands, and everybody starts laughing with the fake laugh, you know.
SPEAKER_02:It wasn't a microphone, it was a light.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, it was um, okay, my bad.
SPEAKER_04:It was a light.
SPEAKER_01:It was like a flashlight.
SPEAKER_04:Right. So again, I take it from my right hand, put it on my left hand, and everybody like starts doing a little laughter thing, you know, whatever. So as the trick comes down, the these there is like at least eight or nine doors floating on the stage. And he's like, roll the dice. And he and there's no dice. There's no dice, right? He's just roll these pretend dice. So I roll these pretend dice, and uh, he says, What'd you roll? So I roll seven. He's like, mmm, you know, seven's a common number here in Vegas, you know, everybody rolls a seven, that's the lucky number. Why don't you roll again? So I'm like, all right, cool.
SPEAKER_03:He's like, if you want to, he's like, you don't have to roll again to you. And you're like, yeah, I want to.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. So I roll again, and I think I picked a three. Yeah. I picked three. So he's like, count down from the door in the middle, three, three doors down. So I was like, one, two, three. And it was an orange door. I'm like, all right, cool. Orange door. And he's like, Do you want to roll again? I said, No, I'm I'm cool. He said, Are you sure? I said, Yeah, you know, this is this is my door. You know, this is my door. This is what I'm picking. He said, All right. So he said, take that flashlight and take this little sticker off and unveil what it says. There's like a little roll on it that I can't see. That you didn't even know what's yeah, I didn't even know it was there to begin with. So take that sticker off and unveil what it says off the flashlight. So I take it off and I unravel it. It says Michael will select the orange door. I'm like, what? I'm like, I'm like, how the hell, how the hell did you do that? And mind you, the whole time he's doing all these tricks that just don't make sense to the to the naked eye. It doesn't make sense. And I keep thinking about how, how did he do this?
SPEAKER_01:I don't know.
SPEAKER_04:I I I I've been thinking about this for a while. He kept, I think, because when he sat, when we okay, so let's rewind a little bit. When we sat down, I I think I sat down first and he said, uh, is it just is it you and somebody else? I said, Yes, me and my wife. And he said, Okay, you're gonna sit right here. So we're sitting right here. Okay. I don't know what's attached to when you purchase the tickets. I purchased where we were sitting, and I purchased tickets that day.
SPEAKER_02:And your name, that was it. They didn't know my name. Right. Just you.
SPEAKER_04:Right. So I'm thinking, this is how I think they got me. I think he was chiming me in when he kept saying your name.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, but he didn't know my name.
SPEAKER_04:But I I there has to be some kind of like, in my opinion.
SPEAKER_02:They looked it up, they looked it up.
SPEAKER_04:They had to, like, because I mean, how else can they just there has to be something? Put my name in there and put in a Google search or something. And I don't know. That's what I'm thinking. That's the only thing that I can think of that makes logical sense.
SPEAKER_02:Unless it was just a coincidence that they were saying my name.
SPEAKER_04:So I'm like, you know, if they're saying, you know, I believe in destiny, I have a destiny, da da da da da.
SPEAKER_02:I'm like, well, I got a destiny too. Raise my hand.
SPEAKER_04:So so like I raise my hand and I get it on the stage, and next thing you know, Michael selects the orange door.
SPEAKER_02:It was crazy.
SPEAKER_04:It was absolutely crazy.
SPEAKER_02:It was fun though.
SPEAKER_04:Absolutely fun.
SPEAKER_02:I didn't know what to expect going into it. I didn't know if it would be something I would like, but it was like an intimate setting. He was very interactive with the audience and very good at his job. Very that is why he won America's Scot Talent.
SPEAKER_04:Right. And so, you know. But that just made it that just made it like that just you know, take it to the top as far as the experience the Vegas experience and everything. So we come back home and no, you're forgetting.
SPEAKER_02:Slow down. Sorry. We went to Bellagio.
SPEAKER_04:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:To see the fountains.
unknown:Oh.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. So this was like our first night exp well, my first night experience in Vegas. So we walked or we got a lift or something, I think, over to the Bellagio to see the fountains. Yeah. And there was so many people there. And it was like nine, I don't know, it was like it wasn't la that late. It was like nine o'clock. There was like little kids and strollers, every walks of life, half-naked women.
SPEAKER_04:Yep. Booty everywhere.
SPEAKER_02:A booty out that said Las Vegas on their butt. Yeah. There was like blow-up characters of like Stitch and Mickey, like weird-looking Mickey Mouses, like so random. People with coolers selling bottles of water and beer. It was it was a sight to see. I mean, I would not bring my kid to Vegas at night.
SPEAKER_06:No.
SPEAKER_02:Because yeah, I mean, I didn't want to see all that stuff. So we watched the little fountain show. That was cool. Pictures.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. And speaking of what, that one guy, because again, I'm that day I'm wearing my Everton jersey. And he's like, oh Everton. He's like, yeah. He says, I'm a Liverpool fan. I said, you know what? We all can't be perfect, okay? You jerk. They take a picture. So I took a picture on this phone and yeah, I'm a Liverpool fan. Like, get out of here. So that was another interesting that happened. Then the main event. So Friday morning of the day of the concert, we were trying to figure out something to do because we feel like we've done so much prior to one of the things that is beneficial when you don't go to Vegas is TikTok. Destiny found something on TikTok. It was the Wind Buffet. Yeah. The Wind Buffet. And again, it's um eight o'clock in the morning, and we're like, well, do you want to go to Wynn Buffet? And again, you know, once you're in Vegas, you got to do Vegas things. And the Wynn Buffet is definitely one of the things that we decided to do. How did you come about the TikTok or whatever?
SPEAKER_02:I heard that there's so many buffets in Vegas, and I heard that the win was one of the best ones. I was like, okay. And I looked at the food that people would post and just looked really good. But it's very expensive.
SPEAKER_04:Yes.
SPEAKER_02:It's like$90 a person. And it includes like seafood and all those things that we don't really eat. So I just happened to look at the website Friday morning. And they had a like a morning option of all the things but seafood. I'm like, okay. And it was$60. I'm like, okay,$60 a person. Did the reservation, got us a little lift, and went to the win at eight in the morning.
SPEAKER_04:Right. And the thing is the thing is, like, you know, you go to your buffets here in Ohio, and it's, you know, I think most of the times we go to a buffet, it's usually an Asian buffet. Yeah. You know, rice and all that stuff. What I tell you, the wind's buffet is stupidly. That's a word. Stupidly big. I mean, there is there is so there is so much stuff. There's like, as soon as you walk in, they're like, hey, what do you want to drink? So, you know, we get your get to drink and everything. And it's like, grab your plate and get going. So as soon as you walk in, you're hit with the desserts first. The desserts are right there. As soon as you walk in, you're like, oh, I'm gonna come get that. I'm gonna get that. You put little mind markers or mile markers on the desserts. But as soon as you get in there, they have so much food. It's ridiculous how much food. They have an almond station. They had Asian. They had sausages. They had banana chicken. What is banana chicken? Whatever it was, it was good. It was delicious.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, we when we first walked into the food area, we just kind of looked at everything they had. And I was like, oh my goodness. Like we didn't even know where to start. Because I didn't, I mean, yeah, it was like eight in the morning, but I didn't want breakfast. Right. Like you you could have anything you wanted.
SPEAKER_04:Like I said, they had an almond station, sausage, they had pancakes, they had breakfast, they had seafood. I mean, it was just sushi. Sushi. And mind you, this is eight o'clock in the morning. At our hotel, we had a little spot that had breakfast. This thing blew it out the water. And it was just a smorgasbord of food. So, of course, if I'm paying 60 bucks a plate, you're gonna get I'm gonna I'm gonna fill that plate up, every bit of it.
SPEAKER_02:You're gonna try everything.
SPEAKER_04:You're gonna try everything in God's green herbs.
SPEAKER_02:You know what it is? That's okay. I'm gonna try it. We're gonna try it.
SPEAKER_04:Exactly. So one of the highlights that that we had was I think we had, I think I had the sausage. This was pretty good. Uh they had a little Asian food, it was good. I I really cannot think of anything that was like like I don't want to try that or that was bad or anything like that. I generally think everything was good. And I think I think, and I don't mean to sound like, you know, like I'm a big old pig or anything, but I think I at least got three plates myself.
SPEAKER_01:Oh yeah, easily.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. I'm trying to think what was what was the the crepe. Oh well that the dessert, but there was something on it, some meat thing that we had.
SPEAKER_02:The brisket. Oh yeah. The brisket was so good. They had didn't they have like turkey or chicken?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. Yeah, like turkey legs and everything. Or was it no, it was chicken legs. They had chicken legs, banana chicken, brisket, sausage, and it was just it was just so much food. And one of the one of the um one of the main things that we got is that they had a crepe station. Anything immaculate anything imaginable was there.
SPEAKER_01:Everything was so fresh.
SPEAKER_04:Yes, it was so good. It was so good. I got a crepe with uh strawberry banana and a caramel caramel uh sauce on it, and they hit it with the chantelli cream on top of that, and it was it was amazing. It was it was amazing to eat it. Um me and my wife, we shared the crepe and everything. And the funny thing about it was we kept, you know, we kept getting plate after plate after plate. It wasn't until Destiny said, Go ahead.
SPEAKER_02:We've been eating for a whole hour.
SPEAKER_04:She said we've been eating for a whole hour. I'm in mid-chural.
SPEAKER_02:But it was so good.
SPEAKER_04:Right. It's just it's just one of the things that you just once you go to Vegas, you have to do.
SPEAKER_02:You have to go to the experience.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, and uh sure absolutely. We absolutely whined and dined, ate, and then thankfully, thankfully, we could all the thing about Vegas is that why doesn't I, you know, you don't see fat people vegan because you gotta walk it off. You know what I'm saying? You eat something, and if you're not getting a a lift or anything, you just walk to the next, you know, next location and walk it off. But she said, once we're eating for a whole hour, I said, you know what, mouthful, this is it. This is the last plate I got. Because it was it was if she didn't say that, and maybe yeah, I would have I probably would have got a fourth plate.
SPEAKER_02:But we were so full, yeah. Like, I don't know, like we were starting to slow down, and the desserts were all like miniature-sized, and they were like just enough. Like there was this caramel swirled cheesecake. Oh my goodness, it was so good, right? Like it was all so delicious. I want another crepe so bad. Oh, so good. I can make a crepe though. I know, yeah, but I'm waiting. So it's been almost two months waiting.
SPEAKER_04:Okay, well, get some fresh strawberries and uh banana and I can do that. Yeah, just go back to Vegas. But yeah, if you ever get a chance, go to the wind buffet.
SPEAKER_02:Totally worth it. Totally worth it. Apparently, go early. Go, yeah. Because the lady was like, You're here at a good time because it starts getting busy at like 10. So when we were walking out, there was already a line. Correct. And like it was like 9 30, 9 45 in the morning, and there was a line. But you can have like all the drinks, like alcohol beverages, you can get like a package, and people were doing that at 8 in the morning.
SPEAKER_04:Right.
SPEAKER_02:Because when in Vegas, yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_04:Exactly. One other thing I do want to touch about. Um, I know we talked about it briefly when we were at the Bellagio looking for. What about the exc uh Excalibur? When you had the half-naked man coming at you that you wanna come see our show? Oh, that was so weird.
SPEAKER_02:He just showed up out of nowhere, this big guy with no shirt on and these tight pants. And it I just wasn't expecting it because we're walking around, you know, kids are everywhere where they shouldn't be. And it was, I forget what where was it at? It was Excalibur. Okay. There was like nightclubs in there, but it was like during the day, and he just like came up to me and I just was like shocked and just kept walking because it was like a Chippendale guy. Like, what is going on?
SPEAKER_04:It was the uh show the thunder from down on the Oh yeah, there we go. Thunder from down thunder. Don't ask me why I know that.
SPEAKER_02:But he was like standing in front of like, I don't know, like a photo op, or you can go like behind the curtain. I don't know, it was like really sketchy. I was like, Yeah, I'm good.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, so um, I thought that was funny because when I first when I first went to Vegas, that happened to me. I'm like, I'm just a small town boy from Ohio, and this lady came up, you want to see our show? And she was topless and everything. It's just you know, you're just not expecting that when you're from Ohio and you're visiting Las Vegas.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, it was a it was something.
SPEAKER_04:Yep. So that Friday led us to the main event for Friday, which was the Backstreet Boys concert. The main event, while we're all there, we go to the sphere to watch the Backstreet Boys in concert. I'm gonna be 100% honest with you. If you get an opportunity to go to the sphere, I don't care what it is, if it's to watch the Wizard of Oz, a movie, or your favorite band, group, whatever is performing there, you need to go.
SPEAKER_01:Do it.
SPEAKER_04:Yes. Again, I'm I'm on the outside. Like, I again, we're going to a Baxter Voice concert. I'm like, yeah, whatever. I'm not like, oh my god, this is this is this is it for me. Like, this is this is you know, this is one of the things on my bucket list, you know. It's like, hey, we're going to a concert, and it's cool, you know.
SPEAKER_02:First Baxter Voice concert.
SPEAKER_04:Mine, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. We have never as long as we've been together, we've never been to a concert together.
SPEAKER_04:No.
SPEAKER_02:You never wanted to go to see Bachelor. No, I don't want to.
SPEAKER_04:I don't. Why would I want to go?
SPEAKER_02:You want to go now?
SPEAKER_04:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_04:Okay, well, wait, don't ruin it, right? Don't do that yet. So we go, and again, the sphere is amazing.
SPEAKER_02:And wait, set the theme, okay? So it's millennium. They wanted everyone to wear white. 95% of the people probably wore white. 20,000 people at night. We were there for the Friday night show. Show started at 8. We got there at 657. I don't know why I know that, but we did. Doors opened at 6 30. And it was just as soon as you're going from a walk away from the Venetian to the sphere, and then there's a door to the left, and you see the sphere, and you don't realize how big the sphere is until you're right up on it. It's huge. You can see it from everywhere. So you just walk in, and with the package that we had, you just we went right through security, no issue. In the inside, I mean, videos and pictures don't do it any justice at all. I mean, the escalators crisscross, all the Backstreet Boy stuff that they had set up, all the merch booths that were there. I mean, it was insane. And we weren't even in the sphere for the show yet. Just like the outside and stuff. And as soon as you walk in, it was crazy.
SPEAKER_04:And on top of that, I you know she touched on it briefly, but then we got to get more merch. And we got cups.
SPEAKER_02:We well, because the each weekend had their specific uh merch shirt. So I wanted the specific shirt. specific date of August 1st and they only sell it at the sphere. And like I said, mind you, we got there like 30 minutes after the doors opened. The floor we were on, they were already sold out of all the merch. So we had to go upstairs to get it. And we were on the we were in the 200 section. So you got ground one, two, three, four, all the way up. We were on 200, which was the fourth floor. It was insane. Like just to comprehend, we're on the fourth floor and we're in level 200. So we went upstairs to like the eighth floor or something and got the merch, got our souvenir cups, and then went downstairs. And we were super early. We were all like an hour and a half hour and a half early because it says it starts at eight but because the TikTok and all the videos 840 is when they come out. But it was okay because the vibe was great. Yeah. Played Bactree Boy songs the whole time and you couldn't believe that I knew all the songs. Yeah. Hello? Fan.
SPEAKER_04:Hey look I I'm an Eminem fan too right I love Eminem. I don't know all the songs off the top of my head. No it's just like we're sitting there waiting to play this one song like what is this? Like this is Siberia Michael like oh wait what you I never heard no Siberia and the thing that really like started to like open my mind like oh okay this is really cool was that everybody was cool. Like the people that we sat with are cool. The people that sat right above us was cool. Everybody's cool like you want me to take picture you want me to take a picture hey you want me to take a picture of you guys like yo this is everybody's just genuinely happy like it was just a good time and it was 2000 people just like us in white our age excited to see the backstreet boys husb you know men were there.
SPEAKER_02:People from literally all over the world were there. Right. Like literally and it it's and I'm not exaggerating at all there was people from everywhere that came to Vegas to see the Backstreet Boys and that's powerful. You're so well loved you have people coming from all over to see you for one night for an hour and a half show.
SPEAKER_04:Yep.
SPEAKER_02:Like you can't get any better than that.
SPEAKER_04:830 hits 830 hits and that's when the sphere literally just comes alive. Like again you're at the sphere you see the sides and it's like all like you know screens screens of everything like you know interesting facts who's the best cook who cooked you know the just little stuff. But then 830 hits and we are like literally like transformed. Exactly exactly that's the best way for it. You are transformed going into the millennium with the backstory was and like the whole sphere comes alive. And now it's like you know they have screens of you know a spaceship and that that was the theme of I guess the theme of millennium yeah a spaceship and but we're and we're not talking like little screens like at a concert we're talking the entire screen from floor to ceiling like looking above you there was screens like everything and that's when the 10 minute countdown and everyone was in their seats and everyone was getting excited and going crazy and the whole time the back of the sphere like where the stage is it looks like it's the stage but no that's screens the stage is like small and at the bottom and but the way that the sphere is it just looked like it was the stage and it was just it was insane like it I mean there's no other word.
SPEAKER_02:It was epic.
SPEAKER_04:Right it was so they're getting ready to play the first song and everybody's like well I'm looking down with our seats we could look directly down to where the stage was at and you know everybody's looking around everybody's looking around I hear I hear Destiny's like where are they going to show up? Where are they going to show up? And there's five small squares on the floor.
SPEAKER_02:I did not see those five squares because I'm so into it but I'm like literally recording and I have my phone on the stage and I'm looking up because it's distracting because it's so big and it's like you're there. I'm guessing it's like almost like a 3D experience. Like you are right there. And then everyone starts cheering and I hear you laughing and they popped up out of the floor in those squares and I missed it. I freaking missed it because I was so look I was looking at I was looking above and it was like the it's a millennium and it was like a big old spaceship and it's just the effects were so like you need to see it twice just so you can like watch the effects and see because there's so much.
SPEAKER_04:And they come out singing Larger than life and they come out and sing a like a modern version of Larger than life you know with the live well you can hear the band it's like a live band a little reendition of the song and they just they kill it. They kill the first song it's like yo this is this is nuts. Now now I go from being a you know okay that's cool to Bash Your Boys to now like I mean I'm it's in the DNA now it's it's it's in the blood now. Like the first song was like oh my God. Then you know song what was song two I don't even remember what song two was but we got another song on there and the song goes at 90 903 and then I'm looking at my wife like hey it's you know looking at her and she got like a little pouty face going on. I'm like what's going on like how do you have this face?
SPEAKER_02:And then she's like It's almost over almost over but I know because I avoided the TikTok videos but I heard people talk about it and I knew that it ended at 1015. Right. And I knew it started at 840. So at 903 I'm like oh my God I really got like another hour because it was so amazing and then they just like you know they sang the third song was As Long as you love me which is like my favorite song and it's just it was so fun. Oh my gosh. Dancing having a great time didn't sit down. No like it just I mean they killed it they just went song after song and it was just so much fun. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:And the thing that the thing one of the things that I I noticed was that yeah me my wife and the people around we're all joining we're all enjoying the music and everything. But however if you look down and to the right there's a group of let's just say Latino or Filipinos they are having a music video in the lower right corner. They are singing there for four like it was like four guys and a bunch of other women they are having a music mini music video at the concert and that's what that's part again another reason why I am now a backstwarts fan because they are enjoying the concert to the utmost degree. Oh yeah they were living their best life they were living their best life like going to get more beer and everything but to come back down they were singing as long as you love me too it was it was amazing. It was amazing I dust really a loss of words for the whole experience it was so much fun. And I I was not expecting like I was expecting to have some fun and enjoy it and you know have my wife enjoy this experience because this is this is her thing. This is this is her thing. This is this is her thing but now it's like okay let's go back huh yeah that's what she said so let's go back but um yeah that was the that was the thing that was my me by far probably the well the best concert the best concert I've ever been to like I don't know how I can just go to like a normal venue and see them ever again.
SPEAKER_02:Right. I mean obviously I will but it's never gonna be the same. Like it was and everyone I've you know everyone that you see online the same thing like they outdone themselves. So much so that before like when the first we bought our tickets like in February. We waited months to go to this concert like six months to go to this concert and we bought them and then after the first show started because we were we went to the third weekend of shows so everyone was starting to get the hype. Well they initially added a couple more weekends of shows. Well and then right after we left I mean it's still a big deal they added seven more shows after Christmas and then the response was so high they added seven more shows in February like this was only supposed to be like a four or five week thing and it's turned into so much bigger than it was because of how amazing the show is like celebrities there and everything and making videos and it's just insane the outpouring of support from everybody everybody like everyone wants to go now.
SPEAKER_04:And so it was a great concert and everything. So this is the qu I didn't I didn't tell you about this but um I want to play word association with the Backstreet boys okay because when I when I got there I always have okay this person does this this person does that and then I want to do word association with each member of the Backstreet Boys in your opinion how they are how they were then and how they are now okay so let's do the easy ones so I'm gonna say one member you're gonna tell me how they were then okay and how they are now so let's start with number one Kevin Kevin Kevin was always like the quiet one I feel like he's supposed to be like the he's like a background singer right he wasn't like dominant in all the songs but now he's like a badass with his long hair and how he he gets so into the music and dancing as the oldest member in his mid-50s it was like another side of Kevin.
SPEAKER_02:He wasn't so like reserved like he used to be I feel like agree agree absolutely yeah okay so Howie Howie was always a soft quiet one amazing voice but he just didn't have a lot of the you know opening acts or opening like songs except for his Spanish eye songs which is my favorite that he song he's more vocal he sings more I think he interacts more it's just crazy to see how different they are. Again he's like the second oldest and it's just I don't know I wonder if it's because they were the oldest and they were like the fatherly figures of the group and now that they're all fathers they don't really have to be that role in the group anymore. You know?
SPEAKER_06:Right.
SPEAKER_04:So now they're like oh you know and they're being who they want to be and I I you know I I want to get to that's to do Brian real quick.
SPEAKER_02:Then and now Brian always amazing your favorite he's always a performer he's always a clown on stage but now like he's got vocal cords that injury like damage so it's a lot for him to sing. And his voice does get like scratchy. Oh raspy raspy but man he kills it anyway. He belts out those notes those notes like no other but I also you can tell when he needs help he just has to do a certain look and all the boys know like he needs some backup.
SPEAKER_04:Right. I and then I noticed in the um I don't know how it how the original larger than life was but in the concert or the one I watch on YouTube it's like I see um how he helping helping him out a little bit so I don't know if that's planned or not whatever but um I always say that like Brian to me was always the leader the leader as far as vocal range and everything and I still like now I don't see him as a leader no more because all of them are each take their own part equally equally yeah and that's what I that's what I enjoy about that's why one they've been doing this for almost 30 plus years now that right now there's no leader. Yeah just dipping it in sync you know who the leader was yeah it was Justin.
SPEAKER_02:I feel like they just evolved over time again like I said you know Nick was like twelve thirteen right they needed that fatherly figure him and AJ were so young right and now they're all they're all you know all adults they all have kids and they can kind of take on their own role but still be like as one. Like AJ he's still a clown he's still he's still extra in every single way he's not changed at all. Nick my favorite always and forever. So let's start let's stop Nick then to Nick now Nick always would st he would he would have his own like you know parts of the song.
SPEAKER_04:I've always thought it was Brian and then Nick but now I feel like he just dominates that's exactly what I was thinking like I think then he was an understudy he was like okay you're good but you're not like on this level and then since uh 2000 in my opinion 2000 to now he has taken such a bigger bigger role with it with the group where I I I say understudy then main role now superstar now. And that's what I and then like that's what I like about Nick's journeys because like when he's doing more than that he's belting out the song and he's doing extra too.
SPEAKER_02:Oh yeah because uh I feel like his life what he's been through with all his siblings dying like he's got one sibling left and everything that he's been through and he's he's a dad now you know he's got little kids he's just changed you just need to quit doing the crotch grab on what no we're editing this he's just he's he's an amazing performer. Right and he'll always be my favorite.
SPEAKER_04:Right and rightfully so you know like like you said you like Nick I like Brian but I think he's right now the superstar of the group like like um it was the I don't want to lose you he's in the middle first image that come up he's singing it and like I notice his parts more because of what he's doing. You know I was watching him we're on more than that and it's like you're you're you're the superstar now you you could be technically like the leader but I don't see a leader right now. You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah I feel like they're all equal and they all have their strengths and weaknesses and as life goes on they evolve and accommodate to each other's flaws or you know or what they need you know they need help support yeah yeah and it's just it's great.
SPEAKER_04:Right.
SPEAKER_02:It's so fun growing up with them. Right right and then being there like oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. So last is AJ.
SPEAKER_02:AJ AJ then well that's not I said we already did AJ. I thought we didn't do AJ yeah we did AJ I mean AJ was always like wild and crazy and he's kind of still that person. Right he hasn't really changed a lot but he's always his vocals he's always extra with everything I feel like he's kind of stayed the same.
SPEAKER_04:But he's still he's still amazing you know right and that's what I think like then he was the superstar now he's you know he's still a star. Like he still does the extra things like get up get everybody get ready clap your hands and all that getting people hype and all that stuff coming out later taking off his shirt. Yeah I saw that. So you know I was like you know I'm like he was in my opinion the superstar of the group then and now he's the star yeah of the group like he's still vocal his focals are still great his performances are still great you know his physical appearance is still like you know the wild hair the blonde hair you know his tattoos everywhere and everything he's the he was the superstar now he's the star of the show but I still think Nick right now is like that was that was seeing him perform and everything I was like I see now now now you know why I love the factory voice.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah I I see it now you know like they they know how to perform they perform how to perform so well but just being in the sphere on that level it just makes you love them so much more because that I mean it was I mean we can show you videos and watch the videos it but it's nothing like being there experiencing it. Like and I only took a couple videos like of my favorite songs and like when they came out and stuff because we were living in the moment. But some people like literally recorded the whole show and we've been watching it on YouTube. But it's like I wanted to be in the moment enjoying it because it's so it's so it goes by so fast but it was so fun. So fun.
SPEAKER_04:It was such such a good experience and uh you know again this is like oh and um just to say like now I have a new favorite song it was incomplete. Incomplete was my song for the longest time.
SPEAKER_02:But now it's more than that more than that. And then yeah so and now he comes home from work and he's got it on his phone listening to it. I mean and we went to the concert August 1st right that was like six weeks ago. Right it's yeah it's not and the girls are like are you are you done playing Factory Boys? Because that's all that they've been hearing but then it's like I don't I want to just relive it again because it was so much fun.
SPEAKER_04:Right and it was it was it was a good time and you know I wouldn't be opposed of going again but we gotta pay for this trip first so YOLO YOLO let's go let's go see him the day after Christmas.
SPEAKER_02:It could be a Christmas and birthday all wrapped into one Vegas in December is that's cool. Hey that's fine.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah okay you say that now it can't be any better any worse than Ohio in the right no that is true so that's pretty much it in a nutshell again we had a great time if you get a chance to go to the sphere do it please do please do but I I I did I did make a couple of questions I had concerning what's next for them. Like I think they should have a sphere album I think that'll be great. That would be great their live performances or something similar to that that or I think what they call it acoustic album or I don't think that'll be good too. Yeah you know but we're just you know living the backstreet boys' life right now in their world right now because the performance was amazing uh 12 out of 10 I would say and even I am not I'm not the biggest backstreet boys fan but now I am you're welcome yeah yeah yeah so that's it that's it that's it if you get a chance please go to Vegas please enjoy the sphere if you get a chance and if your band or your group the Eagles are coming in time that you should get them to go see the Eagles right with that being said I'm the host of the WD WAM my name is Michael Gillespie my special guest destiny thank you so much guys peace out Girl Scout Boy Scout and we're out peace does it look
