Backstreet Boys will be spending New Year’s Eve onstage at Sphere Las Vegas, performing their Into the Millennium residency show for a crowd of 20,000 fans. The songs in the concert are synced to the custom, immersive video projected on the venue’s giant screens, but Backstreet’s AJ McLean says they’re going to try to change things up when the clock strikes midnight.
“We’ve already pushed the start time back to, now, 10:30. So we will be onstage when the ball drops,” he told ABC Audio. “So [we’re] trying to figure out if there’s a way to, like, somehow get a ball to drop on the screen. I don’t know if that’s gonna happen, but hopefully we can figure something out that doesn’t cost a gazillion dollars.”
He laughs, “Worst case, I’ll hold a disco ball in my hand and just slowly drop it with a fishing line.”
But ball or not, AJ said, “It’s gonna be really cool to bring in the new year with 20,000 people at the coolest venue that there is.”
Backstreet Boys’ Sphere residency, which began in August, has been extended through Feb. 15. AJ will release his solo album Hi, My Name Is Alexander James on Jan. 9, which also happens to be his birthday. In September, the group will launch a residency at an arena in Dusseldorf, Germany.
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