Backstreet Boys: DNA World Tour

As the legendary boyband’s epic world tour finally comes to a close with an extensive Middle East and Africa leg, TPiMEA catches up with the crew behind this long-running production at Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Arena.

The term ‘world tour’ is bandied around liberally nowadays, with the odd date in Asia or a Middle East stopover often considered enough to warrant its use, but in the case of Backstreet Boys’ latest tour, the worldwide credentials are well earned to say the least. Starting way back in May 2019, DNA World Tour saw the legendary boy band perform 218 shows split over 11 legs, taking in Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Australasia, and Africa along the way.

With the end to an epic journey in sight, TPiMEA caught up with the Backstreet Boys crew at Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Arena. Production Manager Dan Mercer took some time out of his busy schedule to chat about the tour so far. “We’ve been to a lot of different places and done this show in many different formats,” he reflected.

“O ur team is the best there is. Everyone is completely on the same page, which is especially important when you’re travelling far and wide. I know everyone says it, but we’re like a family.”

Th e final leg of the tour comprised shows in Iceland, Egypt, India, UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa, with tight turnarounds between each date. “This is our local production version of the show,” Mercer explained while describing the setup. “The only difference is the automated elements, which add a little bit of sparkle that you need to compete in those markets. When we’re going from Cairo to Mumbai to Delhi to Abu Dhabi in the space of a few days, it’s not possible to do the 17-truck version of the show that we tour in the US and Europe. This is still fantastic – fans are certainly not missing out on anything.”

With such a far-flung and comprehensive touring schedule, Mercer has had his work cut out when it comes to advancing. “In some places, there aren’t many options for suppliers who can provide what we need. For example, in Iceland, where we started this run, there are only a couple of technical suppliers in the country,” he recalled. “We had pretty much every piece of kit that was available. There were around 11,000 people at the show, which is more than 3% of the country’s population!” Thankfully, the team faced no such issues in Abu Dhabi. “There’s a good infrastructure of well-established companies here,” Mercer commented.

Consistency is a quality that Mercer places huge emphasis on. “It’s important in a show like this where there are so many elements,” he highlighted, adding that the work of Stage Manager and Show Caller, David Commisso is incredibly important to this. “Dave calls it just like a theatre show,” he revealed. “Every lighting cue, entry cue for the boys, and special effect cue is called over our Riedel Bolero 2.4GHz system.”

Ac cording to Commisso, the main challenge on a run of this nature is ensuring that as much as possible is in place and ready to go before they arrive on site. “It’s all about contact before the show,” he reflected. “We need to explain what we need, how the show works and ensure that everything is ready for us when we roll in if we’re going to achieve that level of consistency that is so important to us.”

Th e touring party carried its own marley throughout the run – again, with dependability in mind. “There’s a lot of dancing in the show and we’ve found in some places that if the marley is inconsistent, the guys could be prone to injury,” Mercer furthered. “No matter where we are in the world, we try to keep everything similar. It’s important for the artist that everything is the same – structured and organised. We have done it enough times now to understand what everyone needs.”

Casting his mind back to pre-2019, Mercer reflected on the original design intentions of the show. “The boys are quite involved in the design process,” he revealed. “The inspiration came from the guys wanting to have a thrust that’s like a baseball diamond. The thrust for the US and Europe had a fan pit in the middle and we changed it to this solid diamond for the amphitheatres in the US as well as this run.”

Th e A rig design also included an automated set piece the crew affectionately dubbed ‘the vortex’, as well as a V-shaped screen rigged above the stage, which mirrors the diamond in the thrust – the latter of which was maintained for the Etihad Arena show.

“O ne of the main inspirations behind the show design was Backstreet Boys’ history – or ‘DNA’ –so there are lots of elements in the video content that speak to their history and what has made them successful over the years,” Mercer added.

“They’re keen to embrace the nostalgic element. They are very proud to be a boy band that has lasted more than 30 years. They love to tour, and they have no intention of stopping.”

‘When the show gets really kicking’

After leaving Mercer to get on with his day, TPiMEA was afforded the rare treat of a four-way roundtable in crew catering with the Backstreet Boys audio team. Talking all things audio while breaking bread was: FOH Engineer, James McCullagh; Monitor Engineer, Michael Pollard; Playback Engineer, Romain Garnier; and Audio

Crew Chief and Systems Engineer, Eoghan ‘Sammy’ Murphy.

Kicking off the conversation, McCullagh looked back on the sonic roots of the DNA World Tour. “Backstreet Boys are a band that spans three decades, so sonically there are some variables there but ultimately, they’re a quintessential pop band from the 1990s,” he said. “That era has a signature sound – the Solid State Logic sound – so, that’s where we started.”

Th e FOH Engineer recalled how he sat down with Musical Director, Keith Harris; Playback Engineer, Romain Garnier and the band, and the group came to the decision to re-record all the tracks. “Everything down to the sample kicks and snares has been re-recorded,” he shared. “We’ve got 100-plus tracks in the box, spit out via a complex playback system to 64 tracks of MADI.” More on that later…

Ever the pragmatist, McCullagh is comfortable operating either his preferred SSL console at FOH or – as is often the case on local production shows such as the one we were witnessing – a DiGiCo SD10. “They’re easier to get hold of all over the world,” McCullagh said of the DiGiCo console. “One of the main things we’re trying to create is consistency – for the audience, for the boys and for us,” he said, echoing his PM’s ethos. “That goes across the whole production. How can we repeat this high standard night after night?”

Whe n he’s using a DiGiCo console, McCullagh utilises some SSL outboard gear across the mixbuss to give some “colour and flavour” to the mix. “I use an SSL Bus+ compressor used in mid-side mode. What it allows is processing on any audio that is routed to your extreme left and right, and anything that is mixed in the middle such as kicks, snares, vocals, bass get processed separately. That means I can create different compressions over those two things,” he explained. “I found it was hard to get a more dynamic mix with a regular stereo buss because the transient was squashing the mix,” he added.

“This way I can use two different thresholds over the sides and the middle, so when the show gets really kicking and in-your-face, you can hold back all those big things that would hurt your ears but keep the energy from the side. It’s very useful.” That goes through an SSL Fusion outboard processor, which McCullagh described as “some smart analogue circuitry”.

Before lunch, the FOH Engineer had invited TPiMEA to listen to the difference in the mix with and without the harmonic distortion as, in his words, “It’s difficult to describe what it does to the mix, and it does different things for different people”. Our impression was that there is a clear difference, and the best way we could describe it would be that it adds an extra warmth and depth to the sound.

Mc Cullagh explained the importance of creating width in the mix, allowing him to put the vocal in the centre. “When the distance between the centre and sides is narrow, it’s hard to perceive, but when you stretch it out, you can notice what is in the middle and the sides much more easily,” he said. “When you’ve got five lead vocals that are all harmonising and need to be the same volume, you need space. Creating that space means I don’t need to mix the vocals as loud as you might perceive in a narrower mix. I can tuck them in and that creates the impression that the mix is bigger and fuller.”

With five singers who spend almost the whole show in front of the PA engaging with the audience, the system design had to be thought about very carefully. “That was one of the key reasons for choosing L-Acoustics,” said Audio Crew Chief and Systems Engineer, Sammy. “They have the ability to offset by 35°, which means if you’ve got a thrust in front of the PA, you can avoid it. Without that, everything is lost.”

Sammy, who has worked with account holder Sound Image for the past 10 years as European ambassador, spends a lot of his time advancing the shows and puts considerable care and attention into the design and placement of the system. “We’re a big Vectorworks family, and we think in 3D all the time across all departments,” he commented. “Once we’ve drawn the shows offline, we go into L-Acoustics Soundvision, which is an incredibly powerful tool that helps us take the design from the CAD world into real life.”

Th e audio team agreed that every box has its pros and cons. “They all have different characterises, strengths and weaknesses, and we have and will continue to do the show on any available PA, but the support from L-Acoustics has been incredible and it works for our show,” Sammy reflected. McCullagh chimed in: “We don’t have many days off in between shows and that takes its toll physically and mentally, but knowing that you have equipment you can trust is key to being able to create consistency.”

‘The other end of the snake’

“Whatever we put out, we are dependent on the other end of the snake… Michael and Romain’s department,” said McCullagh as he gave up the floor to Playback Engineer and “the heart of the show”, Romain Garnier.

Having been with the band since 2015, Garnier built the playback rig that was first used for the 2017 Las Vegas residency. “Back then it was ground-breaking in terms of its use of MADI and going all digital, and it’s still state-of-the-art to this day six years later,” he reflected.

“At the time, having any more than 16 outputs was usually very cumbersome, but we managed to pack 63 channels of MADI into a 4U rack,” he recalled. “I got two Macbook Pros running Digital Performer and we were able to get extensive counts of over 1,000 tracks in the box for the entire show.” Garner runs a sample rate converter to up-sample from 48K to 96K. “That way I can send the MADI stream at 96K directly into the Orange Box if we’re on DiGiCo or the Black Light if we’re on SSL, straight into the console,” he explained. “We have massive amounts of redundancy, so it’s super-bulletproof.”

All the tracks were re-recorded by a live band, so the sound has genuine depth and realism. “It’s very dynamic,” he said. “There are samples from the records and the signature sounds mixed in.” The show is also noticeably up-tempo from the records. “This is nice because it gives the crowd more energy, it gives the boys more energy and you can fit more songs in,” he pointed out. “The crowd certainly get their money’s worth.”

Th e newest member of the ‘noise boys’ is Monitor Engineer, Michael Pollard. Having got the call to step into the team during Backstreet Boys’ short Vegas stint in 2022, Pollard quickly got to grips with the SSL platform. “I was excited because I like the SSL sound, but I’ve never used the console before – especially not toured it,” he said. “Fernando Guzman from SSL came down to help me get acquainted with the platform, and immediately I realised how good it sounded.”

Po llard operated a DiGiCo Quantum 7 for the Abu Dhabi show, with various plug-ins to achieve the desired sound. While he’s comfortable on either platform, switching between the consoles can have its quirks. “On the SSL, there is a tool called Sorcerer, which is a cloned version of the Neve 5045 primary source enhancer, which I have on all of their vocals to help clean up any extraneous crowd noise and generally tighten the mix whenever they’re not singing,” he explained. “When we went to the fly rig with DiGiCo consoles, I got 5045s. For four out of the five guys, it was pretty much the same to use the Neve device, but with Bryan, his dynamics are so varied that the 5045 doesn’t have the range to give him the space he needs in his vocal mix.”

In response to this, Pollard has moved to a Waves server for this run. “I’m now running five instances of the Waves PSE, and the difference has been night and day,” he reported. “Everything is tightened like I had it on the SSL. It’s made my file to my own ears sound way more consistent and given the result I’m looking for. That will be a permanent addition to the fly package. The only thing I wish is that SSL would put out a plug-in version of Sorcerer.”

All five of the band members are on Shure PSM 1000 in-ears. This was another aspect of the setup that has gone through an evolution, when they upgraded to the P10R+ Diversity bodypacks.

“It was instantly apparent how much better they are,” Pollard noted. “They have eliminated the high-gain mode, so everything is essentially at high gain on the P10R+, but the depth of field in the sound staging on the pack is significantly wider. It feels as though you’re on a bigger sound stage and the dynamic range is higher. You can hear much more detail.”

Th e tour carries its own IEM package, meaning it doesn’t have to rely on local production having all the right equipment wherever they go. “Shure’s RF is always bulletproof,” Pollard commented. “No matter where in the world we go, if we have PSM 1000s, I’ll be sure to make whatever RF package we have fit – and we’ve been in some nasty RF environments in our time!”

Th e use of IEMs means there is a clean stage with no wedges and only a couple of flown side fills for vocals if the artists remove their in-ears. “Kevin does that from time to time,” Pollard revealed. “We have an array of audience mics and they get a mix of those, but still sometimes he likes to get a real feel for the crowd screaming and yelling the songs back to him, so he whips his left monitor out. He has his vocal pan to the right to give the feeling of having an ear out and his vocal sitting on the right.”

For Pollard, that keyword ‘consistency’ remains a priority. “The band are very consistent about what they need in their mix and what they don’t,” he shared. “There’s no mixing psychology going on with monitors. If they ask for something, it’s always straightforward and easy for me to take action. It’s nice to have a group that always knows exactly what they want and ask for it. You don’t need to be a mind-reader with them.”

Th e band are on Sennheiser EM 6000 microphones with 5230 or 9235 capsules. “The support from Sennheiser has been excellent,” Pollard reported.

Sammy interjected: “In fact, we’d like to give a massive shout out to everyone who has supplied us throughout the whole tour. From the smallest ‘mom and pop’ shop to the global outfits, everyone has been fantastic. We work with all different companies, but it always comes down to working with people, and we’ve been lucky to work with some amazing people.”

Clair Global Middle East provided both DiGiCo consoles as well as an L-Acoustics PA uplift that tied into the Etihad Arena house system. “We put in the PA a couple of days before the show, so we were in and out of the way,” explained Clair Global

Middle East’s Stuart Wright. “We much prefer to be ahead of everyone else, so they can come in and do their thing.”

Chatting to TPiMEA before the show, Wright was full of positivity for the upcoming postsummer season. “It’s going to be bonkers,” he predicted. “People are starting to understand that we are here and that means they get the same service, the same ethos driven from the top down, and their expectations are met in the same manner as they would be everywhere else in the world. The growth has been massive and we’re going from strength to strength.”

‘I never stop designing’

Lighting Designer and Lighting Director, Graham Anderson has been with the band for eight years. “It’s been great working for them. It’s a real team sport, and the crew are some of the best,” he commented. “To do the shows in the places we do them in the short times we have to do them in, you need the best – you need people who are flexible, brilliant at what they do, and can do it with a smile, and that is what we have.”

Anderson described the evolution of the lighting design for this latest run. “This is one of several iterations, which started with our original arena design in 2019 where we utilised a scenic lighting element we called ‘the vortex’,” he recalled. “We took a break during the COVID-19 pandemic as everyone did, and we came back to do a shed run of amphitheatres in the US, which included a bunch of automated pods full of lighting, built by TAIT.”

For this local production-type show, flexibility is very much the order of the day. “We’ve always been able to take the show to local production markets. When you’re moving so quickly and you know that freight can’t keep up, you need to take what you can get in every country,” he explained.

“The design is about being the most flexible for all the extremely different places we find ourselves in. Today, we’re in the beautiful Etihad Arena, which has got everything you could ever need, but two days ago we were in a field in New Delhi doing a different design.”

Pa rt of that flexibility comes with the use of the overhead V-shaped screen, which was utilised at Etihad Arena but not for the outdoor shows on the run. “At this stage of the tour, it’s all about modularity. What can we use to fill the space, while keeping the show consistent and keeping the boys doing the exact same thing?” he posed, adding that there are some basic building blocks that always remain in place.

“There are five guys, so I’ve got five big backlights in a lot of looks – and that never changes wherever we go,” he stated.

In terms of fixtures, while Anderson has his favourites, he’s a realist and quite prepared to work within the constraints of the market. “We go with the best of what is available,” he said. “You can kick and scream and make demands all you want, but if a particular fixture is not in the country, there’s not much you can do about it.”

In Abu Dhabi, the rig included GLP impression X4 Bar 20s on the LED risers, CHAUVET Professional Color Strike Ms in place of GLP JDC1s on the bottom of the V-screen and on the three overhead trusses, plus a plethora of Robe fixtures, including BMFLs, which were used as the main workhorse, and MegaPointes subbing for PRG Icon Beams.

Th e show is heavily timecoded. “When we programme these songs, we go over and over the timecode and add layer upon layer to give it some depth. We want to leave almost nothing for us to do on show night,” Anderson explained.

“O nce the show gets going, I’ve got five followspots to call. I also monitor the rig and make sure everything is playing out properly and dive onto any light in need of attention – which happens a lot more often outdoors. Sometimes I miss busking away and hitting everything in time, but there’s too much to do here on the night.”

While the band’s big hits are always audience favourites, for Anderson, Chances off the latest album is a highlight. “It isn’t hugely well known unless you’re a die-hard Backstreet fan, but I think it’s a beautiful song and I was given free rein on that as there’s no video content to go with it,” he shared. “I’ve always loved that moment in the show, but there’s nothing I’m not in love with at this point because we’re 210 shows in and I never stop designing. It’s evolving constantly.”

‘This is just the beginning’

Lighting, video, cameras, rigging and trussing were supplied by MediaPro International. “This was quite a tight timeline for us, with around 18 hours to load-in,” said MediaPro’s PM Reynol Dsouza. “It took some time to perfect the positioning of the overhead V-shaped LED screen, but once that was in place, the rest of the load-in was smooth,” he added.

Me diaPro supplied its Gloshine 8.3mm LED for both the upstage and overhead screens, with content running through Barco E2 processors. The company also provided a comprehensive camera solution including four Sony HDC 1500 broadcast cameras. The rigging and trussing supply featured Litec QD40 and QX30 truss as well as numerous Lodestar one-tonne motors.

Anderson’s remit extended to overseeing the creative use of special effects and lasers from market to market. “It’s such a good laser show,” he said of the production, recalling long overnight programming sessions with ER Productions’ Andrew Turner during the European run. “The moments in the show that the lasers come in are huge,” he added.

“While lasers are in all the big songs you’d expect, we also have them in a ballad. I’ve been wanting to use lasers in a slow song for a while, and I feel like it’s a nice moment in the show. They’re doing slow sweeps and hits, and they envelop the audience and surround the boys.”

Anderson describes the show’s finale as “gratuitously large”. He commented: “We have some more subdued moments in the middle of the set, but we make sure to hit the audience with everything at the end, bringing it home with CO2, confetti, streamers – the works. Everyone leaves the show singing, happy and blown away.”

Su pplying lasers and special effects for the Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Jeddah shows was Stage FX. “It was a pleasure to supply the whole Middle East Tour,” said Arran Hopkins, Stage FX Managing Director. “It’s great to see international performing artists committing to the fantastic venues that the Middle East cities have to offer.

Our overall stock numbers have grown in recent years, so we are more than ready, and we are excited to see this scale of multiple back-to-back tour dates in the Middle East hopefully become a typical occurrence.”

For the Etihad Arena show, the company supplied 20 High Power Lasers, 20 CRYO CO2 Jets, plus Low Fog, Confetti Stadium Blasters and Streamer Stadium Shots according to the tour’s technical rider. “With the tour dates being back-to-back, we had to allow for a total of three sets of 40ft trucks full of kit on tour at all times,” Hopkins reflected.

“Thankfully, this is no problem for us. We are pleased that with our high-quality kit, skilled crew and safety standards, there is technically no difference to the quality of shows seen in the Middle East to any other region in the world.”

The tour represented a milestone for promoter Live Nation, with the Middle East and Africa leg the company’s largest run in the territory to date, with 12 shows across the region.

“Over the past 12 months, all Live Nation shows have played multiple markets across the broader region, including Maroon 5, One Republic, Westlife, Sting, Imagine Dragons, Blackpink and comedian Kevin Hart,” commented Live Nation Middle East President, James Craven.

“Regionally routed runs have a positive impact for fans, artists, and promoters alike,” he added. “Fans get to see more artists; artists get to play to more fans and the promoter sees an increase in artist confirmations – it’s good for everyone.”

Following the roaring success of the Backstreet Boys run, Craven sees a bright future for Live Nation in the Middle East. “This is just the beginning, as we see the potential for 15-plus dates on future regional tours,” he stated. “We are the only live event promoter to have offices and teams in almost all the primary regional markets now, which has further helped us fast-track our success in this area. Our goal is to continue to nurture and grow the touring market across all segments and areas of the region.”

Looking back on the mammoth DNA World Tour, Mercer has nothing but respect and admiration for his team.

“B uilding the team and relationships with people everywhere we go makes me feel like we’ve been everywhere and done everything. I feel confident that when we have challenges, there’s nothing this team can’t do,” he reflected. “That’s exciting looking to the future and whatever tours might come next.”

Photos: Live Nation Middle East www.backstreetboys.com www.livenation.me www.clairglobal.com www.mediaproav.com www.stagefx.ae