Backstreet Boys Launch Black & Blue Tour

November 21 -- Thousands of teenage girls swarmed Times Square today trying to sniff out the exact whereabouts of the Backstreet Boys, who had just returned to the United States after completing a 100-hour tour over six continents and were hosting a press conference at an undisclosed location in the heart of the Big Apple.

Word had leaked about their media event somewhere in the teeming heart of midtown Manhattan, and fans were everywhere: camped outside the Virgin Megastore, waiting underneath MTV studios, even lurking anxiously about the Disney-ABC building, where the rolling ticker announced the arrival of the Boys' new album, Black & Blue. The Boys had landed, but on which back street?

Only about 500 fans — mostly winners of online and radio promotions — actually possessed the secret. Good reason to scream, which is what they did inside the venue, the Hudson Theater. As they waited, the new Backstreet single, "The Shape of My Heart," played repeatedly at deafening volume but was still drowned out by fans singing along and screaming "Black & Blue!" and "'N Sync sucks!"

The cries reached fever pitch when Howie, A.J., Nick, Kevin, and Brian made their entrance, dressed in blue shirts with black leather jackets. But clothing was the only apparent thing that was Black & Blue about the globetrotting quintet, only slightly bleary-eyed as they smiled through the conclusion of their whirlwind 100-hour promotional journey.

While the purpose of the conference was to unveil plans for their world tour, the Boys first treated the fans to a crooning a cappella rendition of "Shape of My Heart" before sitting down to entertain questions.

The audience, a mix of media crews and starry-eyed teens, posed mostly harmless questions to the Boys, though a couple of international journalists presented challenges. One asked if the quintet would record Black & Blue in Spanish for their enormous Latin fan base. The Boys responded by singing an impromptu Spanish rendition of "Shape of My Heart."