Backstreet Boys August 7, 2019, Vivint Arena

By: Kevin Rolfe

The Backstreet Boys bought their DNA World Tour to a sold-out Vivint Smart Home Arena on Wednesday, August 7.  Twenty six years after starting as a group they’re still selling out venues. You’ve got to admit, that’s pretty impressive. Now I don’t know if I’m the best person to be writing a review about a Backstreet Boys concert or not.  First of all, I’m a guy. And judging by the ratio of guys to girls inside Vivint Arena, this review might be best written by a woman. I also can’t say I have ever owned a Backstreet Boys album or would call myself a regular listener to their music.  But if you were in your teens or twenties in the nineties or early two thousands, which I was, the Backstreet Boys were unavoidable. My friends and I talk about how lame they were while secretly and sometimes no so secretly singing along to “Larger Than Life”. How many of you know the words to “I Want it That Way:? All of you? It’s impossible to not know the words to that song! They were huge, and their fans still love them. So while I may not be the best person to be writing this review I was the one covering this show.  I was there on August 7 and I have to say I was amazed at what I saw. 

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Shawn Mendes July 16, 2019, Vivint Arena

By: Kevin Rolfe

Shawn Mendes is as big a pop star as there is right now.  It’s virtually impossible to not know who he is. He has the type of fame that gets him featured on everything from Saturday Night Live to TMZ.  He’s everywhere! But on July 16th Salt Lake City had Shawn to themselves at Vivint Smart Home Arena.  

The arena was packed! I didn’t hear if it was a sellout or not, but if it wasn’t there couldn’t have been many seats left.  I walked in just as Mendes took the stage and the audience filled with mostly teen to preteen girls was deafening!  The roar subsided (slightly), and I could make out that the first song was “Lost in Japan”. I looked around at the frenzy to get a sense of the crowd and who was there.  Next to many of these rabid teenage fans were what seemed to be their parents. I would see a group of about four to five girls and there would be a couple of moms with them.  Every so often I’d see a dad in the mix. God bless them. 

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