The stage was a pentagon. There was a decagon inscribed in it - it had all the musical equipment. The stage was probably about 8 feet off the ground - people were walking in and out from under it, there was some sort of curtain hiding whatever was underneath. Around it were speakers, as well as a kind of fence thing - to keep people out ;o) High above the stage hung a massive amount of equipment. Part of this was four huge screens, that at the moment had "Sears Presents Backstreet Boys Into The Millennium Tour" projected on it. The lighting fixtures were almost disguised into four spaceship-looking things that were hanging around the stage as well.
This was all held up by a bunch of lines. We wondered if the BSB were going to fly down from that height. There were working crew people on the stage- probably just checking to make sure everything was okay. I put my arm out all the way and measured the size of a person on stage with my fingers - they were about 1 or 2 inches tall. The binoculars helped. Some people rented binoculars from stands in the venue, but I'm glad we brought our own. I thought it'd take awhile for the concert to start (i.e., it'd start late), but it didn't. To que people - I guess - the Sears Millennium commercial (of the boys running through the street with LTL playing), showed on the screens. Everyone started cheering (extremely high pitched sound >_<).

Mandy Moore came out. She must be the thinnest girl alive - from what I could see from my terrace view. She had four male dancers prancing around while she sang about 3 or so songs. The four dancers were mostly half-naked but that isn't the main point of the whole thing. My mother commented on the fact that she didn't believe that Mandy was 15 years old - yes, 15 - with the voice she sang with. I took a bathroom break with one of my friends - what a relief to our ears. We could still hear the music in the bathroom...and tehr eal concert hadn't even started yet. Ugh.
After Mandy, the lights came back on and people began to move around again. You could tell they were getting restless. When the lights went out, screaming erupted (yes again - for those of you who have never been to one of these concerts - get used to this). Three figures mounted the stage in hooded coats. I knew right then who they were, but I don't think the majority of the audience did. They threw off their coats, and low and behold - it
was EYC (the 2nd opening act). I actually wanted to hear them - I had sorta liked their single "This Thing Called Love" that I had heard on the radio awhile back... But soon, I was just annoyed.
They kept asking "Anaheim, can I ask you a questiooooon !?" Of course people were screaming back "YEAH!!!" [mixed with just plain screams]. They ask waaaay too many questions - over 4 times they asked, seriously - it was getting redundant. They kept saying "It's time to partaaaay!!!" too. They were also copying a lot of AJ's moves, and then some. They seemed a bit full of themselves - at least one of them did. He eventually threw his shirt into the audience, I think. They sang way more than 3 songs- I lost count. Maybe 5? More? For me, it was taking forever. They used Eminem's "My name is" to introduce themselves (a little late into their performance for intros, I though) - cutting out the "slim shady" part and screaming their names instead. How ingenius, huh? ::rolls eyes:: But come to think of it, I don't even remember their names...Supposedly EYC stands for "Express Yourself Clearly" - um, I know I'm already being too mean, but, well, I couldn't understand half of their lyrics. Didn't sense much clarity .

When they left, the lights of course came back on. By now, it was probably almost 8:30 - and hour since the concert started. I wanted to see the BSB (well DUH, we all did). But soon, again - it was imminent - the lights went off. Even MORE screaming than before (and I didn't think it was possible). All you could see was a sea of green and blue glow sticks being waved in the air all around the venue...
part 3
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