The place: Saddledome.

The cast: Backstreet Boys -- Kevin (sign Libra); AJ (height: 5'9"); Howie D. (marital status: single); Nick (pet golden retriever named Simba and three cats); Brian (birthplace: Lexington, Ky.)

The event: Backstreet's Back, oh great.

Florida's golden boys reduced thousands upon thousands of pre-teen and teenage girls to blubbering masses.

Those girls in turn, reduced several middle-aged mothers and fathers to tears with their almost unbearable ear-splitting screams.

I thought I had heard the loudest display of vocal-power ever at last year's Bush concert -- also at the 'Dome -- but I was terribly mistaken.

Those people who complained about the noise level at the Folk Festival would have probably been hospitalized had they lived anywhere near the Saddledome last night.

And this was even before the Backstreet Boys set foot on stage.

When the five heart-throbs finally hit the stage, they did so with dramatic style.

Clad in an assortment of silvery jackets, black pants with red stripes and racing gloves, Mr. Cool (AJ), Mr. Body Beautiful (Kevin), Latin Lover (Howie), Hyper Man (Nick) and Mr. Joker (Brian), had the crowd dancing in the aisle from the very first song, That's The Way I Like It.

The beginning of the show also featured a special birthday tribute to a Backstreet Mom.

AJ brought his mother, Denise, on stage, presented her with a birthday cake and encouraged the sold-out 17,000-strong crowd sing her Happy Birthday.

Fans were all too happy to oblige.

Love them or hate them, you can't say the Backstreet Boys aren't entertaining.

Their synchronized dance moves, smooth-talk and wise-cracking are endearing, even if the music is sometimes weak.

As far as boy bands go, the Backstreet Boys can definitely lay claim to being the current kings of the genre.

They are certainly not the one-hit wonders that many critics of the band had hinted at, early in their career.

In fact, singles like As Long As You Love Me and Everybody (Backstreet's Back) are good catchy pop tunes.

The band's vocals were a little rough during the first couple songs and they looked a tad tired, especially when shown close-up on the big screen monitors.

But the vocal harmonies were still strong, considering the amount of dancing, jumping and general acrobatics.

The show itself, was well choreographed with no one inparticular standing out (unless you count Nick, 'cuz he's the cutest).

The show faltered only when they slowed things down to let the five of them perform solo songs, most of which were ballads.

Although, the girls didn't seem to mind seeing their favorites spotlighted for a few minutes.

B-rock (Brian) showed his tender side when he hauled out an acoustic guitar for That's What She Said -- a sort of Backstreet Boys Unplugged.

Nick's little bro Aaron Carter opened the show with a short but interesting set.

The precocious 10 year old got the crowd worked-up with his hit Crush On You.

His well-rehearsed, two-song set only lasted 15-minutes, but included some pretty impressive dance moves -- a towering accomplishment for a kid who can't be much more than 4-ft. tall.

It was cute watching Carter Jr. trip over his over-sized pants, at least he can get away with it for now.

The Sun's preview article -- in Friday's Get Out -- quoted Aaron saying he was a fan Beanie Babies. That story seemed to prompt some of his fans to toss at least two-dozen of the stuffed creatures as offerings to the pint-sized star.

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