Backstreet Boys Dedicate Touching Acapella Ballad to ‘Our Little Brother Aaron Carter’ at Emotional London Show
“I will miss my brother more than anyone will ever know,” Nick Carter wrote on social media, following the loss of his younger brother Aaron Carter, who was found dead at 34 at his California home on Saturday. The two grew up side-by-side in the music industry, so it felt fitting that the 42-year-old musician honored his “baby brother” by braving the stage and channeling his grief into the Backstreet Boys’ DNA World Tour performance at London’s The O2 arena on Sunday night.
The energetic but somber-tinged show was an emotional night for fans, Nick and his bandmates (Kevin Richardson, Brian Littrell, Howie Dorough and AJ McLean), who were also close with the popstar, having witnessed his rise in the industry and previously welcomed him as a tour opener.
As the “Backstreet Army” kicked into gear — laying photos and flowers for Aaron at The O2, setting up support pages and chanting “Nick” during the concert — the band saluted the “Sooner or Later” singer after performing “No Place” from their 2019 DNA album.
“That was a song from our last DNA album and it’s very special to us because that song is about family,” Richardson said as photos of Aaron were shown on screens. “For everybody here, we all grew up together — we’ve been through highs and lows, ups and downs. You guys have been through it with us, we’ve been through it with you. We thank you for taking us on that journey with you.”
“Tonight, we’ve got heavy hearts because we lost one of our family members yesterday,” Richardson continued, as McLean walked over and gave teary Nick a lengthy hug, before Littrell and Dorough joined the embrace. “Nick’s little brother Aaron Carter passed away yesterday, and he’s a part of our family and we thank you guys for all the love, well-wishes and all your support.”
Dorough then introduced acapella number “Breathe,” saying, “We’d like to dedicate this next song to our little brother Aaron Carter.”
Earlier, as Nick began his verse in “The Call” during the sold-out show’s opening set, the crowd went wild with piercing screams of support, and the same cheers erupted as he performed his part in “Breathe.”
By the time the Grammy-nominated group kicked off “Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely,” — a 1999 ballad largely associated with grief — both Nick and Richardson were crying, but it was “Incomplete” that heightened emotions further. Through the tears, Nick poured his heart and soul into a passionate, energetic and poignant performance, backed by extra hugs and love from his bandmates as well as ongoing cheers from the crowd.
“Something feels a little different,” McLean said. “There’s a little more love in the air tonight, a little more passion.”
Those sentiments were echoed by fans, some of whom travelled from the U.S. for the tour.
“It was different tonight to share this with them and even just with other fans — it was comforting to have a moment together,” said one follower afterwards.
The band will wrap the latest leg of their DNA World Tour in Antwerp, Belgium, on Thursday, before returning to the U.S. to promote their new holiday album A Very Backstreet Christmas and film their upcoming television special, A Very Backstreet Holiday, premiering on ABC on December 14.
Prior to London’s show, they performed in Dortmund, Germany, where Nick was in great spirits during his “Chords and Coffee” solo event at Cabaret Queue earlier in the day. The mini-concert was followed by Dorough’s “Howie Eatz” lunch, then McLean’s “Music and Manis,” where he previewed tunes from his upcoming solo album “Sex and Bodies,” while painting fans’ nails with shades from his Ava Dean Beauty line.
The events were included as part of a trailblazing new VIP package from Please & Thank You, a company specializing in fan events and engagement. As part of their new “Anywhere For You” experience, fans can travel on a tour bus between DNA World Tour stops — attending concerts, solo events, afterparties and meet-and-greets along the way.
“We’re trying to find the most interesting, creative, different ways to keep celebrating with you and have so much fun together,” Nick said after giving the bus crew a shout-out at “Chords & Coffee.” “We’re celebrating music, we’re celebrating fandom, we’re celebrating love for each other and just having fun with it. So we’ll keep coming up with [new ideas.] I hope you guys are having fun on [the bus] and it’s probably making it a little more convenient to travel on the road.”
“This is a chance for you guys to get to know each other,” Dorough later added, noting how events like “Howie Eatz” and the “Anywhere For You” bus experience bring fans together. “You guys become like a big family out here on the road with us. I love seeing people from different countries meeting each other and that’s the biggest reward out of all this — knowing how we affect your lives and bring people together.”
Eliminating the need for those attending multiple shows to make their own travel arrangements, the package also aims to give the group’s followers an authentic taste of life on the road, whether it’s chatting with Dorough backstage in a green room reserved for bus guests, making rider requests for cheese and wine, downing post-show vodka shots while listening to “Dancing In The Moonlight,” and facing 5 a.m. wake-up calls for passport control. For a lucky few on an earlier leg of the experience, it also involved getting the surprise of a lifetime when Nick turned up and performed an intimate bus concert.
It’s that love for performing which has frequently carried the father-of-three through hard times. After the 2012 passing of his younger sister, Leslie Carter, he continued his solo tour, saying, “Performing is cathartic to me and I am dedicating the rest of my tour to my sister since she loved to watch me perform.” The musician and actor also continued with the Backstreet Boys “Larger Than Life” residency in Las Vegas weeks after the 2017 death of his father Robert Carter.
During Friday’s “Chords and Coffee” event, he explained how meaningful live performance is to him.
“Being able to still be here and perform for all of you after all these years with the ups and the downs and everything — more than ever, you guys are so important to me,” said Nick, who sang solo tracks ranging from 1999’s “I Need You Tonight”, penned by Andrew Fromm, to 2022 Jimmie Allen collaboration “Easy.” “I love you so much. You mean so much to me. You are my rocks.”
It’s the “rocks” of the Backstreet Army who hope to help Nick through his pain and while he acknowledged that he and Aaron shared a complicated relationship, he opened up about his grief in social media posts hours before the London show.
“My heart is broken,” he tweeted alongside throwback photos of him and Aaron, whose son Prince turns one later this month. “Even though my brother and I have had a complicated relationship, my love for him has never ever faded. I have always held on to the hope that he would somehow, someday want to walk a healthy path and eventually find the help that he so desperately needed.”
“Sometimes we want to blame someone or something for a loss, but the truth is that addiction and mental illness are the real villains here,” he continued. “I will miss my brother more than anyone will ever know. I love you baby brother.”
Aaron’s twin sister Angel also shared a sweet post featuring baby photos of the two.
“To my twin… I loved you beyond measure,” she wrote. “You will be missed dearly. My funny, sweet Aaron, I have so many memories of you and I, and I promise to cherish them. I know you’re at peace now. I will carry you with me until the day I die and get to see you again.”
- To honor Aaron Carter’s life, Nick and Angel have set up a donation fund benefiting On Our Sleeves, a children’s mental health organization.
Fans can contribute here.
