Battle of the Boy Bands Rages On: Backstreet Boys, NKOTB Announce Residencies in Las Vegas

Roughly twenty-five years ago, they were the pinnacle of the pop world and, if you were a fan of the “boy bands,” you HAD to choose one or the other. Were you “Backstreet all the way?” Or were you “down with NKOTB?” The battleground has changed from the Billboard charts to the casino residencies of Las Vegas but, in a few months, Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block will rekindle their Nineties rivalry in the concert venues of the city.

New Kids on the Block Up First

If being first on the draw is worth something, New Kids on the Block (NKOTB) will draw first blood this summer on the Las Vegas Strip. Dolby Live at Park MGM will be the residency location for the boys from Boston – although Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, Danny Wood, and Jonathan and Jordan Knight are far from “boys” today – as they attempt to give back to those who followed them zealously in the Nineties. 

“We cherish every opportunity…to perform for our fans, but this residency gives us an opportunity to take our performance, and interaction with our fans, to the next level,” Wahlberg stated during the announcement of the residency.”

“New Kids on the Block: The Right Stuff” will kick off their 2025-26 residency with five dates during June. June 20-21 at 8 PM will see NKOTB take to the stage, with three more dates on June 25, June 27, and June 28. The Fourth of July weekend will have fireworks along with dates for the band on July 2, July 3, and July 5. NKOTB will then take an extended break, coming back in November for eight dates. 2026 will close the residency at Park MGM, with eight dates scheduled to complete the stay. 

Originally discovered by Motown legend Maurice Starr and modeled after the R&B group New Edition (and their success), NKOTB was originally marketed to the R&B community. Once teenage girls got to see and hear the band, and the teenaged Wahlberg and his brother, Mark, and the other members of the group, they quickly rocketed to success on the pop charts. Their eponymous debut went triple platinum and their follow-up, 1988’s Hangin’ Tough, went eight times platinum. The band sold over eighty million records worldwide while giving such timeless hits as “Hangin’ Tough” and “I’ll Be Loving You (Forever),” both of which went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. 

Tickets are currently on sale for the show, either through Ticketmaster (starting at $75) or through Park MGM, which offers special NKOTB Experience packages.

“Everybody…Backstreet’s Back!”

Getting into the game a bit later than their rival, Backstreet Boys are heading to the first-ever pop residency at Sphere. The “Into the Millenium at Sphere” residency will mark the first time that a pop music act has trod the boards of Las Vegas’ latest concert venue sensation. Previously at Sphere, only classic rock acts such as U2, The Eagles, and Dead and Company have taken the enormous stage with state-of-the-art sound and video displays…now Backstreet Boys get to exercise their visual and aural talents on this grand stage. 

Originally, the residency for Backstreet Boys was supposed to close at the end of July in coordination with the 25^th-anniversary celebration of their Millennium album. Beginning on July 11, the Boys were to play a total of nine shows: July 11-13, July 18-20, and July 25-27. Tickets for those shows are now sold out due to the overwhelming support of the Backstreet fans, necessitating that Sphere and the Boys extended the residency to add three more shows, with sales beginning this week. 

The three additional dates will be August 1-3, and Backstreet Boys Fan Club (yes, there still is one) members will get first dibs on those seats. An “Artist Presale” begins on Wednesday, February 19, with general sales opening on Friday, February 21, through the Backstreet Boys website and Ticketmaster.  

Backstreet Boys were not an organic band in the traditional sense. They were the creation of producer Lou Pearlman, who put an ad in an Orlando newspaper looking to “create a vocal group with a ‘New Kids on the Block’ look with a ‘Boyz II Men’ sound.” What Pearlman did was create a worldwide sensation that sold over 130 million records with such memorable hits as “I Want it That Way” and “Larger Than Life.”

All was not happy in the Backstreet world, however. Pearlman (who also created NSYNC) allegedly defrauded both NSYNC and Backstreet Boys, eventually being arrested in 2007 for operating a Ponzi scheme that was funded by the bands’ profits (Backstreet Boys only made approximately $300,000 over their careers while under Pearlman). In 2008, Pearlman was found guilty of several financial charges and sentenced to 25 years in prison; he would pass away in 2016 from a stroke, all documented in the Netflix documentary Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam.