Millennial mothers dropped $1,500 to see the Backstreet Boys. For an evening of nostalgia, it was value each cent.

When you see a gaggle of ladies in Las Vegas wearing all white proper now, it’s as a result of they’re prepared to show again the clock. Descending in packs of three, 4, generally 10, they spill into on line casino lobbies throughout the famed Strip, accessorizing their ’90s-inspired appears with butterfly clips, physique glitter and the unmistakable hum of a refrain so inescapable that you understand it the second you hear it. They’re on the town to see the Backstreet Boys take the stage on the Sphere, and for 2 hours, millennial ladies — mothers, professionals, lifelong associates — are able to reclaim and re-create their youth.

“I wish to relive my childhood reminiscences,” Lauren, 33, from Grand Rapids, Mich., tells Yahoo, simply hours earlier than the boy band took the stage on Aug. 8. “This was the music I grew up on.”

Lauren traveled to Nevada together with her two greatest associates: Betsy, 33, from Columbus, Ind., and Megan, 32, additionally from Grand Rapids. I sat subsequent to them at Casa Playa, a Mexican restaurant on the Wynn Las Vegas, considered one of no less than a dozen tables the place girlfriends from all walks of life had been catching up earlier than making the trek to the venue. There, the Backstreet Boys could be taking part in the thirteenth present of a residency that has probably made its means into the social media feeds of anybody who got here of age whereas the band was in most rotation on MTV.

For Lauren and her associates, a night of pleasure was priceless. However that does not imply revisiting the ’90s for a weekend got here low cost.

For every of the ladies, airfare to Las Vegas was round $700, the Wynn keep was roughly $500 an evening and their live performance ticket price totaled $1,337. A finances for merch? Limitless, they mentioned. The splurge was value it.

“It took a bit convincing,” Betsy mentioned of her husband, who stayed residence to observe their almost-2-year-old. “He mentioned Vegas was unsafe, and I mentioned, ‘It’s not unsafe if you go [without me].’” Laughter rippled throughout the desk, considered one of many echoes within the room of girls buzzing for a long-awaited ladies’ evening out.

This journey, like so many others that night, was about millennials carving out a second for themselves whereas embracing enjoyable, friendship and pure nostalgia.

Mothers deserve a ’90s child summer season, too

A giant speaking level amongst mother and father is the ’90s child summer season pattern, which is about encouraging youngsters to have carefree days paying homage to mother and pop’s personal experiences rising up: much less display screen time, extra real-world enjoyable. In Las Vegas, this utilized to the caregivers.

For the lots of of millennial mothers who flocked to the Sphere, experiencing the summers of their youth once more meant slipping into their greatest white outfits — a nod to the twenty fifth anniversary of the Backstreet Boys’ Millennium album — transferring the group chat to IRL, and singing and dancing the evening away… whereas leaving their offspring at residence.

I grew up extra of an NSync fan, however even I couldn’t resist the attract of a ladies’ journey with 5 of my closest associates who I’ve identified for almost 20 years, together with my school roommate. Among the many 4 of us, we left eight youngsters within the care of their dads.

Utilizing a getaway card on the Backstreet Boys was a no-regrets transfer. Not one individual in my group, or the 20 folks I spoke with after the present, left upset. The boy band, which launched its first single, “We’ve Acquired It Goin’ On” in 1995, delivered a high-energy efficiency and catered precisely to the viewers they knew was there to see them. Our expertise wasn’t distinctive — it was common.

Courtney and Meg, greatest associates since age 8, had been planning this journey since February, when the Backstreet Boys introduced their summer season residency. Now 36, they hadn’t seen one another in almost two years, with life preserving them busy in Texas and Wisconsin, respectively. Between them, their youngsters vary in age from 4 to 12, however for one evening, their mother duties had been fortunately checked on the door.

Leaving their households wasn’t low cost or easy, however the pair mentioned the journey, which averaged round $1,500 per individual, was value each penny. “It was the perfect time of our lives,” they inform me in unison.

As the group funneled into the Sphere, it was clear this wasn’t only a live performance — it was a reunion of each associates and reminiscences. The group, a sea of white, stretched throughout the venue. Heels clacked in opposition to polished flooring, glitter and sequins caught the lights. Teams chatted animatedly, reminiscing about research overseas adventures, buying and selling parenting struggle tales or absorbing a uncommon evening of freedom.

“Oh God, I simply checked the Nanit,” I heard one lady murmur to her associates, glancing at her app that logs right into a child digicam in her daughter’s room. “She actually did not sleep as soon as right this moment.”

“Put that cellphone away! That is our evening,” her buddy replied. “Your daughter is together with your mother and father; she’s in good fingers. Now let’s go get a drink.”

Making my means throughout the room, I spoke with Brittany, 34; Jen, 42 and Felicia, 35, who grew to become shut associates after assembly at their youngsters’ aggressive cheerleading practices. When the trio, who traveled collectively from Denver, realized that the Backstreet Boys could be doing a summer season residency, they jumped on the likelihood to go. Their tickets — $254 apiece, the most cost effective I heard all evening — had been a steal. They spent round $700 for his or her resort room.

Once I requested what they had been all-in, cost-wise, Jen shrugged it off: “Who f***ing cares? We got here to have enjoyable.”

‘Enjoyable’ cash

Whereas some mothers savored an evening off from parenting duties, others within the crowd had been there to indulge within the freedom and discretionary spending that comes with having totally different duties.

For millennials with out youngsters, the Backstreet Boys residency was an excuse to deal with themselves. Haley, 38, from Houston, summed it up greatest after I requested her why she needed to journey to Las Vegas for the present: “Cash and availability.”

“Now we have disposable earnings and no youngsters,” mentioned Haley, who made the journey with two of her closest girlfriends. “Now we have no commitments. Now we have the flexibleness to go on a whim and we get to spend our cash and have enjoyable for ourselves.”

Haley didn’t should run her funds previous anybody however herself. “It is limitless,” she mentioned. “All of our finances, at this level, is limitless. It is all enjoyable cash.”

For Haley’s group, she mentioned flights, resort and ticket costs clocked in round $500 per individual, and anybody who’s traveled to Vegas is aware of that’s simply the beginning line. A single cocktail on the Wynn runs about $17 earlier than tip, and even with out alcohol, a meal hardly ever is available in below $50.

For the millennials on the present, the expense wasn’t a deterrent; it was a part of the expertise.

A millennium of reminiscences

As soon as the boy band took the stage, all bets had been off. The 25-track set kicked off with “Bigger Than Life,” which marked the live performance’s celebratory tone. Maybe the largest distinction in watching the Backstreet Boys in 2025 in comparison with 30 years in the past was the ocean of iPhones capturing each second. The group poked enjoyable at that in their efficiency of “Don’t Need You Again” as Nokia telephones flashed on the large screens in a reference to the know-how of the period.

When the fivesome requested who nonetheless had their Backstreet Boys CDs, the Sphere erupted. However the loudest cheers got here after they requested the group who was there having fun with a women’ evening; there have been so many “Woooooos!” you actually felt the Sphere vibrate with pleasure.

“Is that this the perfect evening ever? I feel that is the perfect evening ever,” two ladies in entrance of us mentioned to one another, earlier than snapping a selfie throughout “Everyone.”

It wasn’t simply the music, however how Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, AJ McLean, Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson labored the group collectively. At one level, the boys threw their hats into the group, a sight I hadn’t seen since 2005. They even led roughly 20,000 followers in a pleasant competitors over which facet of the viewers might scream the loudest.

With hits like “As Lengthy as You Love Me” and “I Need It That Manner,” the group delivered each word, dance transfer and reversion thrill that followers had been craving. It wasn’t misplaced on the singers that millennials are deliberate in how they spend their hard-earned cash, they usually had been spending it on them.

“It is due to each considered one of you exhibiting up that we now have a job,” Littrell, 50, instructed the sold-out crowd.

Even within the worst part on the Sphere (110, to be actual), it was all value it for the sing-along I had with a few of my closest girlfriends.

“My solely grievance? Why did we solely do 24 hours in Vegas?” my buddy Katie mentioned. (All of us agreed.) “We must always have finished two nights. I’d have gone again once more.”