LAS VEGAS — The Backstreet Boys caught an Eagles show at Sphere and were summarily inspired. To groove.

“We went on a scouting trip and saw one of my favorite bands all time performing live,” Kevin Richardson says in a Zoom interview with band mates Nick Carter, A.J. McLean, Brian Littrell and Howie Dorough. “To hear ‘Hotel California,’ and to see those visuals, blew my mind.”

Richardson expanded the band’s vision.

“We’ll be testing to see what types of things we can do, physically, inside the venue that have never been done,” the BSB co-founder says. “We’re the first act of our kind in the venue.”

The band plays 15 dates at the Bulbous Wonder, running July 11-Aug. 10. The “Into the Millennium” production captures the ideal of the “Millennium” album, issued in 1999. The album and coinciding tour were inspired by the then-science fiction images of the 2000s.

The remastered follow-up, “Millenium 2.0,” is due the day the residency opens.

Sphere would find its way into such a dreamscape.

The future is now

“Out thoughts and our concept was the future. What is the future going to look like? What is the future going to sound like?” Richardson says. “What better venue says ‘futuristic’ in entertainment, than the Sphere?”

The band is currently nailing down its set list (outside of “Millennium,” being played in its entirety) creating and reviewing storyboards, the sequence of images for the production, and brainstorming related creative processes.

They will visit Sphere in a few weeks, to test and tweak what they’ve developed. The band already knows what it won’t be — a lineup of musicians, playing instruments.

The vast, musically driven productions that U2, the Eagles, Phish, and Dead & Company have produced for Sphere are totally different from what BSB has in mind.

“Most of the acts that play there are bands, they play instruments, aside from DJ Anyma,” Richardson says, referring to ‘The End Of Genesys,” a show that is entirely electronically executed. “We are going to see that as well. We want to see as much as we can inside that venue to inspire our creativity.”

The decision on how to present music is still in the offing. “Whether or not we have a live band, we haven’t discussed that,” McLean says. But the guys exude confidence the show will rock.

‘True Backstreet Boys’

“You are still going to see a true Backstreet Boys show,” McLean says. “We are performers. We are dancing probably 85% of the show. You’re going to hear the entire ‘Millennium’ album as well as some of our greatest hits … We are a group that is going to be more physical, joined by what you are seeing on this giant screen. This is something no one has ever seen before.”

Carter reminds that the band members grew up by watching great live entertainers.

“We come from an era of entertainment, when it comes to the boy bands, Madonna, Michael Jackson — that’s how we were taught. Dancing, singing, all those things,” Carter says. “There are not a lot of people like that now, who take pride in the quality of what they do in their shows, who also have the catalog of hits that we have.”

BSB is focused on matching the hype. The band already has a history of sellouts in Las Vegas, with “Larger Than Life,” 80 shows at Axis Theater/Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood from March 1, 2017 to April 27, 2019. Their box office success makes the 17,500-per-show challenge more palatable.

BSB army will mobilize

“My confidence starts with believing in us, and knowing what we’ve already done in Vegas,” Dorough says, referring to its Planet Hollywood series, when the balcony was frequently opened to allow for 7,000 capacity. “We can rely upon our fan base, not just in the states but our international fan base. That’s why the Sphere approached us, because they know we have more than the fans who are loyal in the states. We have an amazing international fan base.”

Carter is the lone BSB member who lives in Las Vegas. He moved here in 2017, as the band kicked off its huge-selling “Larger Than Life” residency.

A resident and resident performer, Carter sees Sphere regularly in his daily life.

“I’m driving my kids to school, you know, and see it — it’s so prominent,” Carter says. “Even after 32 years, and all the things we’ve done and been grateful for, I would sit back and say, ‘I don’t know if we’re ever going to play that place.’ It’s so big and so grand and massive, I couldn’t see ourselves there until we actually started having the conversations.”

The Vegas angle

The classic Las Vegas resident headliner who is also a resident, Carter has experienced all measure of Vegas venues. Since he moved to town, he’s performed with BSB at Planet Hollywood, and at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in 2022, filling four of Adele’s postponed dates.

Carter has also performed at The Venetian’s Summit Showroom as a soloist, and in the freewheeling “After Party” show with McLean, Wanya Morris of Boyz II Men and Joey Fatone of NSync.

Eyeballing Sphere, Carter speaks from that experience.

“I know the entertainers, and there’s so much great entertainment in Las Vegas. There’s so many great venues,” Carter says. “I’ve seen so many shows. There’s the Cirque du Soleil shows, so many great things. I think this is the pinnacle. I think what they have done with the Sphere has raised the bar and created an opportunity for artists to elevate their their shows and in in a way that’s never been experienced before.”

The Vegas member of BSB tries not to sound too confident, saying, “Never take anything for granted, don’t predict anything, but there’s only one Backstreet Boys.”

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