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Wango Tango 2001
The pop hits were flying
Saturday at Dodger Stadium, but the real star of the Wango Tango festival was
the pitch. (Source: Daily
News Los Angeles)
Right off the bat, sponsors whacked their brands of consumer goods into the
outfield camouflaged as music videos, million-dollar dice rolls that gave away
no cash and humorless skits like one that showed Rick Dees -- morning host of
KIIS-FM (102.7) -- coming home to a blow-up doll in his bed.
Even if the commercials were in poor taste, at least the music wasn't. For the
mostly young, female crowd, the highlight of the all-day event was the
Backstreet Boys. The group took the stage in Lakers jerseys in celebration of
the team's NBA championship win the night before. Turns out, it was a recurring
theme throughout Saturday's concert. There were playbacks of the Lakers win and,
later, the Lakers cheerleaders were invited to perform on the Wango Tango stage
to lift the crowd's spirit.
That proved to be an effortless job on the part of the Backstreet Boys, whom
Britney Spears, host of Wango Tango more in body than in spirit, called
"sexy as hell." It would be hard to find a girl in the audience to
disagree with the remark from the buxom Spears, whose number of appearances on
stage were fewer than the times she spoke in complete sentences.
The very presence of the Backstreet Boys -- who shed their jerseys, autographed
them and pitched them into the crowd -- moved girls to tears. Some stood on
their seats, shouting "I love you" to their Backstreet Boy of choice.
One girl, who was seated in the vicinity of second base, announced to everybody
in her row that "A.J. waved to me."