SAN JOSE--Once the standard bearers of teen pop, Backstreet Boys [ tickets ] are now a distant second to 'NSync. The former group's tour, which finishes up on Friday (10/19) in Las Vegas, is incredibly important to its future. The quintet has to impress both on stage and at the box office. If this tour fails, it would definitely be seen in as another nail in the BSB coffin.

But none of that really mattered to the teens at San Jose's Compaq Center on Monday night (10/15). To those screaming fanatics, Backstreet Boys are Elvis Presley, the Beatles and Madonna all rolled into one pretty package.

The San Jose show was originally scheduled to take place in August, but had to be moved when A.J. McLean entered an alcohol rehabilitation center over the summer. How would the group address McLean's alcohol problem? Would they even address it? Or would they simply keep quiet about the situation?

As it turns out, the Boys handled the touchy problem in a very mature way that was still entirely appropriate for the young crowd. Early in the evening, McLean took the opportunity to speak directly to the audience about his troubles. He seemed sincerely grateful to the fans for sticking by him and giving him another chance.

"Thanks to you guys, today is 103 days sober," he said.

And not all Backstreet Boys are created equal, as evidenced by the show; the band couldn't have performed well without McLean, clean and sober and back on stage. The best dancer and singer of the bunch, McLean is pretty much the main star of Backstreet Boys' show. From there, Nick Carter, Kevin Richardson and Brian Littrell contribute about equally to the proceedings. Truly the fifth Backstreet Boy, Howie Dorough adds very little to the show and could basically fall of the stage without anyone noticing.

That stage, by the way, was enormous, completely dominating one side of the building. It resembled a passenger plane, with a main body and two runways that looked like wings extending away from the center. The main function was to allow the five performers to rise and fall through the stage with the help of hidden trap doors. A member would disappear suddenly, only to shoot back up through a hole in the floor just a few moments later.

The show was definitely less professional than it should have been. The Boys could use a new choreographer to work on their dance numbers. The routines during songs like "Shining Star," from the "Black and Blue" album, seemed about as natural and unforced as something from an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.

One could forgive a few simple errors and misjudgments, but they began to add up. For example, a video segment that was supposed to show the band members hanging out backstage at the arena simply wasn't believable. There were simply too many incongruities with the video images and what we saw on stage. For instance, Richardson had braids on video and straight hair on stage, Carter looked more slender in the video and McLean actually had different colored hair.

Still, they were all in fine voice, and did especially good versions of classic ballads such as "Shape of My Heart," "Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely" and, of course, "I Want It That Way."

Oddly enough for a show shooting for spectacle status, Backstreet Boys' concert worked best during the scaled-back moments. In fact, perhaps the highlight of the evening was the deliciously slow stroll through "Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)." As three acoustic guitars strummed away, the boys harmonized impressively while tackling this sentimental favorite.