Source: Lexington Herald-Leader http://www.kentuckyconnect.com
Thanks to Backstreet.net reader vh1436 for sending this in.
Published Sunday, September 26, 1999, in the Herald-Leader
By Jim Jordan
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER
Move over, Garth Brooks. The Backstreet Boys are the new hot ticket at Rupp Arena.
The Backstreet Boys' Nov. 27 concert sold out in 24 minutes yesterday,
eclipsing the previous record of
31 minutes set for the first of Brooks' three Rupp concerts in May
1998.
More than 1,600 fans were in line at Rupp when 22,000 tickets went on
sale at noon yesterday. Roughly
1,200 left empty-handed.
``You can imagine how happy they were,'' said Carl Hall, director of
operations for Lexington Center
Corp.
The Backstreet fans at Rupp were competing with those buying tickets
electronically through
TicketMaster.
That explained the fast sell-out, Hall said. TicketMaster also put the tickets on sale at noon.
Besides unseating Brooks, Backstreet broke its own sales record yesterday,
which was set Aug. 14 when
tickets for its Nov. 26 Lexington concert were sold out in 37 minutes.
About 500 fans were left ticketless after that sale, prompting Backstreet to add the Nov. 27 concert.
The five-member group is popular locally, not only for its music, but
also because two of the Backstreet
Boys have Kentucky roots: Brian Littrell is from Lexington and his
cousin, Kevin Richardson, is from Estill
County.
Fans began lining up before 6 a.m. yesterday to buy the Nov. 27 Backstreet
tickets, priced at $29.50 and
$38.50, plus service charges.
A lottery was held about 10:30 a.m. to determine the order in which
fans could buy up to eight tickets
each.
``It was over pretty quickly,'' Hall said. ``I would say we got in 350
to 400 transactions before the last
ticket was gone.''