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Joey Fatone and AJ “Alex” McLean are teaming up to bring *NSYNC and Backstreet Boys fans together for their “A Legendary Night” tour.
“Extra’s” Carlos Greer spoke with Joey and AJ about that recent surprise *NSYNC reunion performance at Justin Timberlake’s L.A. show, which brought out celebs including Travis Kelce.
AJ was able to witness the “special moment,” saying, “I was there. The screams were unlike anything decibel-wise. I wish to God I had earplugs in at that moment.”
As for being onstage, Joey marveled, “It was like we rose from the dead. It literally was a complete surprise. I mean, nobody really had no clue, which I think was really cool.”
He continued, "It opened up, I think, all of our eyes to go, 'Maybe we should do something. The fans are there for us, we can’t thank them enough. It's crazy that they’ve been with us that long."
AJ noted, “You guys could see it on your faces, like, ‘Oh, we missed this.’”
Taylor Swift’s boyfriend Travis Kelce was also in the audience and the two guys got to meet him!
McLean described Kelce as “nicest guy in the world.”
Fatone and Kelce have some mutual friends, but it was the first time they had met.
Joey said Travis is both an *NSYNC and Backstreet Boys fan, noting, "He is definitely both. I think he felt bad because I think [Taylor] was working and he’s like, 'What do I do? Do I go see Justin and *NSYNC or do I go see Taylor?'"
Joey teased, "You made the right choice, it's okay. We know you're gonna see Taylor all the time."
Joey also left the door for more *NSYNC in the future, saying, “We’re trying to figure out and have a conversation to see if we’re going to do something. Justin just released his new album, of course. He’s going to be on tour, so I think after or during when he does his tour, I think we’re going to sit down, hopefully, sit down and have a conversation and go, 'Okay, what does this look like? Are we gonna do music? Are we gonna do an album? Do we do a tour? Or are we gonna do nothing?'"
H emphasized, “Everybody has their own lives now, so it’s a little bit difficult to really get back on that horse."
Fatone also shut down suggestions that the band is at Timberlake’s “beck and call.” He said, “I’m like, ‘No.’ There’s many times that we’ve had conversations where there were things that we did decline because it just wasn’t right, people weren’t ready, we weren’t there, or people weren’t in town. So, it’s one of those things where if the timing’s right, if stars and the moons are aligned, something will happen.”
In the meantime, AJ and Joey are bringing ’90s boy band fans together with their "A Legendary Night" show.
AJ said, "We are truly doing this for the fans... We’re sacrificing being away from our families to be with these amazing fans of both bands and just bringing you almost two hours of non-stop fun, party, forget about what you’re dealing with in your everyday life and just come and just have a good freaking time."
Along with singing each other’s songs, AJ will also be debuting his new solo work. He's shedding "AJ" and going by Alex for his new music, which was fueled as he found himself amid his own mental health struggles.
He explained, "I decided to go do a little soul searching and I did a 10 week stint in Scottsdale, Arizona. I went to an amazing treatment center."
AJ continued, "One of the biggest things that I took from that experience was finding my true authentic self, learning that AJ is a persona... He doesn't define me as who I really am, and I’ve kind of stifled myself with that character for 30 years, kind of lost sight of who I was. And so the Alex era, if you will, is everything I’m doing now solo is under the name Alexander James. I’m reintroducing myself to the world as Alex and being my true authentic self."
The “A Legendary Night” tour picks back up May 23. Get more info at https://alegendarynight.komi.io/.
