Monday, August 16, 1999
Hometown heros 98° thrill screaming fans
BY JAY WEBBER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Just before 9 p.m. Saturday, the cool evening air at Riverbend Music Center exploded in an avalanche of high pitched screams that would persist almost unabated for 55 minutes.
The cause of the commotion? A homecoming performance Nick and Drew Lachey, Justin Jeffre and Jeff Timmons, collectively known as 98°.
One of today's hottest groups among the adolescent female set, 98° is the headlining act on Nickelodeon's All That Music and More Fest. Saturday's stop in Cincinnati found lines of teens and parents stretched through the parking lot to Kellogg Avenue almost an hour before the gates opened.
For their adoring legions, the main attraction did not disappoint. With The Hardest Thing, Because of You, and I Do, the quartet romanced their audience. Covers of Offspring's Pretty Fly (For a White Guy) and Eminem's My Name Is showed the guys' comedic side. And with True to Your Heart, Do You Wanna Dance and Stevie Wonder's Superstitious, 98° rocked and partied with their fans.
The hours leading up to 98°'s set found several other young performers on stage. No Authority opened the show with a tightly choreographed, 15-minute set featuring the flawless harmonies of Don't Stop and What I Wanna Do and so much pelvis shaking that, had he been present, even Elvis would have blushed.
The trio EYC contributed a brief, rather forgettable performance that was followed by a 45-minute performance by R&B star Monica. Introduced as “Grammy Award-winning Monica” three times during her short time on stage, Monica's gifted vocals make it is easy to forget this young woman is still a teen-ager. Hearing her sing Angel and Don't Take it Personal, it is even easier to picture this young woman carving out a lengthy career for herself.
Between acts, the comedy stars of Nickelodeon's All That performed short skits. In one such skit, their creation SuperDude finds himself matched against his arch-nemesis, The Milkman. The Milkman? See, SuperDude's weakness is that he is lactose intolerant.
That kind of harmless fun, as well as the first three musical acts all generated a good deal of excitement. But that paled compared to the emotion 98° evoked, with many in attendance reduced to tears of joy and uncontrollable shaking. Sure, life as a teen idol can be fickle and its fame fleeting, but 98° is enjoying the ride. And for young female teens today, Cincinnati's 98° really is “all that.”
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