Backstreet Boys get Bollywood welcome in Mumbai ahead of Abu Dhabi show

Boyband are currently on their DNA World Tour and set to perform a sold-out show at the Etihad Arena on Sunday

Backstreet Boys perform during the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball concert at Madison Square Garden, in New York City on December 9, 2022. Reuters

The Backstreet Boys received a Bollywood-style welcome in India on Wednesday night when staff of a Mumbai hotel surprised the group with a dance on their hit song Everybody (Backstreet's Back).

Member Nick Carter posted a video on Instagram showing staff of the Grand Hyatt Mumbai Hotel & Residences grooving to the song, set to Bollywood moves, saying: "This is the first time I have seen something like this in my entire career.

"What cool surprise arriving at the hotel here in Mumbai India. I guess we really do have fans all over the world," he added in a caption on Instagram.

Fellow member Howie Dorough also shared the video, saying: "What an amazing welcome in Mumbai!!"

The popular US boyband, who have been going strong for 30 years, are set to perform two shows in India as part of their DNA World Tour — at Mumbai's Jio World Garden on Thursday and at the Airia Mall in Delhi on Friday.

They will then head to Abu Dhabi for their sold-out show at the Eithad Arena on Sunday, followed by stops in Bahrain on Tuesday, Jeddah on May 11 and Tel Aviv on May 13.

Before heading to India, the fivesome, made up of Carter, Dorough, AJ McLean, Kevin Richardson and Brian Littrell, performed in Cairo on Monday.

The DNA World Tour, in support of their 10th album DNA, began in 2019. But several shows were postponed owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, and the tour resumed last year. The tour's sturdy 30-song set list features tracks from their latest album, as well as the greatest hits.

Formed in 1993, the five-piece remain one of the planet's biggest boybands, and they also command a dedicated fan base in the Arab world.

During their last trip to the UAE in 2018, they headlined a sold-out show at the Blended festival in Dubai, which had more than 10,000 fans singing along to hits such as Larger than Life and Everybody.

In her review, The National's Backstreet Boys superfan Sofia Barbarani hailed their performance for keeping it vintage, writing: "Over the space of an hour and a half, the boys danced like it was 1993, like they were still five teenagers rehearsing dance moves in an Orlando warehouse."

However, on that occasion, the normally swift footwork of Carter eluded him and he slipped and landed on his back during the second song of the night, prompting “a chorus of concerned sighs from the largely-female audience".