Missing an act or two, including Mandy Moore (the new teen sensation on Sony Records), due to a ticket snafu at the box office, I entered the arena just in time to catch new teen sensations, No Authority, hit the stage. Four clean cut white boys from Orlando (where else?), they succeeded in capturing the audiences attention rapidly. With their slick choreography (one of the boys is obviously a gymnast, performing flips that made you dizzy just watching him), sweet vocals and good looks, these guys are very possibly the next “big thing”. There is definitely something a little disconcerting about all these boy bands gyrating and shaking their crotches for a bunch of pre-pubescent girls though. Society’s boundaries sure are changing! Continuing in the shaking-your-ass mode, EYC was up next.

This multiracial boy band (one white guy, one Puerto Rican and one black guy) may just not be the next teen sensations. Though they certainly tried hard enough, dancing their asses off and lifting their shirts to expose their unbelievably ripped abs (the PR guy’s one truly impressive move, which he did at least 20 times during the show), they got a little stale by the end of their 20 minute set - and that’s not saying all too much for them. While the concept of a boy band that spans cultures is intriguing, one hopes that there will be other, more successful, attempts in the future.

Tatyana Ali hit the stage and did a fine job in her short stint. Voluptuous and sexy, she held her own, singing somewhat interchangeable tunes that didn’t grab your attention, but won’t stop them from getting airplay anyway. She is an alluring woman with a great stage presence, destined for bigger things. Speaking of bigger things, Monica, her inflated ego, and her entourage were up next. With a huge castle bearing the logo “Princess Monica” taking up a good part of the stage, the audience was forced to watch all the other acts with her set in place. Though an odd look for the others, it worked for Monica, as she made a grand entrance, tiara and all.

Like Ms. Ali, and virtually all the acts present for that matter, Monica’s music seems to come in a lagging second to her stage show. With an array of competent dancers in tow, this somewhat longer-than-the-rest set satisfied those wishing to shake their tails and watch a fun show. Monica already has a following, but if the squeals from the crowd were any indication, she has a larger one waiting in the wings.

With Monica’s castle being removed, the extremely capable road crew transformed the stage for 98 Degrees, the headliners, rapidly. Anticipation, and the volume, increased exponentially as the boys hit the stage. While doing the same show they played at Jones Beach earlier this summer might have been a little tiresome for some (this critic among them), the screams of glee implied that the crowd couldn’t care less that they had seen this show already. Appearing in those cheesy little clear tubes that look as if a roadie hung shower curtains in at the last minute, (come on guys , you have the money for some new set pieces by now!) the buffed-out boys of 98 Degrees hit the stage with a flourish. Dramatic as ever, their opening is definitely a winner: in white parkas and hockey masks, the boys exit the tubes and proceed to strip off their winter wear, only to reveal those impeccable bodies they have obviously worked so hard at creating.

Like most of the acts that day, their show was as important as the music, yet somehow, after seeing these guys live four times, I have started to actually like them! A lot! Their consistent concern with the quality of their harmonies, as well as their great sense of self-depracating humor, shows them to be more than your average boy band. Things like them throwing in some of The Offspring’s “Pretty Fly For A White Guy” is typical of what I’m talking about. These boys understand where they are coming from, and also understand that the music IS important. Merely being cute and buffed gets you as far as EYC; being talented takes you a whole lot further. Performing tracks from their two discs, they held the crowd entranced for their hour set and left them screaming for more. My only advice to these consummate pros would be not to play the same exact show twice in a summer in the same venue.