BACKSTREET BOYS - MCLEAN MAKES 'PROMISING' SOLO DEBUT

LATEST: BACKSTREET BOYS star A.J. MCLEAN has successfully launched his solo career with two "promising" concerts in California. The singer performed songs from his upcoming debut solo album at the House Of Blues in Anaheim on Sunday (23Mar08) and at the Roxy in Los Angeles on Monday (24Mar08). Arriving onstage at the Roxy to the announcement, "Ladies and gentlemen, this ain't no boy band," MCLean performed a 90-minute set, including a rock version of the Backstreet Boys' Incomplete. Los Angeles Times' critic Sarah Tomlinson said MCLean and his band "sounded under-rehearsed", but she praised the singer's "winning enthusiasm and a humility remarkable for someone who has sold millions of albums... with his other group." MCLean will tour Europe with the Backstreet Boys in April and May (08).