Backstreet Boys fans shocked at hundreds of empty seats as star’s solo tour fails to sell out and is branded ‘a failure’
BACKSTREET Boys star Nick Carter’s European solo tour has baffled fans after failing to sell out half of the venue.
The 44-year-old pop icon, who is currently locked in a legal feud with a woman accusing him of sexual assault, hit the road for his Who I Am Tour in July.
His European leg finished on August 13 in Alicante, Spain – but videos from the arena show hundreds of empty seats as Nick performed.
On one video, posted by a fan, was titled in Spanish: “Nick Carter fails to tour Europe and his concerts are so empty.”
The caption translates to: “#NickCarter and his concert nonsense poor thing!”
In the clip, Nick is seen in a American football-style letterman jacket, performing Backstreet’s Back with a live band.
The fan then pans his camera around the crowd, catching an entire elevated seating area with no one on it.
He then points the lens towards the stage, and while there is an eager crowd towards the front, there are dozens of seats around him going empty.
Nick is best famed as one of the key five members of the Backstreet Boys, which has endured nearly three decades of international fame with tracks including ‘Backstreet’s Back’, ‘Larger Than Life’ and ‘As Long As You Love Me’.
But fans failing to buy tickets to his shows is a fresh blow to Nick, who has been faced with a string of sexual assault allegations.
Nick came under fire in 2022 when a woman came forward accusing him of historical sexual assault after an alleged incident in 2002 – which Nick has consistently denied.
A second accusation was made by Melissa Schuman, a singer in 00s pop group Dream, in April 2023.
Schuman claimed the incident took place in 2003 while they were filming The Hollow together, stating in her suit he forced her to engage in non-consensual sex acts at a party.
Nick has always adamantly denied any wrongdoing in the incident, claiming the sex they had was consensual, and last week launched a countersuit against Schuman for $2.5million.
According to People, who acquired the court documents, Nick claims he is using her for “internet relevance” in the suit, and had “recruited third parties in order to defame him”.
A third woman, Ashley Repp, came forward with an accusation in August 2023, alleging Nick had assaulted her on a yacht when she was just 15 – something he has also fiercely denied.
He claimed their sexual interaction was consensual and that she had lied about her age, so he believed she was 18 at the time of the incident.
The accusations have since been central to 2024 documentary Fallen Idols: Nick and Aaron Carter, which Nick’s representatives has accused of ‘spreading falsehoods’.
Last week, Nick’s attempts to countersue Repp were thrown out by a Nevada court judge.
Judge Hardy ruled the singer had no grounds for defamation as their sexual interaction falls under the standard of statutory rape in Florida, where the incident is alleged to have occurred – so Repp referring to him as a ‘rapist’ was legally accurate.
He said on his ruling: “The truth is an absolute defence. Based on Carter’s own judicial admissions, they did have sex. They had sexual relations, and she was a minor.”