The boys in 'NSYNC could have sent the marionettes adorning the cover of No Strings Attached in their place last night and kept everyone happy, considering the enthusiasm of their sell-out crowd at The Bryce Jordan Center.

The reason why? 'NSYNC's audience was so loud that the group's voices were at times completely inaudible. From a distance, few in the crowd could have told the difference between the real 'NSYNC and their puppet alter egos, as the shrieks and screams of thousands of teenage girls drowned out most of the boys' singing.

Few could hear 'NSYNC's voices, but no one seemed to mind. Twelve-year-olds in homemade "I Love J.C." T-shirts and their chaperoning parents stomped their feet in unison, rattling the arena's floor like an earthquake.

As soon as opening act Soul Decision left the stage, the crowd let the members of 'NSYNC know how welcome they were. Soul Decision's stage was torn down and replaced with an 'NSYNC backdrop, and the crowd went into mass hysteria.

'NSYNC took the stage promptly at 9 p.m., dropping from the rafters on strings as vaudevillian music played in the background. The boys then went into "No Strings Attached" and the lights went down, but vision was lost for no one. Thousands of glow sticks were busted open immediately and cast the arena — not to mention the faces of 'NSYNC — awash in a bright green and yellow glow.

Appearing in white shirts, shiny black vests and black pants, 'NSYNC danced through "No Strings Attached" and its follow-up, "I Want You Back," with moves that few professional dancers could handle. Backflips, jump kicks and butt shaking were captured on the giant video monitor and generated an unending string of cheers. When Justin Timberlake leaped into the air and tossed away his top hat to show off a hazel-colored bandana, thousands of kids lost their voices.

The crowd danced as much as 'NSYNC, and only two things kept the audience from moving — a few slow songs and a five-minute break due to falling debris.

'NSYNC's slower ballads make for hits on the radio, but their decision to play slow material had fans screaming and begging for an opportunity to move. An a cappella "I Thought She Knew" didn't keep the audience quiet, but it did slow down the dancing. The cruel restraint on the crowd was like asking seven-year-old kids to stay away from the tree on Christmas.

Movement stopped again when, shockingly, the show was suspended for five minutes after debris fell from the ceiling and landed on the stage. The lights went up and construction workers checked out the rafters, thankfully finding no serious problems.

"A piece of metal fell off the ceiling and we were concerned," said Bernie Punt, director of public relations for the center. "As a precautionary move we stopped the show and checked things out. It was just a loose piece, everything was fine."

The crowd killed time during the break by performing a variation of a popular Penn State football cheer, doing a call-and-response of "We are . . . 'NSYNC!"

'NSYNC returned with "It's Gonna Be Me," and the crowd was hesitant at the start, still nervous from the fallen metal. After fireworks went off in the middle of the song, however, everyone got back to screaming and forgot about the delay.

In the middle of the song, J.C. Chasez and Timberlake took turns at center stage, battling for the audience's love. Judging by the shrieks, Timberlake won, but it was a close contest.

In addition to their songs, 'NSYNC gave the audience plenty of entertaining material. MTV's Ananda Lewis showed up on the video screen to conduct "Total 'NSYNC Live," a spin-off of her network's popular Total Request Live, and 'NSYNC's Lance Bass joined Regis Philbin onscreen for a special episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Timberlake even beatboxed before a song, driving the crowd ballistic.

Sure there were delays, but considering the hollering audience, it's doubtful anyone went home unhappy. Bass asked the crowd, "How you feeling, Pennsylvania?" and a sold-out crowd screamed back an answer. The noise of the screams made the literal answer impossible to discern, but the volume said it all — 'NSYNC left everyone at the center satisfied last night.