Entertainment
REVIEW: Jonas Brothers on Broadway
Do you remember your middle school crush? That local boy with those hazel eyes and THAT HAIR!! Oh, that hair! At nearly thirty, I got to be face-to-face with my middle school crush again. He was just as gorgeously handsome as I remember from his poster. That’s right, this Jersey girl is talking about none other than the Jonas Brothers.
The Jonas Brothers Arrive on Broadway
The Jonas Brothers performed five sold-out nights on Broadway this week and I luckily got to be there on March 16. The thing about these shows that made them hyper-special (despite the already coolness of being a Broadway residency) is that each night the brothers played one of their albums in its entirety, followed by all their hits. Night number three was for their 2009 album titled Lines, Vines, and Trying Times. It spawned the singles “Paranoid” and “Fly with Me”.
The show was opened by a dramatic reading of a chapter of their yet-to-be-released and forever-being-pushed-back memoir, Blood. Three young female actors playing the roles of each brother respectively shared, dare we say, what a trying time it was to create the album with their former label claiming they were “washed up”. The female playing the role of Nick said, “I wasn’t even allowed to vote yet.”. The brothers seemed to echo that the album was a weird time, stating its conflicting genres jumping from their traditional pop/rock to some country, blues, and even rap. While they omitted to play their worst song, “Don’t Charge Me For The Crime” featuring Common, the brothers did welcome a string quartet and four-piece horn section.
Now, I have been a fan of the Jonas Brothers for over fifteen years. I remember buying the album Lines, Vines, and Trying Times at Target with my middle school classmate, Jenna. (It had to be at 9 am before her mom went to work!) I went to their 2009 tour in support of that album with my mom as chaperone. We were in the second to last row. I had such a good time, I cried and begged my dad to drive me an hour and a half away to their show a few days later. March 16 marked my twentieth Jonas Brothers concert to date.
The Audience Connection
Glad we established my bias. We know Joe, Nick, and Kevin were blessed by the gene gods. We know they are insanely talented. What keeps me coming back for more and more is how special they make the audience feel, and those little personal touches they add to their shows. This time around there were themed drinks (When You Look Me in the LIMES) and Playbills personalized to each night with a lengthy thank-you note from the brothers to their fans ending with “We love you.”
Furthermore, it is clearly mutual as fans camped out to attempt to get tickets and some spent thousands for a single ticket. I overheard a girl claim she paid the same amount of money as her NYC rent for her ticket. There were whispers of another girl in a white shirt who spent over thirty thousand dollars on tickets to the Jonas Brothers over the years. With this level of fandom, I expect another Broadway residency in the future.
Finally, the Jonas Brothers will be on tour this summer to support their new album, The Album. I will be going to at least three shows.
Setlist:
- “World War III”
- “Paranoid”
- “Fly With Me” (with former bassist Greg “Garbo” Garbowsky)
- “Poison Ivy”
- “Hey Baby”
- “Before The Storm”
- “What Did I Do To Your Heart”
- “Much Better”
- “Black Keys”
- “Turn Right”
- “Don’t Speak”
- “Keep It Real”
- “What A Man Gotta Do”
- “S.O.S”
- “Levels”
- “Toothbrush”
- “Jealous”
- “Cake By The Ocean”
- “Only Human”
- “Wings”
- “I Believe”
- “That’s Just The Way We Roll”
- “Leave Before You Love Me”
- “Sucker”
Photo Credit: Cole Gentry
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