Jonas boys set the house afire

The Jonas Brothers are more than a band, they are a full-blown cultural phenomenon

Even if you're not a fan, you have seen the faces of Kevin, Joe and Nick Jonas -- they're everywhere you look these days, from television screens to lunch boxes, and yesterday they were at the MTS Centre for a concert in front of a sold out crowd of 16,000 who went absolutely mad for their musical heart throbs.

The Jonas Brothers phenomenon has been classified as the new Beatlemania, but this also happened during the first run of New Kids on the Block and the Backstreet Boys.

The Beatles are in a class of their own, but musically the Jonas Brothers have the Kids and the Boys beat in the talent department. They write their own music, play their own instruments and even act in their own TV series. The Kids and Boys sure could dance up a storm, but those two acts never wrote a song as catchy as Play My Music.

That's another thing about the Jonas Brothers: Their music is actually likable. Songs like Paranoid, That's Just the Way We Roll and Tonight are decent shots of melodic power-pop that are easy to get into, no matter what age or sex you are. My inner 12-year-old girl loved every second. My 35-year-old self thought it was a pretty entertaining show and fans definitely got their money's worth, but those thoughts were drowned out by the screaming of my inner 12-year-old.

Oh yes, the majority of Jonas Brothers fans fall squarely into the young female category, and those girls are loud. The average age at the show was somewhere in the 10- to 12-year-old range, but there were plenty of girls younger than that, and when you get that many girls in an enclosed space screaming together, it seems louder than a row of Marshall stacks at a metal show.

The frenzy started far before the brothers took the stage as fans and their parents lined up around the block of the arena waiting for the doors to open. Once inside, many of them stood in another lengthy line at the merchandise booth to buy $15 light sticks, $15 posters and $40 T-shirts (among other things) adorned with the images of Joe, Nick and Kevin. Sigh...

The brothers have spared no expense to put on a show. The "in the round" configuration featured a giant hexagon in the centre of the arena acting as the main stage, with a circular rotating platform on top with a multi-tiered video screen above it. Two smaller stages extended to the north and south.

They had a 10-piece band with them who surrounded the main stage.

Kevin, 21, Joe, 19 and Nick, 16, rose from a platform in the centre stage to a roar of screams and camera flashes and launched into Paranoid, off their album, Lines, Vines and Trying Times.

Joe and Nick handle all the vocal duties, while Kevin sticks to playing guitar. Nick also played guitar, piano and drums. Told you these guys were talented.

Most of the songs are about young love going right and wrong, and are either delivered as bouncy rockers or weepy ballads, many featuring Nick on a white grand piano.

For Fly With Me, lasers shot into the crowd. On Black Keys, the stage was enveloped in smoke. During Gotta Find You, the band was raised into the air on a crane and the crowd sang along.

They even made it rain on the southern stage before Lovebug, an obvious crowd favourite that turned into another giant singalong.

"I want the mom and dads to stand up right now. This is your chance to show your kids you still got it," Joe said before a cover of Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline.

See, they're even thinking of the parents. Good boys, these purity-ring-wearing Jonas Brothers.

Jordin Sparks acted as hype-woman to open the show, delivering a 25-minute set of mainstream radio-flavoured R&B and pop, showcasing her big voice and spunky personality that helped her win the sixth season of American Idol.

Having gone through the American Idol hit-making machine, Sparks, 19, knows how to work a crowd. She succeeded in getting many young fans out of their seats and dancing while prancing around the stage in high heels, a short black skirt and a sparkly fingerless glove on her left hand, à la Michael Jackson and Beyonce.

Immediately following Sparks, Korean girl group Wonder Girls performed a quick song, then fled before commercials for Disney products played on the screens.

rob.williams@freepress.mb.ca

ConcertReview

Jonas Brothers

. MTS Centre

. July 5

. Attendance: 16,000

My inner 12-year-old: 5 out of five

(best show ever!!)

My 35-year-old self: 3 out of five

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 6, 2009 D1