December 3, 2023
Capital One Arena, Washington, DC
Week: 368
This week’s thing: Don’t tell my sister about this one, lol. Growing up, she was prime age to love the Jonas Brothers and I remember her obsessing over them and if I remember right, once forcing my parents to take her and her friends to see them. Of course that was close to 20 years ago and in 2023, the Jonas Brothers have been on tour all year playing songs from all five of their albums. A friend invited me to go to this show and one of my favorite bands was Lawrence was opening so I said “fuck it, why not?” And I’m really glad I went! And just to clear up any misconceptions out there: having seen them all up close, I can confidently say Joe is the hot one.
Music: 3/5: OK, so is it my favorite music ever? No. A lot of the songs sound the same, though I guess given the album-focused structure of the setlist, you can see some evolution over the band’s history and as at least two of them branched out and made music solo or with bands of their own. I knew maybe five or six of the songs, including the solo stuff, and liked hearing them.
Lighting/backdrop/visuals: 5/5: Folks, a Jonas Brothers show has pretty much everything: pyro, crazy lights, a huge stage with lots of little offshoots so performers can closer to the audience, a second more intimate stage on the other side of the floor with a piano and an aisle the Jonas Brothers used quite a bit to run back and forth between them, a huge band doing synchronized dances with a trombone player who was really into it, a kiss cam operated by Joe Jonas himself, and so much more.
Overall vibe: 5/5: The girls were screaming, fans brought signs, and most every song was a big singalong.
Bonus points:
Opener: +1 for Lawrence, who I love so, so much, though I wish they would have done more of their own music instead of the couple of nostalgic NSYNC and Sean Paul covers they played
Stage banter: +1 for normal boy-band crowd stuff but also -1 for doing a live gender reveal
Amount of green lighting: +1 for a couple of songs in green
Home early: -1, this was a LONG show. I get it, playing all the albums, sure. But I just don’t think the world really needs 3-hour Jonas Brothers shows with intermissions, sue me!!
Final: 14/15
What else I saw this week:
Neal Francis Thursday night at the Atlantis. I love Neal and I’ve seen him a few times now. Great jamming including a guest spot on few of the songs from his opener’s horn section. He’s been playing full band shows here and there with background singers and horns and I’ve been bummed he hasn’t brought that show to DC but at least I got a little taste.