Screams from millennials reliving their childhood filled the venue as the Jonas Brothers played songs both new and old, and even brought back some Disney Channel classics.
The Jonas Brothers lit up Capital One Arena for three hours on Sunday, Dec. 3. They performed songs from five albums spanning the last 17 years of their career.
A ten-second countdown appeared on the screen and the crowd began to chant the numbers. The anticipation and eagerness for the night ahead could be felt throughout the room. The lights went out and the “Burnin’ Up” singers began performing “Celebrate!” off of their most recent album, “The Album.” The energy in the room was electric, everybody was dancing and jumping up and down. The trio then sang their hit single “What a Man Gotta Do” featuring a full brass band and background vocalists.
On May 12, The Jonas Brothers released “The Album,” which includes hits such as “Waffle House” and “Summer Baby.” The three brothers announced “The Tour” in an Instagram video shortly before their album’s release. The original announcement included 35 cities in North America, in July the band decided to add 50 more stops to the tour, including a second stop in Washington D.C.
The Jonas Brothers played songs from five of their albums in chronological order, intermingling hits from “The Album” in between each era. The crowd went wild when the band played “Year 3000.” Anyone sitting down in the stands immediately stood up and began screaming the lyrics.
“The energy in the room was so energetic and made the whole experience so much fun,” sophomore criminal justice major Hannah Scopp said. “I only knew the major hits, but was never bored during the show.”
Before the band sang “Little Bird,” a heartwarming ode to the Jonas Brothers’ children, an expecting couple handed Joe an envelope counting the gender of their baby. Joe dedicated the song to the couple and announced that it was a boy to the 20,000 fans in the arena.
The band made its way to a smaller second stage in the back of the arena. They announced that it was time to bring back some Disney originals. The crowd went wild, ear-piercing shrieks filled the entire stadium. The band performed “Gotta Find You” and “Introducing Me” from the Disney Channel original movie, “Camp Rock.” The crowd knew every single lyric.
The energy in the venue peaked when the brothers sang hits “Lovebug” and “Burnin’ Up” back to back. “Burnin’ Up” contains Nick Jonas’s iconic “red dress” line. The lyric quickly became an internet sensation due to the tone and passion of Nick’s voice when he sang it in the original recording. Few cities on the tour actually got to hear Nick sing his line, but D.C. was one of the lucky few.
The show featured a fifteen minute intermission where fans took the opportunity to hit up the merch stand. The countdown came back on and the fans chanted, but there was a surprise in store by the time the countdown ended. Joe introduced the crowd to his favorite up-and-coming artist, Alex Lambert.
The Texas local singer-songwriter stunned the crowd with his vocals and sentimental lyrics to his song, “Crying in the Rain.” Crowd members compared Lambert to vocalists such as Chris Stapleton. At the end of his performance, he thanked the crowd and re-welcomed the Jonas Brothers to the stage.
The trio reappeared with fresh outfits and over 30 more songs to perform. The show featured some of the member’s solo work as well as a Christmas treat. The band performed the Christmas hit “Like it’s Christmas”. They joked that they had been debating when to add it to the setlist but now that it was officially December it felt appropriate. Nick performed his solo song “Jealous” and Joe performed the DNCE radio single “Cake by the Ocean”.
“My favorite part of the night was hearing Nick Jonas sing ‘Jealous,’ I never thought that I would hear that song live since it was a solo project,” said sophomore journalism and cinema Studies major Lea Glaser. “I also thought they interacted with their band and backup dancers a lot which was really fun to see.”
The night ended with an array of hits from the 2019 album “Happiness Begins.” They ended the show with “Sucker” and their collaboration with Marshmallow, “Leave Before You Love Me.” Even after three hours of non-stop screaming and dancing the crowd’s energy never dipped.
If you couldn’t catch the Jonas Brothers on this tour, don’t worry because the band recently announced their 20th-anniversary tour starting in 2025. The Jonas Brothers proved that they have more to offer than childhood nostalgia and have no plans of stopping anytime soon.