by The Cowl Editor on September 12, 2019
Music
by Grace Whitman ’22 A&E Staff
“If you told me two years ago that I would be on this stage, I would say you’re lying. But tonight, I’m here with my brothers,” said Kevin Jonas to a nearly sold-out Times Union Center in Albany, New York on Monday, August 19.
As the lights went down and the music started “Burnin’ Up,” thousands of predominantly female audience members began screaming at the top of their lungs as childhood memories came flowing back. The Jonas Brothers have been part of the entertainment industry since their days on Disney Channel. They starred in their own show JONAS and their original movies, Camp Rock and Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam, which helped them gain a dedicated fan base. They released four studio albums from 2005 to 2009 and canceled their anticipated fifth studio album V before shocking fans with a six-year band hiatus.
The Happiness Begins World Tour by the Jonas Brothers has already been wildly successful in promoting their fifth studio album, Happiness Begins (2019), which topped the Billboard Top 200 in June of 2019. The tour began on August 7, 2019, in Miami, Florida and is set to conclude on February 22, 2020, in Paris, France.
As Joe Jonas began the concert with “I’m hot, you’re cold” from their 2008 hit single “Burnin’ Up,” the audience erupted with screams. Pyrotechnics shot up into the air as the three brothers were lifted onto the stage through star traps wearing bright orange, green, and blue suits.
Finding a happy medium between sticking to their roots and branching out to new music could not have been an easy task when they created the set list. But, of course, the Jonas Brothers did just that, adding the perfect amount of both. After playing a few songs from their new album, including “Rollercoaster,” “Cool,“ and “Only Human,” they decided to throw the show back to 2008, which truly got the audience excited.
Throughout the night, they alternated between two different stages in the arena, which gave everyone in attendance a chance to see them up close and personal. The special part about the show was the fact that they decided to play specific songs that each audience wanted to hear. They pulled suggestions from the crowd before choosing “Best Friends” and “Gotta Find You” as the nightly fan requests.
But it was ultimately Jonas Brothers classics like “That’s the Way We Roll,” “Fly with Me,“and the sensational “Lovebug” that had the audience pumped the most. The show featured over two dozen songs, each of them coupled with the audience singing along.
As the three brothers have grown up in the public eye for their entire life, the concert told a story of their life through screened visuals that showed the brothers turning into much younger versions of themselves. This added a nostalgic feel to the show as fans were also sent back to simpler days in their lives. All the background videos culminated with a final clip of Kevin Jonas with his two daughters along with the brothers performing their ultimate song of reconciliation, “Comeback.”
The show ended with the songs “Year 3000” and “Sucker,” which left the crowd smiling from ear to ear while walking out of the arena, with maybe a little hearing loss from the noise.
If you happened to miss this go-around of the Happiness Begins Tour, do not worry as you will only have to wait “A Little Bit Longer.” The Jonas Brothers will be back in the Northeast later this year. On Nov. 24, the tour will be making a “Comeback” to Boston, Massachusetts at TD Garden. If you do not already have tickets, do not “Hesitate” as it will be worth it “Every Single Time. “