The Scotsman

Jonas Brothers

Hydro, Glasgow ✪✪

- FIONA SHEPHERD

Disney teen sensations the Jonas Brothers were the boy band of the moment a decade ago before a fraternal rift temporaril­y put paid to the pop pay day. But, like good plastic surgery, their bland, bombastic sound hasn’t aged much in their seven-year absence.

Glossy films recreating sentimenta­l scenes of the Jonases’ childhood underlined that this is a family band in the Osmonds tradition. Eldest and youngest brothers Kevin and Nick strapped on guitars and flirted with grand pianos throughout the set, while their backing band fired up the arena-filling country pop of new track Rollercoas­ter. In true teenybop tradition, you could barely hear the brothers’ weedy voices above the screaming. Fans could forget about meaningful interactio­n or cheeky spontaneit­y from the trio across this slickly choreograp­hed presentati­on. with the exception of the light pop skank of Only Human, their succession of formulaic turbo-charged pop numbers failed to offer much in the way of personalit­y, nor did the brothers take refuge in anything as galvanisin­g as simple sibling harmony.

The obligatory acoustic interlude on a small stage at the back of the hall sufficed for intimacy, before the party belatedly started and ended with the sleek, catchy the Ocean, a 2015 earworm by Joe Jonas’s other band DNCE.

A medley of some of their early punk pop numbers and a cover of Busted’s Year 3000 were accompanie­d by footage of the old days when they seemed to be having more fun – as for fans in the year 2020, they partied on regardless.

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