Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Reunited Jonas Brothers worth wait
In kicking off their first headlining tour in nearly a decade on Wednesday, the Jonas Brothers freely admitted that they did not know what kind of reception they’d find inside Miami’s AmericanAirlines Arena.
They were boys singing to girls the last time they came around. But now they are men, with (celebrity) wives and kids and questions about their place in popular music and in the hearts of longtime fans.
The answer came quickly: As the Jonas Brothers closed their opening number, “Rollercoaster,” with its final lyrics, “Happiness begins,” the sold-out arena exploded into a remarkable wall of applause.
Sustained and heartfelt and a little stunning, it was the most passionate and deafening reaction I’ve ever heard in AmericanAirlines Arena. I was in that building when Ray Allen hit his epic NBA Finals 3-pointer for the Miami Heat in 2013. There’s no other way to say it: This was louder.
It was a night of hugs and squeals and selfies for the audience, about 75 percent female and relentlessly enthusiastic, that greeted Kevin, Joe and Nick Jonas as they hit the uncluttered black stage in colorful suits, behind them a massive, curved video screen. They were accompanied by a live band that included two full sets of drums, which set a forceful tone all night.
During a briskly paced 100-minute set, the brothers alternated on vocals and guitars, while strutting the stage with friendly swagger. Nick, of course, early on removed the jacket of his bright orange suit, revealing a sleeveless dress shirt underneath. The audience seemed to enjoy this.
The Happiness Begins Tour takes its name from the brothers’ No. 1 album, and they dutifully shared more than half of the songs from the album, with “Rollercoaster” followed by “Cool,” “Only Human,” “Hesitate” and “Used to Be,” among others. The new song “Comeback,” with Kevin on piano, ended in a lovely moment of a cappella harmony by the three brothers.
In a show that covered more than two dozen songs in part or in full there were some high points that were extra high.
After the trio waded through the audience to reach a small stage at the back of the arena, Nick brought the house down with his solo hit “Jealous,” then joined Joe in a raucous duet performance of the dance-club anthem “Cake by the Ocean,” by Joe’s band DNCE.
We didn’t get Priyanka Chopra onstage, but we did get Sebastián Yatra, Daddy Yankee and Natti Natasha, as the Jonas Brothers welcomed the trio to collaborate on “Runaway,” the Spanish-language single by Yatra, the Miami-based upand-comer.
“Hold On,” the punky fistpumper from their 2007 debut album, got the girls going, young and less so, as it was mashed up with the 2009 rocker “World War III.” Similarly, the youthful come-on of 2009’s “Burnin’ Up” raised the temperature in ways that had nothing to do with the columns of flames shooting over the stage.