On August 23, 2019, The Jonas Brothers (comprised of Joe, Nick, and Kevin) returned to Toronto as a part of their reunion tour “Only Human” for the first of two summer shows. I, being a huge fan of their work (Camp Rock, multiple hit CD’s, Disney drama for my 12-year old soul), decided to go down a path of nostalgia and see them.
I was joined by thousands of women my age and older. The anticipation was high in the air. Jordan McGraw opened with a mediocre set whilst Bebe Rehxa managed to show everyone that she has a stage presence.
At 9:20 p.m., assisted by a brilliant band, Kevin, Joe, and Nick emerged on stage. The boys wore brightly colored suits and greeted a very tipsy audience. They opened with a greeting and then jumped into the nostalgia. There were one or two songs from their new album which failed to spur a strong audience response. In our defense, we wanted to hear “S.O.S”, “Year 3000,” and “Burnin’ Up.” Once the concert went into full swing, a bunch of young adults were pumping their arms in the air, singing along to “S.O.S,” living deep in nostalgia. Whilst the acoustics in Scotiabank Arena were not great, the three brothers made the most of it. Kevin shocked me by playing brilliantly on the guitar (I could easily have watched a solo performance of him), Nick surprised me with his singing voice (Spotify does not do him justice), but Joe had the real stage personality that made the concert more enjoyable. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and the first night of their performance was cut short by a technical difficulty, leaving a rather disgruntled audience as we did not hear “Burnin’ Up” or “Sucker.” We also received no apology or goodbye. Minus that little hiccup, I am very glad that I saw their concert and they surpassed my expectations. Overall, the concert was a solid 9 out of 10 and was worth the excursion.
