KGYT's Review of Jonas Brothers' World Tour Concert in Ottawa, Canada
Written by: Kat Walcott
On the night of August 31st, in Ottawa, Canada, us over here at KGYT got the chance to experience something quite special. The Jonas Brothers’ summer leg of their World Tour was wrapping up and Ottawa was the city fortunate enough to be the final city. There was no question in our minds, being the big fans we were, we had to be there.
So, a few days before the concert Kayla and I unleashed our inner dorks and made our own t-shirts with 3-D fabric paint. I felt like such a tween at heart, making colourful designs and writing “Burnin’ up for Jonas!” , a reference to the Jonas Brothers’ hit song “Burnin’ Up”, on my t-shirt.
Finally, over three months after buying our tickets, the day of the show came. There was tons of rush hour traffic in the area and as we slowly made our way to Scotiabank Place, home of the Ottawa Senators and the venue where the concert was to take place, our anticipation was building. Finally we got there and the scene was crazy; never had I seen so many tween girls concentrated in one area! The energy was amazing and people were waiting in lines holding signs expressing their love for the three brothers. Some that I remember off the top of my head included sayings such as, “I love Nick!” , “Don’t Charge me for the Crime of Loving You!” and the funniest and most memorable of all, “Taylor who?”, a reference to Joe Jonas’ famous ex-girlfriend Taylor Swift whom he had had a nasty break up with last year.
At about 6:15 PM, after about 45 minutes of waiting outside, we were let into the venue. Once the entire crowd was packed into the front lobby of the centre, that’s where we truly saw the size of the crowd. Very, very big and very loud and excited.
We eventually, finally made it to our seats and at about 7 PM the first opening act, up and coming pop-rockers Honor Society, hit the stage. They are the first band signed to the Jonas Brothers/Hollywood Records’ joint label and are dropping their debut album Fashionably Late, produced and co-written with the Jonases, on September 15. I had listened to a few of their songs before and really enjoyed them and was excited to see them live. They definitely did not disappoint! They were energetic, fun and did a great job at hyping up the crowd. While all the songs they performed were great, one in particular that is download worthy is “See U in the Dark” , which has a fun dance routine made up by the band that has become quite the sensation on Youtube.
As Honor Society wrapped up their set and the stage was being set for the next opening act, South Korean girl group the Wonder Girls, we could literally feel the excitement building. One opening act done meant one less act ‘till the Jonas Brothers.
The Wonder Girls are a K-Pop, Korean pop that is, group consisting of five young and very cute ladies, Yenni, Mimi, Sohee, Sun and Yubin, ranging in age from 17 to 20, who are already mega stars in Asia and are preparing to conquer North America. The girls, looking gorgeous dressed in fitted sea foam green dresses and standing in perfect formation surrounded by five old-fashioned microphones, performed only one song, their debut English single “Nobody”, but that was enough to please the fans who picked up the fun, clap-a-long dance routine quite quickly and were up out of their seats. The song is very catchy and even after the Wonder Girls’ set was over people were humming and singing it as they waited for the next act.
After a very short intermission, the third and final act, American Idol’s 2007 winner and Grammy nominated artist Jordin Sparks. I have to be honest, I always appreciated Jordin’s vocal talent and definitely rooted for her when she was on Idol, but was never a huge fan of her music, so I didn’t really know what to expect from her live show... boy, were we surprised! Jordin sang all her hit songs, including “Tattoo” and “No Air” as well as tracks off her recently released sophomore album Battlefield, and absolutely killed it. Not only was she bubbly and engaging, but her band was also very strong and fun, particularly her keyboard player who was dressed in bright yellow pants and also served as MC for the night. The crowd really enjoyed her and everyone sang along to all her songs!
Finally the big moment came, after an approximately 20 minute intermission following Jordin’s set, the Jonas Brothers made their big entrance. They came through the stage playing their current hit “Paranoid” and the crowd went absolutely berserk! Never in my life have I heard such a noise; a mixture of squeals, shouting, whistling and “ I LOVE YOU”s. Of course, me and Kayla were a part of that as well.
The Jonas Brothers proved that they were more than just another “Disney fabrication”, they played a full, almost 2 hour set and showed off all of their musical skills in the process. Youngest brother Nick, in particular stole the show; jumping between drums, guitar, lead vocals and even at one point taking the stage alone, accompanied only by a white piano, to perform a beautiful mash up of two Jonas songs he wrote by himself “Black Keys” and “A Little Bit Longer”. He also took a moment to give a very inspiring speech about being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes four years ago and how it hadn’t slowed him down, mentioning that he recently performed with Stevie Wonder and met the president of the United States.
Another highlight of the show was when Kevin and Joe sprayed the crown with foam while Nick rocked out on the drums during their song “Live to Party”. Unfortunately, Kayla and I weren’t on the side of the stadium that got foamed, but it was hilarious seeing the reactions of the foamed fans on the giant monitors above the stage.
Since this was the last show of the tour, the Jonas crew made sure to set up a few pranks during the night, including bringing out a mini piano for eldest brother Kevin to play during “Turn Right”. Kevin was a great sport, sitting down on the stage and playing that piano the best he could. He played it really well, but it looked so hilarious, even his brothers kept glancing at him and giggling throughout the song.
As a special performance, about half way through their set, Jordin Sparks came back out and performed her current hit “Battlefield” with the boys. Nick on the drums while Kevin and Joe provided background vocals, it was a very epic an amazing performance complete with fog and marching drums.
As the end of the show drew near, Kevin, Nick and Joe took a moment to thank family and everyone who helped make the tour possible. Kevin’s thank you was the sweetest, with him thanking his parents and then saying “and also to the newest member of the Jonas family, my amazing fiancee, thank you so much, I love you Dani!”. The entire stadium erupted in “awww”s and cheers at that moment.
After almost two hours, the band closed the show with last summer’s hit “Burnin’ Up” with their famous security guard Big Rob taking the stage with them. As the song ended, their entire tour crew came on stage with them and everyone seemed so hyped and excited about the tour wrapping up and being such a success.
After that big finale, people started to make their way out of the arena, but you could still feel the buzz of excitement as young girls yapped about their favourite part of the show or how a Jonas made eye contact with them or touched their hand. Both me and Kayla were also on a Jonas high, though we had lost our voices and hearing by the end of the night.
If you ever get the chance to see the Jonas Brothers live, we highly recommend it! They put on a show that keeps you on your feet from beginning to end and know how to connect with each fan in the room.
With the North American leg of the world tour completed, the Jonas Brothers are currently busy in Toronto filming the sequel to last summer’s hit Disney Channel Original Movie Camp Rock, titled Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam, set to be released sometime next year, so stay tuned for that!