For their third and final night of The Burning Up Tour All Over Again @ MSG, the Jonas Brothers, once again, expertly capture both the nostalgia of their original 2008 run and the lingering dedication of the legions of fans. They recently announced a full-scale tour extension of the MSG run, with the revisited Burning Up show hitting cities across the US between September and December.
With no opening act, but with an expected 8:00 p.m. start time, MSG was nearly filled to capacity as early as 7:25. Pre-show shenanigans ensued with video packages detailing the making of beloved tunes like “Burnin’ Up” and “Lovebug,” (any footage of moppy-haired Nick was met with piercing screams) as well as fan interviews curated by radio personality Tanya Rad. Rad, a dedicated fan of the band since their early days, plucked several groups of attendees in both the lobby and arena itself, and allowed them to dive into their fan history. Many of them had hit every tour the band has embarked on since the mid-2000’s, have developed lasting friendships with other fans from across the world, and some are now even accompanied by their children. Rad gifted two fans, set to view the show from atop the Chase Bridge, with floor seats, much to their delight.
This writer was sat next to a fan named Clarissa who has attended nearly 100 Jonas shows, has seen two of Nick’s Broadway performances, and is seeking tickets for younger brother Franklin’s show down near her current hometown in Virginia. She infectiously danced and sang along to every word of every song throughout the evening, and this was the case for many in the audience, who, even for night three, provided the energy the boys were hoping to generate with their latest nostalgia-themed marketing strategy.
Kicking off the show with the original 19-song Burnin Up Tour setlist, the band, predictably, stuck to the same order as the previous two nights. Despite joking that the show would look slightly different from a physicality perspective, it was immediately evident that the Jonas Brothers know how to cover ground on a stage and establish a temperate connection with their audience. When the fans call to them, they find their way. They are magnets.
The original show was comprised of songs from their self-titled album, released in 2007, its follow up A Little Bit Longer, out just a year later, and numbers from the newly minted Camp Rock, which premiered on Disney Channel just a month before the start of the tour. This was, at the time, appropriate, with Demi Lovato opening the show and popping out for a nightly rendition of “This Is Me” with Joe, though this was not a feasible request this time around. Instead, “Gotta Find You” and “This Is Me” were mashed together, and “Play My Music” was saved for later in the set.
Their self-titled record could be considered an indelible mainstream debut, with selections like “S.O.S,” “Hold On,” “When You Look Me In The Eyes,” and even the neglected “Just Friends” (along with “Kids Of The Future” off the Meet The Robinson soundtrack, now no longer available on the Spotify version of the album) seen as the most recognizable, but with a plethora of enduring non-singles. “Goodnight and Goodbye” and “Still In Love With You” are the debut equivalents of ALBL’s “Video Girl” and “Pushin’ Me Away,” the former of which saw Nick appear extremely astute behind the drum kit.
“That’s Just the Way We Roll,” off self-titled, is a wonderful opening tune for the occasion, and the current version seems significantly less vocally stressful for Nick as he has dropped much of his accentuated nasal tone in later years: “We are WILD, we are FREE, we are more than you think/ So CALL us freakssss/ Cause THAT’S just the way we roll.” Moving along, Joe, who has come a very, VERY long way as a vocalist, (whether or not he uses slight pitch correction, as per Twitter) possibly due to his work with famed coach Eric Vetro during his lengthy audition for the Wicked film, was dominant early with standout vocals on “Hold On” and “BB Good.” The former featured Kevin’s iconic spin at the end of the catwalk, and the latter, perhaps the most… elementary?? of the songs off debut, remains one they can heartily enjoy.
Nick would take his vocal flowers with “A Little Bit Longer,” notated as ‘shortened’ on our site, but not by much, and “Still In Love With You” played back to back. Hardcore Jonas fans may disagree, but both “A Little Bit Longer” and “When You Look Me In The Eyes,” the latter flawlessly executed with Kevin Jonas Sr. on vocals and piano here, just may be the tunes with the greatest emotional stakes of their early catalog, and certainly up until the Happiness Begins era. “Little Bird” would come later, on THE ALBUM, of course.
The final punch of OG setlist tunes amounted to “Play My Music,” “S.O.S,” and “Burnin’ Up” with Big Rob, one of the MVPs of the evening. “Burnin’ Up” itself may just be a masterstroke from this era of music, and the boys relish in it. And yes, “RED DRESS!!” steals the show.
Following a 20-minute intermission, the boys returned to the stage for a 40-minute set of post-reunion and solo songs that varied just slightly from the previous two nights. Night two saw the boys fulfill a request with a snippet of Greetings From Your Hometown song “Tantrum” and tack on HB’s “Rollercoaster” to the end of the show, and night one saw a request for HB hit “Cool” and a repeated performance of “Burnin’ Up,” this time WITH Big Rob, as he did not make it to the venue in time for the first due to weather delays.
Shockingly, the crowd embraced “Love Me To Heaven” off GFYH and their one billion plus streamed Marshmellow collab “Leave Before You Love Me” more favorably than that of “Waffle House” and “What A Man Gotta Do.” Instead, that energy was given to DNCE’s “Cake By The Ocean,” a song that the band… not just the boys, but THE BAND, fully committed to physically and musically. Perhaps it is due to Ms. JinJoo, who, along with Kevin as he geared up to play his solo song “Changing,” received a rapturous reception in this portion of the show.
New song “Listen When Sad,” out this Friday, was performed in its entirety, though it was done immediately following an electric performance of “Walls,” complete with a raised platform, mood lighting, and all. Jon Bellion brilliantly forced them into an entirely new territory (his song “DON’T SHOOT” is cut from a similar cloth), and the results, albeit strenuous for them, are wonderful to witness.
They closed with “Sucker,” bringing it back to the song that allowed them to reenter the public consciousness with a #1 hit just before COVID struck. At the time, with Nick on lead vocals and intentional stylistic and production choices by Ryan Tedder and others, the tune was not what longtime fans had come to expect, but is now critical within the Jonas Brothers’ pantheon. As the song came to a close, the boys celebrated their three sold-out nights, bringing their total to nine at the World’s Most Famous Arena. Fans needed not shed tears, as the Jonas Brothers, to a fault, are never too far away for too long.
Catch the Burning Up All Over Again Tour on the road this fall:
Fri, Sep 25 – Boston, MA – TD Garden*^
Sat, Sep 26 – Manchester, NH – SNHU Arena^
Mon, Sep 28 – Toronto, ON – RBC Amphitheatre^
Wed, Sep 30 – Washington, DC – Capital One Arena^
Thu, Oct 1 – Raleigh, NC – Lenovo Center^
Fri, Oct 2 – Philadelphia, PA – Xfinity Mobile Arena*^
Mon, Oct 5 – Miami, FL – Kaseya Center*^
Tue, Oct 6 – Orlando, FL – Kia Center*^
Thu, Oct 8 – Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena*^
Fri, Oct 9 – Birmingham, AL – Legacy Arena at the BJCC*^
Sun, Oct 11 – Tampa, FL – Benchmark International Arena*^
Tue, Oct 13 – Charlotte, NC – Spectrum Center*^
Thu, Oct 15 – Indianapolis, IN – Gainbridge Fieldhouse*^
Fri, Oct 16 – Columbus, OH – Nationwide Arena*^
Sat, Oct 17 – Lexington, KY – Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center*^
Mon, Oct 19 – Cleveland, OH – Rocket Arena*^
Tue, Oct 20 – Buffalo, NY – KeyBank Center*^
Thu, Oct 22 – Rosemont, IL – Allstate Arena*^
Sun, Oct 25 – Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena*^
Mon, Oct 26 – Pittsburgh, PA – PPG Paints Arena*^
Sun, Nov 1 – Milwaukee, WI – Fiserv Forum*^
Mon, Nov 2 – St. Paul, MN – Grand Casino Arena*^
Tue, Nov 3 – Kansas City, MO – T-Mobile Center+^
Thu, Nov 5 – Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena+^
Mon, Nov 9 – Oklahoma, OK – Paycom Center+^
Tue, Nov 10 – Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center+^
Fri, Nov 13 – Austin, TX – Moody Center+^
Sat, Nov 14 – San Antonio, TX – Frost Bank Center+^
Tue, Nov 17 – Palm Desert, CA – Acrisure Arena*^
Wed, Nov 18 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl#*^
Sat, Nov 21 – San Francisco, CA – Chase Center*^
Sun, Nov 22 – Sacramento, CA – Golden 1 Center*^
Fri, Nov 27 – Glendale, AZ – Desert Diamond Arena*^
Sat, Nov 28 – Las Vegas, NV – MGM Grand Garden Arena*^
Mon, Nov 30 – San Diego, CA – Viejas Arena*^
Wed, Dec 2 – Anaheim, CA – Honda Center*^
Sat, Dec 5 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena*^
Mon, Dec 7 – Salt Lake City, UT – Delta Center*^
Wed, Dec 9 – Denver, CO – Ball Arena*^
Thu, Dec 10 – Lincoln, NE – Pinnacle Bank Arena*^
Sat, Dec 12 – Sioux Falls, SD – Denny Sanford PREMIER Center*^
Tue, Dec 15 – Grand Rapids, MI – Van Andel Arena*^
Sat, Dec 19 – Belmont Park, NY – UBS Arena*^
Mon, Dec 21 – Newark, NJ – Prudential Center*^
#All Time Low
*Magnus Ferrell
+Franklin Jonas
^Deleasa
