We got to see the Jonas Brothers in concert recently, and it was an absolutely thrilling experience for me. I’ve not been to many concerts, so the energy cascading through the room lit me up and I found myself screaming along – despite not thinking I was that big of a fan. Somehow, as the people (women, mostly) around me stood up and began to scream and sing along, I found myself captured by the excitement. I screamed, I danced, I yelled the lyrics. There were songs I didn’t know, but plenty I did.

It was a short performance at about 90 minutes long (they went on stage just after 8:00p and we left the theatre around 9:40p), but there weren’t any songs that I walked away disappointed that they didn’t play. My favorite aspect of the live performance though was Joe Jonas’ fan interactions throughout the setlist. One fan held up a sign that his girlfriend missed the concert, so the fan was hoping they would say hi – Joe Jonas had the fan facetime his girlfriend so they could wish her well from the stage. A young girl and her mom were hold up a sign that it was the girl’s first concert, so he talked with them and asked what their favorite song was. When that song, Waffle House, was played, they dedicated it to the girl and her mom. Another fan had a glittery cowboy hat, and Joe Jonas took it and wore it on the stage for a song before giving it back.

The energy of the experience of the live performance with so many fan who were so excited was electrifying. I was swept away by it all. It was so freeing to let loose, scream the lyrics, and dance to the songs. It’s been years since I’ve been to a concert – I don’t think of myself as very emotionally invested in music. Despite that, I found myself tearing up during one of the songs because of how overwhelmingly happy I felt. After letting myself just embroiled in adulthood stress, it was amazing to embrace this boy band group that brings me back to middle school but also has plenty of newer hits that I enjoy.

I think there’s a reason so many artists are touring right now, and that’s because we’ve realized just how much we’ve missed being able to share those experiences with other fans. The thrill of live music isn’t always in the performance. The Jonas Brothers weren’t that performative, and I’d be willing to argue in my very ill-informed musical opinion that their music is better recorded than performed live. But you know what? The experience of listening to Waffle House or Year 3000 was so much better surrounded by fans who would hear the first notes and scream as we all prepared to shout over the Jonas Brothers’ singing. The most amazing performance on the stage wasn’t of one of the brothers, but the guitarist JinJoo Lee in her solos. However, the collective experience of loving something with a large group of people and celebrating that love together? That would be priceless, if the venues didn’t happen to be putting a price on it with ticket sales. I knew the Jonas Brothers in their first wave of popularity through Disney Channel, and I found them again as an adult when they came back together. They’ve become a touchstone for two very different seasons of my life, and I was glad to get to celebrate that with so many very excited fans recently.

I’ll give a Jonas Brother concert, with a room full of highly invested fans, 4.5/5 stars.