Al Powers for Dolby Live at Park MGM
The Jonas Brothers, from left, Nick, Joe and Kevin, perform Friday, June 3, 2022, during the first night of their limited-engagement residency at Park MGM’s Dolby Live Theater.
Wednesday, June 8, 2022 | 2 a.m.
In early 2020, about a year after their reunion and shortly after their release of “What a Man Gotta Do,” the Jonas Brothers and Park MGM announced a nine-show residency for the group to begin in April of that year.
Jonas Brothers setlist
• “Sucker”
• “Strangers”
• “Lonely” (Diplo and Jonas Brotherscover)
• “Much Better”
• “What a Man Gotta Do”
• “That’s Just the Way We Roll”
• “Happy When I’m Sad”
• “Cool”
• “Dancing Feet” / “Delicious” / “Body Moves” / “Levels” / “Toothbrush”
• “Jealous” (Nick Jonas cover)
• “Cake by the Ocean” (DNCE cover)
• “Lovebug”
• “Paranoid”
• “S.O.S.”
• “Take a Breath”
• “Hesitate”
• “Only Human”
• “Goodnight and Goodbye”
• “Fly With Me”
• “Remember This”
• “When You Look Me in the Eyes”
• “Year 3000” (Busted cover)
• “Leave Before You Love Me”
• “Burnin’ Up”
What no one knew at the time was that COVID-19 would cause the shutdown of most businesses that spring. The resorts along the world famous Las Vegas Strip, including Park MGM, were among the closures.
The Jonas Brothers residency was a no-go.
Fast forward to 2022, and the Jonas Brothers and Park MGM announced a new limited-engagement for the band with five dates in June at the resort.
If the audience’s reaction on opening night of “Jonas Brothers: Live in Las Vegas” Friday at Dolby Live at Park MGM was any indication, the wait was worth it.
From the opening chords of their 2019 hit “Sucker,” the JoBros’ first single to reach No. 1 on Billboard’s Top 100, to the concert’s close nearly 90 minutes later, Nick, Joe and Kevin Jonas, along with their band, kept the crowd in the 5,200-seat theater singing, dancing and reminiscing.
The brothers, who first gained notoriety in the late aughts on the Disney films “Camp Rock” and “Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam,” and later on the sitcom “Jonas,” performed songs from the entirety of their catalog.
“This is night one of five, so we thought we should probably do some stuff we haven’t played for years,” Nick Jonas told the crowd.
That meant going all the way back to their 2008 album to perform “Lovebug,” and “Burnin’ Up,” their first single to reach into the Top 5 of the charts.
“Some of these songs I wrote when I was 13, 14 years old, they seem to move so fast now,” said Nick, who at 29 is the youngest of the brothers. Brother Kevin, at 34, the elder of the group, deadpanned in reply, “It means we’re getting old.” (Joe, for the record, is 32).
Among a night of highlights, several pieces stood out:
• “Hesitate,” which Joe Jonas dedicated to his wife, the actress Sophie Turner. Her parents were in the audience, Joe Jonas reported, but Turner, who is rumored to be pregnant with the couple’s second child, was not among the opening-night attendees.
• “Cake by the Ocean,” the2015 hit by dance-rock band DNCE, which Joe Jonas fronted.Guitarist JinJoo Lee, a staple of DNCE, grabbed a part of the center stage spotlight with her musicianshipand acrobatic gyrations during the hit, earning a well-deserved ovation from the audience.
• “What a Man Gotta Do,” where all three of the brothers danced around the entire stage, energizing the already frenzied crowd.
• “Leave Before You Love Me,” a Top-10 single they released with Marshmello in 2021.
The night even brought a lyric change in a song, which, according to People magazine, was a nod from Joe to Taylor Swift, a long-ago flame. In “Much Better,” the third song of the night, a grinning Joe sang:
I’ve got a rep with breaking hearts.
Now I’m cool with superstars.
And all the tears on her guitar
I’m not bitter.
The “cool with superstars” line was subbed for the original “Now I’m done with superstars.”
With more than 17 million records sold before their 2013 split, several years of success going out on their own, a series of hits since their 2019 reunion and a 2019 tour that sold more than 1.2 million tickets, the Jonas Brothers should be “cool with superstars.” It would seem that’s what they are.
“Jonas Brothers: Live in Las Vegas” continues at 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Dolby Live at Park MGM. For ticket information, visit ticketmaster.com/JonasVegas.
