Who expected the Jonas Brothers to be part of the Final Four festivities? Who even knew the Jo Bros were back together?
Clearly, the 8,000 screaming, bouncing, boy-band fans who packed the Armory in Minneapolis on Saturday night for the Jonas Brothers' first big show since, like, 2013.
If you're not a young women between, say, 17 and 27, you probably don't know that not only are the Jo Bros back together but just last month they scored their first No. 1 song ever, "Sucker." They've released another new tune, with a documentary film on the way and a full-blown arena tour expected. The trio played three recent abbreviated club shows before Saturday's high-profile comeback.
"How many of you came to our shows back in the day?" Joe Jonas asked, and about one-third of the crowd responded. The focus group continued giving the first-timers a chance to be recognized. And then Nick Jonas asked, "How many of you are seeing us for the first time having adult beverages? Cheers! Drink responsibly." And then he sipped from his red Solo cup.
Yes, the Jonas Brothers are now adults: Nick, 26, just got married to a former Miss World-turned-actress; Joe, 29, is engaged to a "Game of Thrones" star, and Kevin, 31, is long married with two children.
The fact that the Jonases have matured into adulthood seemed to be part of the problem with Saturday's 75-minute crowd-pleasing, no-encore show. The music was mostly exuberant teen pop-rock, which was just fine when the three brothers were Disney Channel darlings. Not sure if their fans were missing the Jo Bros just yet, especially since Nick has had an encouraging solo career and Joe hit the Top 10 with his group DNCE.
In fact, DNCE's dance-pop "Cake by the Ocean" made a big splash on Saturday, with the crowd singing and dancing along as Joe strutted down the Armory runway. And Nick's solo smash, "Jealous," was a big winner, too, a slice of Princely falsetto soul, that was more mature — and sexier — than any of the trio's bubblegum hits. And, in a show of brotherly love, Joe and Nick each got to sing a verse on the other's hit.
Even though the crowd joyously sang along to everyone of the oldies, the Jonases need to move on for their own sanity. Sure, they seemed glad to be back. Heck, Kevin even went bouncing and spinning down the runway, and Joe pogoed and carried on like the rock star he always threatened to be in the Jo Bros heyday. Nick, per usual, just played his guitar and sang, seemingly concentrating more on music than performance.