Review: Fans in Charlotte enjoy six Jonases for the price of three at arena show
At Spectrum Center in Charlotte on Wednesday, it seemed like there were Jonases everywhere. Or, when none with that last name, at the very least a Jonas-in-law.
If there was an outlier, it was primary support act The All-American Rejects — no relation by blood or by marriage, nor by sense of decorum. “Have your mother cover your ears for a little bit, all right?,” frontman Tyson Ritter quipped, having already dropped an f-bomb in the middle of these otherwise-predominantly-Disney-friendly proceedings.
Save for the Rejects, however, the Charlotte stop on the Jonas Brothers’ “JONAS20: Greetings From Your Hometown” tour was a three-plus-hour celebration of the pop-rock band’s oeuvre but even more so of their sizable family.
Oh, and Kevin, the oldest, was celebrating a birthday.
The night got its start with Franklin Jonas, the baby sibling who can sometimes be easy to forget; he and his band The Byzantines played a brief but enthusiastic set that will be best remembered for a yearning cover of Coldplay’s “Yellow” and a bizarre cover of Petey Pablo’s “Raise Up” (or perhaps for him tossing out the line, “I’m a lot of y’all’s little brother!”)
Then — after the Rejects blitzed through hits like “Move Along” and “Swing, Swing” and the famously barefoot Ritter good-naturedly mocked a couple decked out in matching foot costumes — came a short DJ set by an in-law.
That’d be Deleasa (as he’s known by his stage name), a bit of a less-obvious extended-family member, née Mike Deleasa, younger brother of Danielle Deleasa ... who is married to Kevin Jonas.
But the appetizers were never going to have anything on the main course.
As soon as Kevin, Joe and Nick emerged through a cloud of smoke to the opening strains of new-for-2025 song “Love Me to Heaven,” the 13,000 or so fans crammed into the arena melted into a collective scream that would return to punish eardrums dozens of times over the next 110 minutes.
And despite showcasing several songs from the new studio album they released in August, the night largely belonged to older favorites. To sentimentality.
“Tonight,” 33-year-old Nick announced, before they were even done with “Love Me to Heaven,” “we are celebrating 20 years together. And not just the three of us on this stage, but each and every one of you are a part of this story going all the way back to 2005.”
Joe — who, while no Tyson Ritter, does display flashes of G-rated irreverence — chimed in during the same early break next, to call Franklin “one of my favorite brothers” before adding, “Now, I came to have a good time. Please don’t disappoint me, because it’s this guy’s birthday.”
Kevin took it from there. “My hometown is still New Jersey,” said the elder statesman of the reared-in-Wyckoff, N.J. trio (and indeed a birthday boy, with Wednesday night’s concert falling on No. 38). “But for a time we did live here in North Carolina, and tonight, I really want to make it my hometown again.”
(Of course, they don’t have as strong a connection to the area as their parents do. Bros. dad Kevin Sr. is famously a native of Belmont, and he and Bros. mom Denise relocated almost 10 years ago now to that Charlotte suburb, where they famously opened the restaurant Nellie’s Southern Kitchen — named for Kevin Sr.’s grandmother.)
From there, fans might have a hard time picking a favorite moment.
It might have been the one Joe calls “one of my favorite parts of the show: this is where I read signs,” which saw him start by pointing out a woman’s that proclaimed “My husband thinks I’m on a work trip” before finding his way to three in a row that led to fan requests. “First Time,” “Just Friends” and “Games” arose out of that, with the fan who asked for the latter also requesting Joe wear a wacky pair of bedazzled glasses she’d brought (and later in the night, he did).
It might have been during an abbreviated version of “No Time to Talk,” when Joe served as “dance-cam” operator so unintentionally unskillfully that, to me at least, it was hilarious.
Or it might have been Joe’s lively cover of his old band DNCE’s hit “Cake By the Ocean,” which was practically a duet with his proudly South Korean and captivatingly animated guitarist JinJoo Lee; or Nick hitting the high notes while solo-ing on “Jealous”; or Kevin getting a rare chance to shine with a sneak peek at “Changing,” off a solo album he’s due to release two weeks from now.
There was promotion of other upcoming projects, too, including their forthcoming Christmas movie for Disney+ and their just-wrapped third “Camp Rock” movie, also for Disney+. There was more promotion of Kevin’s birthday, including not a shot of alcohol but a cake with candles (them being tied to Disney and all). There was promotion of Joe’s muscles via a mid-show change into a muscle tee.
And there was promotion of an 11-piece band that after Lee most notably included two saxophonists, a trombonist and a trumpet player.
But in the end — in the literal end — the main thing they were promoting was family.
As they did at their concert in Raleigh on Oct. 29, the Jonas Brothers closed things out by bringing out their parents and their youngest brother, in one fell swoop doubling the number of Jonases on stage.
“We got our musical education in our Jonas family living room in Wyckoff, New Jersey,” Nick said while getting ready to introduce everyone. “On any given night, you’d probably find the three of us (sitting by) the piano with our father, Kevin Jonas Sr., giving us our musical education, talking to us about life. Our little brother, Franklin Jonas would be there. Our mom, Denise.
“And we thought, how special would it be to recreate that Jonas family living room for you here tonight? Or at least a version of it.”
Then, with Kevin Sr. on the upright piano, Denise serving as an emotive ASL interpreter (the couple used to travel in a sign-language ministry group, Nick explained), and both Kevin Sr. and Franklin on backing vocals, the six teamed for a sweetly saccharine rendition of 2007’s “When You Look Me in the Eyes.”
They even teed up a brief singing solo for Dad, near the song’s climax, that gave clear hints as to where the boys all got their voices.
When the final number was finished, the three eldest boys came to the fore on the catwalk mini stage underneath a shower of confetti and took a bow, with Mom and Dad now in the background, applauding politely but proudly.
Then the boys rejoined the bonus Jonases, and the family of six made their exit to the rear of the stage, walking as one, arm in arm — in arm, in arm, in arm, in arm.
Jonas Brothers’ setlist
1. “Love Me to Heaven”
2. “Only Human”
3. “Mirror to the Sky”
4. “S.O.S.”
5. “Sucker”
6. “Little Bird”
7. “First Time”
8. “Just Friends”
9. “Games”
10. “Waffle House”
11. “Vacation Eyes”
12. “Celebrate!”
13. “No Time to Talk”
14. “Cake by the Ocean”
15. “Jealous”
16. “What a Man Gotta Do”
17. “Coming Home This Christmas”
18. “Backwards”
19. “That’s Just the Way We Roll”
20. “Changing”
21. “Happy Birthday to You”
22. “Lovebug”
23. “Leave Before You Love Me”
24. “Year 3000”
25. “Burnin’ Up”
Encore:
24. “Please Be Mine”
25. “When You Look Me in the Eyes”
This story was originally published November 6, 2025 at 10:43 AM.
