Luxe Life Blog
OMG! It’s Joe and Kevin and Nick! It’s the Jonas Brothers at MGM!
Jonas Brothers fans traveled from as far away as Florida and Texas to spend the Thanksgiving holiday weekend with their teen idols at the two back-to-back concerts in MGM’s Grand Garden Arena last night. Tickets for the original 8 p.m. show sold out in 10 minutes, so a 3 p.m. afternoon matinee was added.
The noise and screaming from the nearly 30,000 fans at both shows was off the audiometers. To say it was deafening in the high-shrill, top-pitch level would still be an understatement. One security guard told me: “This was even noisier than any other boyband -- ’N Sync and Backstreet Boys. This may have been more than the height of Elvis Presley frenzy.”
The Jonas Brothers.
One family of five seated in front of me had shelled out close to $1,000 for two sets of tickets for both shows -- viewed from different seating sections. I met one father and daughter who had flown in from Miami so she could watch her seventh Jonas Brothers show on this current tour! Another tweenager had seen them just the night before in Dallas and planned to go on to Los Angeles for their show there tonight -- to score three in a row!
Our contributing celebrity photographer Erik Kabik, who shot this extraordinary Jonas Brothers souvenir photo file from just below the stage, told me: “This was a real experience. I have shot hundreds, maybe thousands, of concerts over the years, and this was the most memorable one! If I could comment on the music, I would, but between shooting and the high-pitch screams of thousands of young girls ... I just couldn't hear it. I can only relate the experience to my father’s stories of seeing the Beatles and how the screams were as loud as the music.
Nick Jonas of The Jonas Brothers.
“I met fan after fan who expressed their undying loyalty to these boys and had many offers to assist me in the show with my photo duties. I always have to explain to concert fans that ‘I just work here and, sorry, but I can’t bring people in.’ … But I had more of those requests for the Jonas Brothers than ever before. There was so much fever in the air for these boys. Being the only photographer at the late show, I had some space to move around the concert pit, but I do wish I could have moved out into the crowd to shoot the fans, too.”
I chatted backstage with Kevin Jonas, their father who told me that all the boys love performing for Las Vegas audiences -- and this one was particularly enthusiastic.
“They’re working hard, but they’re really enjoying it,” he said. “This is the first visit to Vegas we’ve made now that the oldest, Kevin, has turned 21. I won’t have to worry about putting a chain on him to keep him away from any temptations because he’s a good boy and very well-grounded.
“After the Sunday show home in L.A., we stay put there for a while. They will be filming their TV show starting Monday, and we’ll get a chance to finish all the unpacking in the new house there.”
Kevin Jonas of The Jonas Brothers.
I took my two 12-year-old grandchildren, Jack and Meg, backstage for the “meet and greet” with the three talented singers-songwriters-musicians. It’s their squeaky-clean lyrics and inspirational messages that let parents give in to their hormone-raging teenagers.
Credit, though, where credit is due. After dinner between their two shows, the three smiling boys -- Joe, Nick and Kevin -- dutifully met with some 200 members of their “honor society” and Team Jonas fans, plus kids of MGM high-rollers and executives.
“They are an incredible draw,” one high-ranking MGM executive told me. “It is extraordinary. The phone has rung off the hook nonstop with everybody using up every favor imaginable just to see or meet them. This was even bigger than Hannah Montana fever, and until then I’d never seen anything like that.”
Who better than a 12-year-old girl to sum up the experience? “They were awesome,” Meg said. “I tried to be calm on the outside when I met them, but I was screaming inside. Joe even put his hand on my shoulder for the photograph. I still can’t believe that!
“I know the words to every one of their songs and was able to sing along with them. That was the best show I’ve ever seen. It doesn’t get any better than that, and all my friends will be so jealous that I actually got to meet them, also.”
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