Updated September 11, 2026 — 2:38pm,first published 11:44am
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It’s fair to say the Jonas Brothers offered a little something for everyone with their half-time show at the MCG on Friday. For fans, it was a medley of the faves; for the non-fans, it was over so quickly that you barely had time to register your objection to the infuriating perkiness of their pop.
The trio – can we agree to just call them Jo-Bro? – played five songs, medley style, dressed in identical letter jackets, the two-tone sports attire favoured by college jocks in the US, flanked by drums, bass, guitar and against a wall of dancing cheerleaders and “fans”.
The Jonas Brothers perform at the MCG.Luke Hemer
By my reckoning, the set began at 12.01pm and was done by 12.08pm. What a contrast to the game itself, in which a half of football that ostensibly runs 30 minutes actually plays out, with stoppages, to 90. Seriously, American football is a series of ads interrupted by brief outbreaks of sport.
It’s a long way to come for such a short set, but with a likely audience in the US of more than 20 million viewers, this micro-show was a great platform for spruiking their current Burnin’ Up tour, with tickets to be sold for a run of shows starting in Boston in a couple of weeks and going all the way to December 21, when they play their home state of New Jersey.
The NFL reportedly does not pay performers for the half-time show – not even for the massive Super Bowl spectaculars – maintaining that the artists gain plenty from the exposure (it does, however, cover staging expenses). That presumably applied here, too, though the details of the deal that brought American football’s season-opener to Melbourne have not been made public.
Nick shreds while the cheerleaders cheerlead.AP
Reports suggest the deal – for a minimum of two and likely three games over three years – cost the state as much as $45 million. Given the perfect day Melbourne turned on, and the glorious images of the city and beyond (hello, Puffing Billy, hey there Great Ocean Road), it will be astonishing if the return on investment from American visitors isn’t far beyond that.
But back to the show. Oldest brother Kevin, 38, said on Thursday that choosing which songs to perform in just “five, six, seven minutes” was tough.
“You really want to make an impact,” he said. “We worked really hard together, just trying to figure that out.”
“We’ve got something really special prepared,” added Nick, 33, the youngest Jo-Bro. “We’re including a moment where we’re going to do a cover of one of our favourite songs by an Australian artist. I don’t want to give it away, but we couldn’t come to this great country and not spotlight another incredible musician.”
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Given Nick’s teenage romance with Delta Goodrem – he was just 18, she 27, when the pair had a near year-long fling that she later characterised as being based on “genuine love” – it might have been Born To Try (it might have needed to be tweaked to Born To Touchdown, though, to make it fully code aligned).
But no, it was John Farnham’s You’re the Voice, a choice that was both safe and warmly embraced by the stadium crowd, who sang along at full volume.
The other point of intrigue before the set was around exactly which of the Jo-Bros would be on stage.
They’re a trio, right? But for a while there it looked like they might have to perform as a duo, as 37-year-old Joe – displaying admirable middle-child energy – had missed his connecting flight and was stuck in Dubai.
“I’m gonna miss you guys,” he said via video to a fan event on Thursday as his brothers sat on stage. “So good luck today.”
(Spare a thought, here, for the fourth brother, 25-year-old Frankie, who is also a musician but not part of the band. In fact, the other three used to refer to him as the “bonus Jonas”, but promised to stop after he publicly stated he found that “especially hurtful”.)
The siblings performed John Farnham’s You’re the Voice as the MCG crowd sang along.Luke Hemer
In the end, Joe did make it. He even traded lead vocals with Nick, and seemed to handle his jet lag a little better than the Rams did in the game.
The trio raced through their five-song Disney-pop set – Burnin’ Up, Sucker, Listen When Sad, You’re the Voice and Year 3000 – without any hint that Joe might need a quick lie-down to gather his strength.
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Speaking after the match, Joe revealed that they’d warmed up before the show by listening to The Temper Trap and The Veronicas, as well as AC/DC’s Thunderstruck. “We had to keep the Aussie energy going, so today it was all Australian artists.” And then, with a look of sheer exhaustion, he pleaded, “can we go home now?”
Well, yes, actually. Your work here is done. You always have to wonder how much audio-bolstering is happening in a stadium show like this, but Jo-Bro appeared to have performed genuinely live, and sounded pretty good, all things considered.
In terms of spectacle, it was a little meh. In terms of performance, it was all anyone could have asked for.
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