The Jonas Brothers Channel Bruce Springsteen, Pay Tribute To New Jersey With Asbury Park Performance At VMAs
The Jonas Brothers had a crossover with The Boss. The Jersey boys—aka musical brothers Kevin, Nick, and Joe Jonas— took over Asbury Park’s legendary Stone Pony to perform a segment for MTV’s 2019 Video Music Awards, and they seemingly paid tribute to a New Jersey music legend in the process.
While performing two of their hit songs, “Sucker” and “Only Human,” the trio channeled the area’s most famous native, Bruce Springsteen. The pre-taped performance took place one day before MTV’s live awards show, Page Six reports, and it marked the Jonas’ first VMAs performance since 2008 when they performed their teen hit “Lovebug.”
For the performance, Joe Jonas wore a Springsteen-style denim vest and ripped jeans and sneakers, which mimicked the “Born to Run” singer’s signature look from his “Born in the USA” tour with the E Street Band back in the mid-1980s.
The Jonas Brothers sang their way from the Stone Pony stage to an outdoor set-up on the Asbury Park boardwalk, complete with fireworks and a crowd of screaming fans as they gave a shout-out to Jersey.
Ahead of the performance that featured him wearing a Springsteen-style ensemble, Joe Jonas told MTV he and his brothers we’re going back to their roots ” in a different way” 10 years after first hitting the VMAs stage.
“We’re playing The Stone Pony here in New Jersey. We just waited for the right VMA to show up again. It’s a special venue, and so many iconic artists have started their careers here.”
Indeed, the setting was also a perfect nod to Springsteen, as the Stone Pony has long been a pop-up venue for the rock legend who grew up in the Asbury Park area. Springsteen’s debut album, Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ, was released in 1973 and featured the singles “Spirit in the Night” and “Blinded by the Light.”
It’s no surprise that the Jonas Brothers paid a bit of an homage to Bruce Springsteen. The brothers are were raised in Wyckoff and Little Falls, New Jersey, before hitting it big on the Disney Channel. In a 2009 interview on Radio Disney, a then teen Nick Jonas revealed that Springsteen was the inspiration for his solo side project, Nick Jonas & The Administration, according to Hollywood Life.
On his spinoff group’s style, the littlest Jonas brother said, ” I’m kind of modeling it after Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band.”
“It’s kind of the look we were going for stylistically on the album cover and just the project in general,” Jonas continued. “He [Springsteen] pours so much passion and emotion into all of his songs every night, and I hope I can capture that too.”
You can see the Jonas Brothers’ Springsteen-inspired performance at the MTV Video Music Awards below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjMQC_bnaNE
