Joe, Nick and Kevin Jonas pose with personalized Philadelphia 76ers jerseys at the Wachovia Center Saturday. The Jonas Brothers were in town to perform two gigs at the Wachovia Center last week. Jordin Sparks opened for the trio and got good reviews. But the Philadelphia Inquirer wasn't impressed with the show, accusing Nick Jonas of being grumpy and grunting his songs, and saying that the trio sounded strained.
The Jonas Brothers' music may go down easy, but they sure try to make it look hard, straining each syllable as if they're simultaneously singing and lifting weights. Their cover of Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" placed them in a long line of gratuitous oversingers.
Sixteen-year-old Nick was the worst offender, both in terms of his vocals and his sullen moue. Even the spoken interlude in "A Little Bit Longer" was delivered as a guttural grunt. No doubt a few hearts broke as Nick described the diabetes diagnosis that inspired the song, but his monologue might have been more moving had it not been nearly word-for-word the same as the one he delivered at the Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden last August.
We're sure the fans in the audience completely disagreed.
