Summer Concerts 2025

Working in Guest Services at a theme park, Summer is usually my busy season when I’m working consistently and making decent money. This summer, however, I took some time off to actually have some fun.

My cousins and I went to two concerts at Veteran’s United Home Loans Amphitheater in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The first one was Big Time Rush on July 19. Growing up, I was aware of Big Time Rush, but I never really followed them.

Carlos Peña seemed to be the most personable of the band members; when the band invited audience members on stage to perform one of their songs, he shared a fun fact about the girl he picked. Maybe I’m also sightly biased towards him because one of his outfits was a basketball jersey that said “Ketchikan” on it. Is that where I think it is? I definitely enjoyed the show, but by the end of the night, I was more than ready to go home.

Thankfully, I didn’t have the “Am I too old for this?” problem when my cousin and I saw The Jonas Brothers on August 15.

Franklin Jonas, the youngest brother who’s affectionately known among fans as the “Bonus Jonas”, was the first opening act. He performed songs from his new project Franklin Jonas and the Byzantines. It was both folksy and emotional; he’s an artist in his own right. Of course, it probably helps that his brothers are ridiculously famous, but he’s not just riding their coattails.

Next up was the All American Rejects. A little crude, perhaps — I swear I saw one of the band members take a sip of beer before getting on the keyboard — but I really can’t complain because they played all my favorite songs. And when they played the opening notes to “Move Along,” everyone went wild. But they were teasing us at first. They played the opening drum beat, stopped, listened to the audience scream their heads off for it, and then did a thumbs-up meter type thing like “Should we play the song?” Repeat a few times. Really? Just play it already dudes! You know we love it.

Last but most certainly not least, the Jonas Brothers graced fans with their presence. The atmosphere was buzzing with excitement and … is familiarity the right word? As they walked out, Nick and Kevin talked about their hometowns because their latest album is titled Greetings From Your Hometown. Nick described growing up in Wyckoff, New Jersey, while Kevin got straight to the point, saying something to the effect of “My home is New Jersey, but tonight, for one night only, Virginia Beach is my hometown.” Joe’s outfit said everything for him: he walked out in a jean jacket bedazzled with the words “Mom’s favorite”.

They played through their discography in no particular order, including but not limited to “Vacation Eyes”, Love Bug,” and “What A Man Gotta Do.” Joe performed some of his own music wearing sunglasses that said “BDAY” on one lens and “BOY” on the other. He’s allowed to be extra on his birthday. At one point they bought out a cake for him and we all sang happy birthday. Toward what felt like the end, they even brought out Big Rob for “Burnin’ Up”. That was all fun, but that wasn’t the best part. Not by a long shot.

Nick told a story about being in the car with their dad, listening to Hanson’s latest album at the time. They looked up to Hanson, wanted to do what they did. You know how the saying goes “Never meet your heroes?” Well, the Jonas Brothers got lucky. They’d had multiple opportunities to meet Hanson over the years, but the two bands made up of brothers had never before shared the stage.

They finally changed that. First, they sang “MmmBop”, which I didn’t know would sound familiar. And then … they rocked my world for a whole lot longer than two seconds.

They all started singing “That’s Just the Way We Roll” and it took me all the way back. Back to when I saw the Jonas Brothers for the first time.

Yes, my first ever concert was Hannah Montana. The tickets were a Christmas gift from my grandparents. I called up my friend Anika and asked her if she wanted to go because “No offense, but you’re the only [other] Hannah Montana freak I know.”

She said yes. So my mother had to buy her own ticket off of eBay (if memory serves) as Anika and I were too young to be left to our own devices. I just remember belting out “That’s Just the Way We Roll” at the top of my lungs; it was my favorite song. It still is one of my favorites, though I can’t say I remembered all the words so many years later. Seeing the Jonas Brothers sing it again with Hanson – who I now had context for, it felt like my life had come full circle. I could’ve died and … well, I don’t know what the afterlife looks like anymore, but I would’ve been okay.

As if I wasn’t feeling enough emotions already that night, another memory surfaced. A year later, we were about to go to high school. One of our projects in computer class, something to go with the yearbook I think, was writing memories of our classmates. I wrote things about a few people, but for most of them, my memory drew a huge blank. When Mr. Mills, our computer teacher, said I didn’t need to write something for everyone, I took that as my out to call the assignment done. When I opened up my yearbook, however, Anika remembered. She wrote about the concert, as well as some other things that we had shared over the years.

How did she remember things that I didn’t? It’s not fair. But what I realized that night in Virginia Beach, is that though I may have felt isolated and that’s probably why my memory was drawing blanks, Anika and I never stopped being friends. And so for the next few days after the concert (I took a long weekend because I knew I wasn’t going to want to go back to work the day after), I cried. It seemed spontaneous, but is it really spontaneous if I was feeling all my feels? Even typing this now, I’m tearing up a bit. Stupid Jonas Brothers. I know it’s not their fault and I can’t be mad at them, I just wasn’t prepared for the trip down memory lane. But it was exactly what I needed.