The End of the New Beginning
Z100 Jingle Ball, Madison Square Garden, NYC, December 13th, 2019. We started this year of Jonas together and we ended it together, both thanks to Z100! My J sister Alyssa and I met because of the Jonas Brothers at a Nick Jonas meet & greet on the Future Now tour back in 2016 when we were both campaigning to be a Nick Jonas ambassador (sadly, neither of us were chosen though the boys know who their real biggest fans are). Alyssa won for us to get into their first come back show in March hosted by Z100, so it only felt right to return the favor and send this first year back of Jonas out with a bang when I won Jingle Ball tickets from Z100.
On top of being the last and final Jonas Brothers show on the East Coast for 2019, it was also Taylor Swift’s 30th birthday. Z100 celebrated her in true “Style” (ha!) with a gigantic cake on stage and got the whole crowd to sing “Happy Birthday” to her. I’ve had a lot of experiences where I’ve felt truly immersed by the crowd, but this was a whole new level. It’s always impressive when you can hear everyone singing so loudly and clearly that it could shake the stadium to the ground (I’ve literally felt the floor move!), but the birthday song is not one I ever thought I would hear like this. How special that must’ve felt for her, I could really only imagine it has to be the ultimate feeling. I can totally understand why she chose to celebrate her 30th birthday this way, and wow, what a way to open the show!
Following up the biggest act in music the only way you possibly could, our boys were up next. Christmas songs always feel more special at Jingle Ball being a family holiday event, and especially because Z100 is a hometown station for the Jonas Brothers it just felt that much more homey. Christmas songs are so classic that it’s really hard to break the market in terms of making a hit that’ll last through the ages, but I really think they did it this time with “Like It’s Christmas”. The beat is so contagious I’m still singing it in April! It’s just so happy. Pure Christmas. I said my real goodbye to the Happiness Begins era at my last night on tour, but this final night cap was the cherry on top.
A stellar lineup continued to include Fletcher, Lewis Capaldi, Lizzo, Dan + Shay, 5 Seconds of Summer, Niall Horan, Camila Cabello and poor Halsey who’s set got cut short and she was so sad about it! Jingle Ball is always a night to remember, and I’m grateful to have gone to so many, especially when it’s on them. It’s been so many years since the Jonas Brothers performed at Jingle Ball as a trio, and it was so good to have them all back. It was fun to have them individually, but there will never be anything like the power of the three of them together. They’re a force to be reckoned with, and it feels so good again to be able to say they just keep getting bigger.
