Tulsa World: Dad's Eye View: Surviving the Jonas Brothers show

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Dad's Eye View: Surviving the Jonas Brothers show

The Jonas Brothers perform in concert at the BOK Center. Monday, June 22, 2009 SHERRY BROWN/Tulsa World

By ERIC BAILEY World Sports Writer
Published: 6/23/2009 3:57 PM
Last Modified: 6/26/2009 2:59 PM

Monday night’s shared look between all of us fathers seemed to bear the same questions. What are we doing at a Jonas Brothers concert? How did we get pulled into a BOK Center filled with thousands of girls screaming at ear-piercing levels?

The answer was easy. It’s for the daughters in our lives.

My 14-year-old daughter Justine is a big Jonas Brothers fan. Her messy bedroom has neatly aligned posters of Nick, Kevin and Joe hanging on the walls.

On Monday, she went to her first concert by the JoBros (see, even dads can learn the lingo.) She loved every bit of the 90-minute show.

There was one early crisis averted. Justine’s baby sister’s original due date was June 17, just five days shy of the concert. She couldn’t be a late baby, Justine pleaded and hoped over the past few months.

The baby was born three weeks early, saving the day for big sister.

(On a side note, Justine named our third child “Amanda Joy.” I teased my family that I had to do research to make sure that wasn’t the name of a pet hamster or fish owned by the Jonas Brothers.)

Justine and her friend Ashley painted Jonas Brothers shirts on Sunday night, anticipating the big event. They studied the band’s new CD and got little sleep.

Co-workers told me at 10 a.m. that people were already showing up for the 7 p.m. show on Monday, and when we arrived about 5:30, Jonas-mania was in full force.

The girls found their seats, while I was given (gasp!) a front-row ticket to the stage. After studying the layout,

there was no way I was going to go into that mosh pit. My chances were probably better at an AC/DC show.

So I hung out near the girls while the Jonas Brothers rocked the house. I didn’t know any of the songs but the first-grade kids just a few feet away from me sang along to everything.

And I stole peeks at my daughter. She’s at the age where it can be uncool to be near dad, so I gave her some distance. Typically shy, she sang along, took pictures and her eyes never left the stage.

Her excitement on this night will never leave my memory.

In the car on the way home, two teenage concert reviewers took over the conversation.

Justine and Ashley said Kevin dancing in the rain was a big hit. The brothers shooting water though a hose at the crowd was loved by both. And could you believe that Joe took a shot at Taylor Swift during a song?

These thoughts were pondered at we circled around the BOK Center repeatedly about 45 minutes after the show on the slim shot that a Jonas Brothers sighting could be had. Affirmation for me came not only by seeing my daughter’s excitement, but at something Ashley said when we returned home.

“Your dad is so cool,” Ashley told Justine.

By ERIC BAILEY World Sports Writer

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Reader comments for this story have been moved to the most updated version of the story, now under the headline "Slide Show: Dad's-eye view: The JoBros," which was published on 6/24/2009. So far, 5 comments have been made.