Two decades ago, they were Jordan, Jonathan, Joey, Donnie and Danny, a.k.a.
New Kids on the Block. But today's 12-year-old girls know them as Kevin, Joe and Nick. The latest boy-band sensation the Jonas Brothers brought the tweens and teens out in droves to the State Fair of Texas on Monday, swelling the fair's usually busy Columbus Day attendance to blockbuster numbers despite the day's sweltering heat.
JIM MAHONEY / DMN Fans waited near the stage more than two hours before the show began. State Fair officials estimated 20,000 fans attended the free concert with some arriving as early as 2 a.m.
for the 3 p.m. start to get front-row positions.
But with a high of 94 Monday afternoon, the heat took a heavy toll on some of the early arrivers. About 200 of them were treated for heat exhaustion on the fairgrounds, though they were each cared for and released at the fair, officials said. This is one of the largest crowds I have seen in the history of the State Fair of Texas, said Steve Ledbetter, manager of the fair's gates department.
They were just so compact in there, like sardines in a can. Also Online Video: Jonas Brothers fans talk style, music Photos: Jonas Brothers play State Fair Larger concert crowds were drawn only by Garth Brooks, who attracted 30,000 fans in 1990, and Selena in 1994, who drew close to that number. Fair officials said they knew the Jonas Brothers concert was going to be big as soon as they signed the band three teenage brothers from New Jersey back in May.
That's when they started fielding calls from teenagers and parents across the nation. We were hearing from people who wanted to book air flights, fair spokeswoman Sue Gooding said. This has reached farther out than our regular fair audience.
Linda Pate lives outside Tulsa, Okla., and had never been to the fair, but she drove her daughter and four of her friends to the concert anyway. They reached the fairgrounds at 8 a.
m. Monday and planned to leave the minute the concert was through. No stops for corny dogs, butter sculptures or the human cannonball.
I'm tired, Ms. Pate said, sitting underneath a giant umbrella as her daughter and her friends crowded around the stage. We have very specific goals.
Karen Hillebrand of Arlington and her daughters arrived at the fair at 6:30 a.m. and were drenched in sweat and water after the concert came to a close about 4 p.
m. Water hoses were used before the concert to keep the young mob cool. It could have been hotter, said the red-faced mother.
Eleven-year-old Katie Hillebrand said the concert was well worth the heat, and she swore she would remember the brothers' concert for the rest of her life. They better because they're not going to another one, Ms. Hillebrand joked.
The Jonas Brothers' videos are played regularly on the Disney Channel, but they're still on the cusp of super stardom. They're set to open for star Miley Cyrus a.k.
a. Hannah Montana on her upcoming nationwide concert tour, where they'll be introduced to a larger audience. They are amazingly gorgeous, 13-year-old Courtney Williams of Saginaw and a friend shouted in unison.
The friends arrived at the fairgrounds at 7:30 a.m. and had an enviable position at the front and center of the Chevrolet Main Stage.
They would get to see the brothers up close. That's Nick's guitar! Courtney yelled, as roadies prepared the band's equipment before the performance.
That's the best guitar ever! Jenny Zurita, 15, also in the front row with her mother, repeatedly professed before the concert that she would someday marry Joe Jonas. She'd even come up with her own Brangelina-esque name for their media moniker: Joenny.
He's my future husband, the San Antonio teen said. Other fairgoers were more concerned with the present than the future. The concert, Columbus Day and a free-admission day for 22 area school district children meant the fairgrounds were packed with people, a surprise to folks who were hoping for a leisurely Monday with Big Tex.
I'm astounded by the crowds, said Dawn Chappell of Midlothian, who came to the fair with her husband and two children. I don't regret coming, but with the crowds and the heat, it's not quite as enjoyable as it has been in past years. But Courtney Williams who loves Nick Jonas, by the way, for his curly hair said she was having the time of her life.
I would stay here forever, she said.
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