There seem to be a lot of reasons to talk about Jonas Brothers concerts lately. From suddenly changing venues for a number of shows, to accidentally playing a role in a man’s resume-reviewing process, the band’s current Jonas20: Greetings From Your Hometown tour keeps finding ways to make headlines.
The most recent reason for the tour going viral has been in a different vein entirely, but it has definitely given fans of the band (and just concert-goers in general) a lot to talk about. Over the weekend, a TikTok video surfaced showing a woman arguing with security from the tour’s recent stop in Long Island, New York, captioned “this girl in the red delayed the whole show because she had a temper tantrum.”
The “girl in the red” was quickly identified as TikTok user @hayleyx3jb… and more context emerged from there. Not only from other fans in comment sections, but from her directly, after she posted a 25-minute-long video and a lengthy Twitter thread recounting her side of the story.
The plot thickens…
Apparently, she decided to park herself at the front barricade of the concert (even though her ticketed seats weren’t in the section) in order to hold a spot for a friend who hadn’t been handed a wristband yet. Security was called once she allegedly shoved two people who were trying to get to their spots in the barricade, and she refused to move when they asked her to step away and answer some questions.
She claims, both in the original video and in her response video, that “this has happened before” — meaning that she had to leave her spot without knowing if she would be able to return back. In her retelling, at another Jonas Brothers concert, she was “over-served” too much alcohol, allegedly groped, and unable to get back to her seat after having a panic attack. (As some have been quick to point out, the gravity of those two situations are very different.)
Comments about the Long Island situation have raised even more questions, alleging that she has had outbursts similar to this at multiple shows, and that she and her mom have openly admitted to (in one TikTok user’s words) “following the band everywhere.” Her own TikTok provides proof for the latter claim, as she says that she has gone to over 100 Jonas Brothers concerts. One of her pinned videos celebrates the fact that she saw Nick Jonas in the Broadway production of The Last Five Years a total of 57 times, getting him to sign her Playbill at the stage door every single time. Concert and fan etiquette has already been a hot topic of conversation these past few years… but some have argued this particular story ventures into extremely parasocial territory.
I will admit that, when I started to see this drama unfold on TikTok, I initially wasn’t super surprised. While I haven’t attended their more recent tours, I have seen the Jonas Brothers in concert pretty regularly since 2008, and have witnessed how the diehard nature of their fandom has evolved as everyone has gotten older. I have also seen shades of these kinds of parasocial fans at concerts for countless other artists: whether they’re mega popstars selling out arenas, or my friend’s band in a hole-in-the-wall venue.
While the exact specifics of what these fans do still have the capacity to surprise, the idea of someone taking their fandom so seriously that it starts to cross boundaries and ruin the fun for other people is (unfortunately) not new.
(featured image: Amy Sussman/Getty Images for Live Nation)
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