JonasCon 2025 Recap: Jonas Brothers Fans (Happily?) Waited in Line and Danced in a Wave Pool

JonasCon wasn’t your ordinary day at the mall.

Among the casual mallgoers who were making returns or trying to get a photo with the Easter Bunny on Sunday, March 23, thousands of Jonas Brothers fans infiltrated American Dream mall in East Rutherford, New Jersey for the first-ever JonasCon, a (mostly) free fan convention in honor of the band’s 20th anniversary. And while American Dream is already a unique experience — the shopping center across from MetLife Stadium has an indoor theme park, water park and ski slope — it was hard to prepare for what happened when the main attractions became Jonas-fied.

Us Weekly was in attendance on Sunday, chatting with fans (mostly millennial women in groups of two to four, completely decked out in Jonas Brothers gear) who were on a high after getting a glimpse of Nick, Joe or Kevin Jonas — or even their former security guard, Big Rob, who is featured on their 2008 song “Burning Up.”

“We saw Big Rob when we were in the merch store. It was crazy,” a 32-year-old fan from New Jersey named Briana told Us. Another New Jersey local, Maya, 28, gushed, “Big Rob came up to the VIP section and gave everybody fist bumps.” (More on that VIP section in a minute.)

Throughout the all-day affair, Nick, Joe and Kevin performed six different times across three different stages. There were two “Jonas Beach” sessions — where fans changed into bathing suits and sang along in a wave pool (despite what you may be thinking, the beach was the most-talked about highlight for many fans) — and three “Sky Stage” sessions, which turned the ice skating rink into a stage. (If you’re wondering if we witnessed fans leaving the pool area dripping wet to continue their day at the mall, the answer is yes. However, most fans who went in the water changed in a locker room. We had to inquire!)

Those five performances were ticketed events, which fans had to register to attend. There was a free general admissions option and a VIP package for $200.

NJ fans Maya, Alexis, 28, Sam, 29, were VIPs at the Sky Stage and weren’t thrilled that their wristbands got them access to the second and third floor views, with no food or drink options. (The GA section was the floor whereas VIPs were promised “optimal views.”)

“I got up at 4:30 this morning [to get here],” Maya said, clarifying that she’s “not mad” at Nick, Joe or Kevin, but VIP Nation will be hearing from her about the seating arrangements. (In the company’s defense, the website does appear to say that the “optimal views” are on the third floor.)

Despite the minor complaints, the three women made it clear to Us that attending the event was worth it.

As did the 30+ fans who spoke to Us. Many attendees traveled specially for the Con, with a 32-year-old fan from Costa Rica telling Us she paid $1,200 on flights and a hotel. She camped out by the third stage, which hosted a completely free (no registration required) concert. “I cried and everything,” she told Us.

Another fan from Colorado cried when talking to Us about being there.

“I’ve been a fan for 19 years and it’s just my entire world,” Ashley, 31, said as fans screamed Camp Rock karaoke at the bar we were sitting in. “You grew up with them, I’ve been with them my entire life. ”

Ashley’s highlight was also the free show. To completely paint the picture, the third stage was located right in between a Mrs. Fields, which was selling JonasCon cookies for a cool $6 with tax, and a Wetzel’s Pretzels. The crowd was a mix of those aforementioned millennial fans and random people at the mall who wanted to know why a crowd was forming.

When the Jonas Brothers surprised the mixed group by bringing fellow boy band Big Time Rush on stage, one fan yelled, “This is the best day ever!” At the exact same time, an older woman turned to the person next to her to ask, “Who is this?” (Being unaware of the Nickelodeon boy band didn’t stop her from recording the entire thing, BTW.) During their entire 20-minute surprise set, the mall was literally shaking as people jumped up and down and screamed at the top of their lungs.

Outside of the performances, there were several activations set up throughout the mall. Some were already established American Dream activities that were tweaked to be Jonas Brothers-themed like the Jonas Brothers escape room, GI Jonas laser tag and Jonas mini golf.

Others were pop-ups specifically for JonasCon, like a “listening room” for Joe’s new music where fans waited in a line to go into a room to hear about five minutes of Joe’s new music and get specific merch for the middle sibling. Us met a group of women who waited in line three times to hear clips from Joe’s upcoming album. “You have to come listen to it,” they urged as they prepared for another 30-40 minute wait.

The lines were a pretty consistent theme throughout the day, but Jonas Brothers fans are a specific breed who … don’t care?

“The expectation was that we were gonna wait a long time. It’s not as hectic as I thought it would be,” one fan told Us. “There’s a lot to do for free. Our merch line was only an hour. We were prepared for three hours.”

Speaking of merch, fans could buy T-shirts, hats, beach towels, tote bags, stickers and basically anything else they could want Nick, Joe or Kevin’s face at several locations throughout the mall/Con, including some fan vendors who applied and were chosen by the Jonas Brothers’ team to sell their product. (Us met one creator from Utah who is such a big fan that she named her 4-year-old son Jonas.) There was, however, one giant merch store that consistently had a line that was 45+ minutes, with fans telling Us that they spent anywhere from $50 to $300 inside. The top selling item was a Teddy Bear sweater that said, “This is my JonasCon sweater” — one woman even bought one in a “youth” size despite being 28 years old because she had to have it.

There were $18 milkshakes named after Jonas Brothers songs, a JonasCon Museum with past costumes, records and a drum set and a constant stream of Jonas Brothers music blasting throughout the mall. Some fans indulged in all of it, and others walked around looking for Franklin Jonas or the three Camp Rock cast members (Meaghan Martin, Roshon Fegan and Anna Maria Perez de Tagle) in attendance for a selfie. Vanderpump Rules’ Scheana Shay also made an appearance to reprise her role as the “Pizza Girl” in a 2009 Jonas music video.

Before the night was over, the Jonas Brothers announced three albums. Joe’s solo project, Music for People Who Believe in Love, (the one aforementioned fans couldn’t get enough of) will be out May 2, a Jonas Brothers live album will drop June 13 and a new album, Greetings From Your Hometown, is expected August 8, just two days before they are back in East Rutherford to play MetLife Stadium. (Speaking of, how could we forget Eli Manning’s cameo to induct the boys into the NJ Hall of Fame? It’s almost like the former New York Giants quarterback lives in that complex.)

The brothers also announced a new song called “I Can’t Lose” will be part of Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN and another song titled “Celebrate Happy” will serve as the soundtrack of Disneyland‘s 70th anniversary. While joking Camp Rock 3 was coming, they did confirm the name of their Disney+ holiday movie (naturally called A Very Jonas Christmas) and teased International JonasCon dates to be announced.

All in all, the Jonas Brothers fans seemed to be satisfied and not eager to forget the experience, which was confirmed when Us witnessed several fans ripping the posters and signs off the walls of the mall to take them home. If only the mall employees thought to take them down themselves — they might’ve made a killing selling them at JonasCon 2026.