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It probably says something about Australia and the NFL that, despite the San Francisco 49ers ransacking the Los Angeles Rams 27–7 at the MCG, everyone seems to be talking about the Jonas Brothers.
And I can understand it. Australia’s first regular-season NFL game drew 100,021 people to the MCG on Friday morning, complete with national anthems, cheerleaders, packed stands and enough American sporting theatre to make a Friday morning in Melbourne briefly feel like prime time in California.
Somewhere in the middle of all that, there was also a football game being played on an NFL gridiron marked out across the middle of the MCG. San Francisco spoiled the Rams’ big Australian homecoming with a convincing victory. But the part of the day that actually escaped the NFL bubble was a bit of classic Aussie rock, with the Jonas Brothers turning to John Farnham’s You’re the Voice to win over the MCG during the halftime show.
Jonas Brothers Win Over the MCG With John Farnham
The Jonas Brothers only had a few minutes to work with during the halftime show, so Nick, Joe and Kevin Jonas moved quickly.
They opened with Burnin’ Up, followed by Sucker and their new single Listen When Sad, before Nick gave John Farnham a shout-out and the opening notes of You’re the Voice rang around the MCG.
That was about all it took. The crowd joined in for the chorus before the brothers finished the five-song set with Year 3000. It was a fairly safe way to win over 100,000 Aussies, but you’re hardly going to complain when it works this well.
The performance also avoided a late headache after Joe Jonas missed his connecting flight to Australia and couldn’t join his brothers at an NFL fan event on Thursday. He made it to Melbourne in time, though, and all three brothers were on stage when it mattered.
The American football spectacle featured Cody Simpson performing Advance Australia Fair, Infinity Song handling The Star-Spangled Banner, and, at one point, more than 100,000 people singing along to Daryl Braithwaite’s The Horses. So basically, the only song missing from the playlist was Holy Grail by Hunters and Collectors.
49ers Spoil the Rams’ Australian Home Game
The Rams actually scored the first regular-season NFL touchdown on Australian soil when Kyren Williams ran it in early in the second quarter, giving Los Angeles a 7–3 lead. But that was about as good as it got for them.
Brock Purdy threw three touchdown passes as the 49ers scored 24 unanswered points, including a 39-yard strike to Demarcus Robinson and later touchdowns to Mike Evans and Deebo Samuel. A goal-line stand from San Francisco’s defence helped shut down any chance of a Rams comeback.
The 27–7 win gave the 49ers a dream start to the season and left the “home” side with a very long flight back to Los Angeles.
With the game done and dusted, the MCG has already started turning the NFL gridiron back into an AFL ground ahead of the final two weeks of the AFL Finals Series, and of course, the Grand Final on September 26.
The NFL came to Melbourne, the 49ers won comfortably, Australia got its first proper taste of a regular-season game, and naturally, we still found a way to make it our own. Here’s to Farnsy.
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