ASHWAUBENON – There was no kiss cam at Jesse McCartney’s Titltetown Beats concert, but there was a sign in the crowd that caught the pop star’s eye.
“You were supposed to be my dad!” it read.
He laughed, asking the young fan how hold they were. “That’s cool,” he said to the 11-year-old. “I see your mom.”
McCartney was 17 when “Beautiful Soul” turned him into a pop sensation more than 20 years ago. At 38, the first-time father welcomed a son, Archer James, in May with wife Katie Peterson. He can still make a crowd weak in the knees with something as simple as slipping off his sunglasses during his “Silver Spoon” opener or a flirty “Where we going after the show? That’s what I want to know.”
“Our 30s have peaked,” read another sign in a big crowd that was packed in tight for best views near the stage but had people spread out across the football field in the Green Bay Packers’ Titletown District on July 19.
Fans who remember McCartney from his Dream Street boy band and The WB’s “Summerland” days were out in force in girls-night-out groups — one in matching pink glittered cowboy hats and another sporting neon wigs. There were all kinds of date-night couples, too, soaking up the nostalgia of “Tie the Knot” and the joy of a free concert.
As a reminder that time really does fly, fans who were listening to “Leavin’” when it shot up the Billboard Hot 100 in 2008 or maybe a few who saw him when he played Green Bay’s Meyer Theatre for a $5 ticket in 2005, were there with their own kids in strollers and on their shoulders.
McCartney, who performed in New York the night before and goes on tour this fall, was at the keyboard for “Bleeding Love,” the song he wrote that became a hit for Leona Lewis. “Body Language,” his 2009 collaboration with T-Pain, had him hitting his stride during the 75-minute set. He held onto “Beautiful Soul” for the encore, but you didn’t have to be there to know that.
He took the crowd on a stroll down memory lane with “Just So You Know” done with just the accompaniment of his acoustic guitarist. He carefully studied the crowd before inviting a fan named Jenny onstage to have a seat on a stool as he serenaded her with “Party for Two,” singing on his knees at one point and sending her off at song’s end with a dance twirl.
It might have been the upbeat vibe of “Leavin’,” with its “no stress, no stress, no stress” crowd sing-along that best captured the giddy nostalgia of the night.
“Man, this is a fun crowd,” McCartney said. “Always, always in Wisconsin.”
Kendra Meinert is an entertainment and feature writer at the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact her at 920-431-8347 or kmeinert@greenbay.gannett.com. Follow her on X @KendraMeinert.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Jesse McCartney proves a ’00s crush can still crush it during fun, flirty Titletown concert
Reporting by Kendra Meinert, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Green Bay Press-Gazette
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