Nick Jonas brings funk, and a lot of soul, to Beacon

Yes, there was still plenty of screaming.

Though Nick Jonas, the youngest and most musical of the Jonas Brothers, is looking to establish himself as a more serious artist with his new band The Administration, the 17-year-old clearly hasn't lost his ability to drive his young fans (and some of their parents) wild.

Even though the bulk of his 90-minute set Thursday came from his solo debut "Who I Am," which won't even be in stores until Feb. 2, he still got the crowd to help him with an extended version of the John Mayer-ish "Rose Garden" and "While the World Is Spinning."

"You guys are very quick learners," said Jonas, who plays the Beacon Theatre again tonight. "So throughout the night, I'm going to ask you all to sing along."

But what really had the crowd swooning was Jonas' newly developed love of funk and soul. Though his version of Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" was good, his use of a Prince-ly falsetto and loads of funk guitar from his backing band, which includes three members of the New Power Generation, spiced up numerous songs, especially the new song "Stay," an all-out soul number somewhere between Al Green and Terence Trent D'Arby.

That kind of immediacy - which allows him to cover Owl City's "Fireflies" and Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody" in his set or slow down the JoBros' hit "Tonight" into a lilting ballad or offer some rambling thoughts on the new year - made Jonas a pleasure to watch.