Saturday, August 25, 2007
Josh Groban, Honda Center - Anaheim (2007)
I hadn't heard too much of Josh Groban's music before. Of course, I'd heard You Raise Me Up and I heard him sing The Prayer with Charlotte Church in the closing ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics. Other than that, I didn't know much about his music, but the ads at the Honda Center sounded good and I decided it would be a good idea to check out the concert. I'm so glad I did.
Josh Groban is a wonderful singer and a great show person. He put on an amazing show! I was surprised to see that he had video screens and a piano that appeared for a few songs where he played and sang. I didn't realize that Josh Groban played piano in addition to having a great voice. He played piano and vocoder on a few of his songs.
During So she Dances, there was a beautiful video of a woman dancing on the screen. It really enhanced the performance of the song well. Josh Groban has a great personality and a wonderful way of relating to the audience. I was surprised when he actually took some time to sit on the edge of the stage and sign some autographs during the concert, but clearly he does this all the time, since the Grobanites (as his fan club seems to be called, they were referenced several times during the concert) ran up to the stage before he got to the point where he sat down. Groban even lifted a young girl up to sit next to him and asked her to sign her share of the autographs. It was very cute.
Groban told a story of how he wanted to be in musical theatre and idolized Stephen Sondheim (as so many of us theatre geeks do). When he mentioned Sweeney Todd, I thought he might sing Johanna, but instead he sang another great song from the show (Not While I'm Around). It was good to hear someone sing one of the songs from Sweeney Todd that's not performed as often.
I thoroughly enjoyed Josh Groban's concert. His music is beautiful. He's a wonderful composer and performer. I hope to be able to see him in concert again. It's amazing to me that he's only 26 and has already done so much with his music. I look forward to seeing him again and I will definitely need to get at least one of his CDs. If you have a chance to catch Josh Groban in concert, I highly recommend it.
Grade: ALabels: 2007, concert, Josh Groban, musical