The Concert to Beat ALL Concerts...

On Friday, August 26, 2011, Dean and I ventured to Portland, Oregon to experience our second Josh Groban Concert. The last time we saw him was in Washington, I believe in 2002 or 2003 for his "Closer" tour. That was 8 or 9 years ago! And Josh has matured!



He's calling this tour his "Straight To You" Tour...and that is exactly what it is. He interacts up close and personal with the audience, like I have never seen anyone do before.




We had Floor seats, in Row 20, and they were superb seats. But, the best part was that he opened in the middle of the floor, on a raised platform and Dean and I stumbled on this fact quite by accident.







Dean, the forever snapping photos person that he is, saw this huge square in the middle of the floor section and he was interested in the crew who would controll the lighting, sound and graphics displays via 5 or 6 computers all set up.



Then, he noticed in front of all of this equipment, there was a piano and a couple of mikes set up. He enquired what this was all about, and was told this was where Josh would "open" his show. So, he grabbed me, and we stood within 5 feet of the platform to watch this opening. We were not disappointed!

The house lights went dark, and we got to see Josh enter and climb the stairs (he later referred to as "G-A-P-S!" Which stands for Groban Access Points. Very clever. He said they were his Body Guard's nightmare!). And then, he sat down at the piano and began his first number. I was too enthralled about being so close that I didn't put te name of it in my memory bank!

The following pictures are a few of the snaps that we got there on his floor stage.









From the floor stage, he ran to the stage to do the rest of his 2 hour, non-stop performance. He has amazing energy; an incredible orchestra, consisting of 2 violinists, 1 viola player, 1 cello player, 2 percussionists, 2 french horn players, an amazing trumpet player (who blew Dean away with one number with only piano, Josh and trumpet!) a guitar player (phenomenal!) and a piano player; and an energetic and talented stage crew.

For a great deal of his numbers, he accompanied himself on the piano. How he does that, I will never know...and he does it with his eyes closed!



Dean and I expecially loved the part when he came down into the audience and interacted with them. Before the show began, audience members (who had their cell phones) texted him questions and then during the show, he answered three of them. One was from a mother who asked if Josh would sing with her daughter. He came down into the audience and got her and took her up onto the center platform and they sang a beautiful rendition of "Happy Birthday!" It was cute, fun and the girl did have a nice voice.



Toward the end of his performance, Josh did some amazing drum sets. The young man has a world of talent. And he expresses his gratitude to the "break" he received as a child with music that was available both in the schools he attended and through after school arts programs. He is an advocate for the Arts and if you go to his web site (joshgroban.com), you can donate to help kids who are missing out on these programs because of all of the cuts from schools of the Arts. It is a wonderfully worthy cause.



The one number that stood out as the best of the show, was his tribute to our wounded warriors and their families who have come home since the war. He visits them in Walter Reid Hospital and Bathesda Naval Hospital. He has been so touched by them, that he wrote "The War At Home." It continues to bring tears to my eyes.

All in all, the concert in Portland was something that I cannot find words to describe. We shall look forward to his next one, and hope it isn't 9 years down the road.