Here is the Columbus Official Road Reporter review from Josh's Straight To You Tour by itslikehayaknow! Want to enter to win for a chance to be Josh's Official Road Reporter? Get all the contest details HERE.

Friday August 5, 2011 will be a night that I will not soon forget. Four long years of anticipation had led up to this night in a culmination of emotion, high energy, and dreams coming true, not only me and other fellow Grobanites, but the man of the hour as well.

I have been a fan of Josh’s ever since I saw him sing “Happy Birthday” to Oprah on her 50th birthday show. Since then, I have dreamed of getting the chance to meet Josh, but like most people, had pretty much always assumed that having that chance would be a long shot. Back in April, my grandmother passed away, and even though my family and I knew that day was drawing nearer, we all still took it hard. I had purchased my tickets for this show in March, and after she passed and we worked through the grieving process, the anticipation grew as we waited to attend the concert of the man who has been such a big part of my life personally. His music has brought me such happiness and helped me through many tough times, like my grandmother’s death, so having the chance to see him in concert again after his 2007 Awake tour was an incredible experience.

So when I found out on Wednesday, August 3rd, that I had won the Road Reporter contest through FOJG, imagine my utter shock and amazement that I was actually going to meet Josh Groban! I can’t help but think that my Grandma had a little something to do with it. ;-)

Then the day of the concert finally arrived! After very little sleep from all the nerves and excitement, and dinner at Applebee’s before the show, we arrived at the Schottenstein Center where my boyfriend Matt and I proceeded to pick up our tickets and meet and greet passes. Darren, the head of Josh’s security team and one of the nicest guys you could ever meet, took us backstage and lined us all up against the wall and gave us the rundown of how it was going to work. Matt, being one of only a few men there, kept getting ribbed by Darren because he “knew how much he wanted to hug and kiss Josh”! It was really funny and helped us all loosen up the nerves before Josh came out. Eventually they brought him out and one by one we all got to meet him. When our turn came, we went up to him, introduced ourselves, he signed our albums, and I gave him a Buckeye nut bracelet, which, for those of you who do not know, the Buckeye is our state tree and also the emblem of the Ohio State University. Josh seemed so excited to receive it and I told him about it and then I said not to try and eat it because it was poisonous and he started genuinely laughing and got a big kick out of it! Josh then said, “This is the kind of stuff I live for”! I felt like I was on cloud nine! Then we had our pictures taken with him and we headed out to our seats.

Elew was the opening act and he did really well. He played piano and I swear, it was like he didn’t even touch the keys! He covered favorites like “Mr. Brightside” from the Killers, “Teenage Dream” by Katy Perry, and the theme song from The Young and the Restless. It was so neat watching him, because while he played, he stared straight up at the ceiling, almost as if he was reading his sheet music in the air, and it was being transported throughout his body into his hands.

After a short intermission, the time had come for Josh to come out! The Orchestra started playing “Straight to You” and there he was, in all his glory, on the middle stage! The crowd went wild! J He began by singing “Changing Colours”, a song I believe was by Great Lake Swimmers, followed by “February Song”, and a slowed-down version of “(Don’t Give Up) You are Loved”, which was just beautiful. He then made his way to the main stage to cheers and talked about how good it was to be back in Columbus, and interestingly enough, said that the whole side of his Dad’s family was from Columbus! What a nice coincidence! J Josh then told the crowd that he visited his Great Aunt Sis, who is in a nursing home, while he was here and he took her flowers and had a really nice visit with her, which elicited many “Awwwwwws” from the audience.

Other songs during the evening included “Bells of New York City”, “Per Te”, and “Alejate”, or as he likes to call it, “Get the Hell Out of Here”. ;-) One of the many highlights for me during the show was when he actually mentioned receiving a Buckeye bracelet backstage from a fan (me!) and how I explained to him that they were poisonous and should not eat them, and he looked puzzled and said “Ooooooookay”! The audience laughed and of course I was so proud and excited that he actually talked about me! :-D

Another highlight during the show was when he did the Q&A session and received a question from Sharon, who wanted to know if he had ever sung with a female tenor before, as she was one, and Josh was completely taken aback and intrigued, so he came out into the audience and pulled her up onto the middle stage and they sang a rendition of “Awake” together. She did really well and you could tell Josh was loving every minute of it, getting to experience something new for him too.

One of my other favorite highlights came about when Josh told the story of meeting the “Double Dream Hands” guy, John Jacobson, randomly the night before at a steakhouse and how he was so excited to run into him, and John was actually in the audience. So Josh ran out into the audience again and pulled him onto the stage, albeit reluctantly, and they performed the Double Dream Hands dance together! The crowd went absolutely nuts and Josh was so thrilled to do the dance with him! Josh actually said on his Twitter the night before his concert that it was, “the most awesome, random thing that has happened on tour” to him!

There were many more highlights during the show as well. He pulled a couple who had been married for 37 years up on stage, along with a 7 year old girl and another young lady who swore to him she “was of age”. They enjoyed milk and wine while relaxing on inflatable couches while he sang a “romantic song about cheating” (“Broken Vow”) to them. He was accompanied by Tariqh on guitar and another gentleman on the trumpet, and it was amazing. After the song ended, Josh noticed that the little girl had finished her milk and that she needed a refill, so he ran over to her, got her some more, and told her, “Drink milk for as long as you can; I’ve never woken up naked on the floor from drinking too much milk!” It was absolutely hilarious!

After that was his encore, and he came back to sing “Play Me” by Neil Diamond and the final song of the show, “You Raise Me Up”. He encouraged the audience to sing along because he didn’t have a choir with him, and every single person was standing up, swaying their arms, and singing with him. It was one of the most magical things I’ve been a part of and an appropriate way to end one of the best nights of my life.

I would just like to say what a huge honor it was to get to meet Josh and how grateful I am to have had this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that will always stay with me. Thank you to Josh, Darren and his team, Sarah, and the rest of the FOJG staff for giving fans like me this incredible chance to meet the man that has touched so many lives. And yes, Josh is as nice in person as he appears on television and in his vlogs.

Lastly, I just wanted to send a special thank you to Joel and the couple he was with. I met them before we went backstage and he generously gave me his two extra tickets to give to my Mom and niece who were sitting towards the back of the arena originally, to allow them the chance to have closer seats near the stage. I cannot thank them enough, and my Mom and niece were genuinely touched that a perfect stranger was kind enough to do that for them.

That is what this night was all about, getting to share the love of Josh with roughly 20,000 or so of your closest friends.