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  • Indianapolis Show Review - By Road Reporter Mychaela!

    Here is the Indianapolis Official Road Reporter review from Josh's Straight To You Tour by Kaylers44! Want to enter to win for a chance to be Josh's Official Road Reporter? Get all the contest details HERE.


    It was back in March when I purchased my tickets for my first ever Josh Groban concert. I had waited almost 8 years for this, ever since I first heard “Closer”, and I was beyond excited just for the opportunity to be in the same room as Josh and hear him sing live. I was incredibly giddy after purchasing the tickets, which also carried over to when they arrived in the mail, and as the day of the show grew closer, I became more anxious and excited than I thought I ever would. So a few days before, when I received the email saying I had won the Road Reporter contest, my excitement became indescribable! I never win anything, and here I was, about to meet my favorite singer, something I had only dreamed about since the day I first heard his voice! I remember screaming, shaking, jumping up and down, and calling my friend Abby to tell her the good news that she was going to be my plus one for the Meet and Greet. I couldn’t think of anything else the next few days, I could barely sleep, and my stomach was in a knot and full of butterflies. I was actually going to meet Josh Groban!

    So the day of the show finally arrived. Abby and I headed up to Indianapolis to meet with other members of FOJG. I was just as excited about this opportunity to make new friends who understand and love Josh as much as I do, because I’ve never had that. After weeks of talking with these girls on the forums and Twitter, I was finally able to put faces with names, and had an amazing time just hanging out before the show and getting to know such incredible women (I love you all!).

    After the FOJG meet up, those of us who were lucky enough to win a Meet and Greet headed over to the fieldhouse together to pick up our M&G passes. Finally, I think it was around 7:15, Josh stepped out from behind the black curtain, and I got my first glimpse of him. All of sudden my voice left me, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to say anything to him when my turn came. I watched him greet those in front of me, saying hi, making a quick comment, and taking a picture. Then it was my turn. I walked up and shook his hand (although, looking back, I don’t remember doing this at all), told him my name was Mychaela, and handed him the CD I brought for him to sign. He responded, “Hi Kayla! Wait, is it Kayla, or Mychaela?” I smiled and told him “Mychaela,” and I think he laughed a little and said okay, but I honestly don’t remember much of what happened after that! He signed my album (he wrote “lots of love”!), we took a picture, and he said, “Thanks for coming. I hope you enjoy the show.” I said thanks and that was it, but as soon as I was on the other side of the curtain where the other FOJG girls were waiting, I did a little jump and could not stop smiling. It was short and quick, but it meant more to me than I can say!
    At this point I could have headed to the press area for pictures, but since the show was about to start and I had good seats anyway, Abby and I headed to our seats just before ELEW was about to perform. We were so giddy and shaking, I just couldn’t help but smile the whole way through ELEW’s act. I had seem him a few weeks prior on America’s Got Talent, so I was looking forward to him almost as much as I was looking forward to Josh, and he didn’t disappoint! He has such an amazing talent and what he does with the piano is just insane. It was awesome to hear familiar songs played in such a different way. Some of my favorites were “Someday My Prince Will Come”, “My Favorite Things”, and “Teenage Dream”. As soon as he ended, we rushed to the merchandise table because we heard he usually heads there to meet people before Josh starts performing. I had been talking with him on Twitter in the days leading up to the show, and that morning, he tweeted that he was out of bubblegum, so I made sure to bring some for him! He loved it and gave me a big hug, remembered me from Twitter, and then took an awesome picture with me, all the while making his classic ROAR face! I was shaking just as much after that as I was after meeting Josh. Then we headed back to our seats to get ready for the start of the show.

    Since I had been reading some the reports from the previous shows, it was no surprise when Josh entered from the back of the arena onto a smaller stage in the center of the floor to a beautiful instrumental version of “Straight To You”. He opened with “Changing Colors” and “February Song”. I was so blown away by how awesome he sounded! I had always heard that he sounds better live than on his albums, but that could not prepare me for just how majestic his voice really is! I loved his interaction with the crowd. He really did make it feel like an intimate setting rather than an arena. After introducing himself, he thanked us all for being there, said he was glad to be back in Indy, and assured us that since we “all paid out the wazoo, I’ll sing my ass off for you!” And that he did. During a newer, updated version of “You Are Loved”, he made his way through the crowd and up to the main stage for more interactions and the next few songs.
    One thing I really loved was that Josh included songs from all his previous albums, not just “Illuminations”. He talked a little about his first album, stating that when it was released “I was 9 years old.” Obviously he was older than that, but he said it would have been funny to be 9 years old and have that deep, powerful voice. “I would have been a freakazoid!” Before singing “Alejate”, he mentioned it was originally in English, but they decided to translate it to Spanish since it had been done so many times. “When we translated it, it changed from ‘Just Walk Away’ to ‘Just Get The Hell Outta Here’.” Who knew such a beautiful song could be so harsh! He had more crowd interactions after this, mentioning the GAPs (Grobanite Access Points) and how they allowed him to interact with the crowd on the floor. He stopped to talk to a 6 year old girl who said she had been to a lot of concerts, so he asked her what her favorite concert was so far, and she enthusiastically replied “You!” Josh said he wasn’t expecting that, and thought for sure she was going to say the Jonas Brothers or something similar. He also talked to a man, and asked if he was ok since he looked like he had been dragged there, and also spoke to a woman from Ft. Wayne, who said the best thing about that city is the people. Josh then made his way back to the main stage, stating that we were all very “grabby”.
    His next group of songs was mostly from his latest album. I was very happy to hear him talk about New York and sing “Bells of New York City”, as well as “Higher Window”, stating “sometimes love sucks, but this is one of the more hopeful songs.” “War At Home” was definitely one of the highlights for me. I always get teary eyed when I listen to it, and hearing it live blew me away. I couldn’t help but tear up again as he was singing it. There was also an instrumental portion when his band starting jamming and finished with Josh coming out and playing drums with the other two drummers, eventually leading into his performance of “Voce Existe Em Mim”, another highlight of the show.
    Next came the questions via text. I was so happy when the fist question was from Linda, one of my new friends that I had met before the show! She was so excited, she got right up with her camera, and Josh said, “she just popped up like a whack-a-mole!” Her question was, “If time travel were possible, (“which it totally is, by the way,” Josh interjected), to what time and place would you travel?” His answer was it would be a toss up between the Roaring 20’s and Dinosaur days. He would want to first stop off in Dinosaur days and pick up a really cool looking “neopleurodon” (I think you made that dinosaur name up, Josh, since I couldn’t find that name anywhere!), bring it with him to the 20’s, and tell everyone, “‘This is Betsy, my neopleurodon, and I’ve written a song about her and it goes like this…’ And there would be a hit song today about the love of my life, Betsy, my neopleurodon, and that would be really ridiculous.” Then a man named Chris asked three questions in one: “McDonald’s or Burger King? Coke or Pepsi? Paris or Indianapolis?” Josh was having a hard time with the first one, probably not wanting to offend anyone, and answered “I love Happy Meals, but I sure wish there was a Whopper in them.” He didn’t even hesitate with the second question and answered “Coke” right away, which resulted in much cheering, and someone even shouted out “I love you” in response. “Paris or Indianapolis? Come on, really?” and after a pause, “Duh, Indianapolis!” The arena went crazy! “This is not a concert, it’s a vacation, dammit! We all joined the sing-for-two-hours club at the resort!” He looked at his band and said, “We’re all having a good time right?” His third and final question was from a woman named Melissa, asking “Is my intuition telling me that I’ll get to sing on stage with Josh Groban?” Josh asked if she was a psychic, seemed to stumble over some words, and finally said “Yeah, sure, why not!” He ran back to where she was sitting, pulled her from the audience, and they both went to the stage in the center of the arena. She didn’t have a song picked out, so Josh found a woman celebrating a birthday and together they sang “Happy Birthday” to her. After a lovely duet, he stayed on the back stage, joined by Tariq, where he sang “Galileo”, “If I Walk Away”, and played “The Wandering Kind”, a song he wrote when he was 12 years old.
    Back up on the main stage, Josh sang two songs from his third album, “Weeping” and “Machine”, both upbeat, and it was so nice to see small groups of fans in the front getting up, dancing and clapping. I wish more people had done the same, because they are such fun songs! I loved how the band continued to jam a little at the end of “Machine” and then Josh introduced all the band members to everyone. He then went back into the audience looking for a couple that had been married for a long time, asking if they wanted to come up on stage with him, to which the wife replied “Hell, yes!” He found the 6 year old he talked to earlier and asked her if she would join him as well, but she didn’t want to, even with her mom. So Josh then found 2 single ladies, while running through the crowd singing “Single Ladies” in perfect falsetto, and brought them up on stage with him as well. He brought out 2 inflatable couches for them to sit on, and asked the married couple if they drank, and once again, the wife answered “Hell, yes!” He asked for some romantic music to be played to set the mood, started to serve the wine, but as he was pouring it, the married woman lifted up the back of his jacket to take a look at his butt! The look on Josh’s face was priceless, but what was really funny was seeing her husband just shrug when Josh looked at him! He poured milk for one of the girls who was only 18, and said “Now that I’ve got you all in a romantic mood, I’m going to sing you guys a song about cheating, because I’m sick like that.” What followed was a beautiful version of “Broken Vow”, but after, he said he wanted to sing a more happy love song, so he sang “Per Te” which, when translated, means “For You”, stating that he was singing it for the married couple, as well as everyone else in the audience. He took a bow after, said we were great, and left the stage, but he wasn’t really done. He came back out for an encore a minute later (minus the jacket, of course!), sat at the piano and played “Play Me”, a Neil Diamond song. To finish the night, he said how every once in a while a song comes along and changes your whole career, and for him that song was “You Raise Me Up”, so it wouldn’t be right if he didn’t end the night with that. “But we don’t have a gospel choir here tonight, so you’re all going to have to help me sing it!” It was great standing up for the last song, and singing along with him and everyone else. It really was the perfect way to end the night.
    I was very grateful after the show to meet up with some of the same girls I met earlier to wait by the buses. We were hoping that, even though they were parked under ground, we would get to see Josh again, and see if he would do a signing. We weren’t sure if this was going to happen, but then Darren (he’s so great!) came over to us, and lined us up, saying Josh would come off the bus to do a quick signing before leaving, which I think was very thoughtful of him. You can tell he cares so much about his fans, that he would be willing to get off the bus just to do another signing. I was glad he did though, because I seemed to have my voice back after losing it when I first met him, and was able to thank him for a great show, and tell him how much I enjoyed it.

    Overall, the entire night and experience was one of the best of my life and more than I could have imagined! I am so thankful I was given this opportunity, not only to hear Josh sing, but to meet him as well - twice! I also love all the new friends I made and was able to experience this with. (I hope to see you girls again at some future shows!) Thank you, Josh and Sarah, for all you do for FOJG, for having contests like this one, and making the fan club such a fun place to meet other Grobanites! And thank you, Josh, once again for an amazing show, and for making one of my dreams come true! I hope to see you again soon before this tour is over!

Submitted by jgSarah on