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  • Toronto Show Review - By Road Reporter Katherine!

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


    A couple of months ago I was devastated when I didn’t get tickets for Josh’s Before We Begin Toronto concert. I so badly wanted to go to my very first Josh Groban concert. From that moment I told myself that I would be at his next Toronto date front row, and that is exactly what I did. When the purchase was complete I didn’t think I could get much happier than that moment. Until a couple days before the concert I go to check my email and find an email The Josh Groban Team regarding the road reporter contest winner. I thought maybe it was an email telling the entrants who had won, until I opened it and saw the very first word of the email, it said “congrats”. I just about screamed loud enough to wake my entire street. Not only was this going to be my first Josh Groban concert that I had front row seats for I was going to be able to meet Josh as well! It was truly a dream come true.

    Before I get into the play by play of Josh’s Toronto show, I wanted to thank everyone involved in making this the best night of my life! Thank you for granting me this opportunity to meet Josh for the second time and to share my experience with the rest of the FOGJ community. Thanks a million!
    If someone asked me to describe that day in one word, I honestly have to say I couldn’t. There are a number of words you could use, but one is not nearly enough to describe the experience one has at a Josh Groban concert.

    Amazing. Incredible. Unreal. Wow. Awesome. Hilarious. Entertaining. Funny. Fun. Magnificent. Stupendous. Beautiful. Great. Lovely. Wonderful. Astounding. Astonishing. Remarkable. Marvellous. Extraordinary. Stunning. Brilliant. Something not one of the ticket holders will soon forget!
    I arrived at the Air Canada Center at 5:15 and waited in line to get our VIP tickets. Waiting in line for even the short time of fifteen minutes was almost impossible to do. Although the venue was a little disorganized with it, nothing could get me down. I was ready for that concert.

    After receiving our tickets and VIP wristbands we were directed to the lower level of the ACC to where a member of the staff greeted us and gave us our VIP merchandise. When we got into a beautiful dining area the pre-show hospitality included soft drinks, veggies, meats, desserts and more. It was a great start to the evening. The merchandise included a Josh Groban Straight To You Tour 2011 canvas bag and steel water bottle, as well as a commemorative VIP laminate. This summed up to a great start.
    When the box office opened at 6:30pm I raced there to pick up my meet and greet pass and photo pass. The moment they were in my hands was just about the time it truly felt real and it sunk in that I was going to meet Josh again.

    A group a people and I waited under section 122 as we waited to be taken to meet Josh. Seeing the excitement and anticipation on other people’s faces was just getting me even more excited. Around 7:00pm the large group of meet and greeters were directed to a back hallway where the meet and greet was going to take place. Before Josh came out the head of security laid down the ground rules for the meet and luckily everyone followed them.

    Just then Josh comes from behind a black curtain and immediately begins his meet and greets. I was about 6 or 7 people from the front of the line and as I watched people go up shake his hand, get his autograph and a picture with him; my heart began to race more and more. Then it was my turn. I walk up to him shake his hand and tell him my name. As he was signing my Awake CD I made a quick comment on how this was my first concert of his, and him being his sweet jokingly self replied with “Oh really? Pressure’s on now. Have fun!” We took the picture together and it was over. In total the exchange took only a minute or two, but I can safely say it was one of the best minutes of my life!
    Once everyone had done their meet and greets Josh took extra time to meet with some of the children from the Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Center. This really touched my heart and was amazing to see him take his own time to meet with these kids and hopefully make some of their dreams come true through that.

    After this we went back to our seats waiting for the opening act ELEW to come out. As I already had front row seats I didn’t feel I needed to go to the press area and stayed at my seat. Suddenly the lights went dark in the ACC and the spotlight came onto ELEW and the crowd bursts into screams. Before this I hadn’t heard any of what ELEW did, but I knew he had to be great.

    ELEW blew up the arena with amazing performances of songs consisting of “Sweet Home Alabama”, “Beautiful Day”, “Paint it Black”, “With or Without You”, and “Teenage Dream”. He also threw in a couple movie themes including the Pink Panther theme. Not knowing what kind of piano to expect, before coming on I was hoping he would somehow make this exciting for the audience to watch rather than just sit there and play the piano. ELEW did just that. Watching how passionate he is about the piano made this truly easier to love. By the facial expressions he was making it looked like he was alone in his room only playing to himself, he was truly in his element. He made the opening act a very enjoyable thing and I he definitely made at least one new fan that night.

    During the half hour break between ELEW and Josh Groban while the crew set up the stage, we went to look at the merchandise booths. At this time I bought my Straight To You Tour t-shirt and ELEW’s CD.

    When the lights went out the arena erupted in screams as everybody knew what that meant, show time! He opened his concert with an instrumental version of his song Straight To You off his newest album, Illuminations. Josh entered at the back of the arena to where he casually walked through the audience to his piano located on a smaller b-stage at the center of the ACC, while his 13 musicians played on his larger main stage at the front of the arena.

    He opened with a beautiful “Changing Colours” and continued with “February Song”. Once he concluded “February Song” he stood up to address the crowd. Showing his friendly and funny personality he jokingly tells the audience, “You paid out the wazoo to be here tonight, so I’m going to sing my ass off for you!” He introduces his next song by telling the audience about the number of Canadians that have influenced his life and career. He jokingly states that you could play a drinking game with the number of Canadians that have influenced him. There he introduces one of his most popular songs that was written by a Canadian friend of his called “Don’t Give Up (You Are Loved)”. Later in the show when he mentions another Canadian he jokingly says “man I’m gonna get you wasted!”

    After one other song he makes his way to the main stage making sure to high five fans as he does so. He progresses through the show to perform some of the best songs of his career. He powered through songs like; “Alejate”, “Bells of New York City”, “Higher Window”, “Hidden Away”, “Galileo”, “Machine”, “Voce Existe Em Mim”, and many more. Two of my personal favourite performances of the night were “War at Home”, and “Alla Luce Del Sole”.

    Although his voice is one of the best I’ve heard some of the best moments of his show were the more intimate parts with the audience. One of the funniest moments Josh had was when he was answering fan questions. One question from a woman was “Are you adoptable?” To which Josh answered with, “Do you cook turkey loaf?” with a thumbs up from her he continued, “With a charitable donation to my charity I’ll stay as long as you want. How’s September 1st to 5th?” When reading a question from the next asker, Bambi, he kidded “is that your real name or your stage name? Cause I also go by Champagne Jones.” Bambi asked him if he could sing Kanye tweets to which he ran to the center b-stage and sang just a few of the tweets from the popular sketch he did with Jimmy Kimmel.
    Another funny moment was when he did a walk-through of the crowd and came across a 5 year old with front row seats. The 5 year old, Fiona, was asked by Josh which of the concerts she has been to was her favourite. With her mother beside her whispering in her ear to say yours, meaning Josh’s. Fiona cutely answers, “Mine” to where she had the whole arena giggling.

    Finally towards the very end of the show Josh searched the crowd to find four lucky people to join him on stage. First he finds a couple who have been married for 25 years. Next he searches the crowd for a single lady. While searching he begins to sing Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” in a very high voice. Along with the married couple he brings a 24 year old and a nine year old. While on stage he brings two inflatable couches for them to sit and his crew brings out a table with four wine glasses a bottle of wine and milk for the kid. “I’m going to get you hammered,” sang Groban as he poured the wine. On scout’s hour he poured the 24 year old’s drink as he sang “I’m pouring my career away …” Then he turns his attention to the couple and he says “I’m gonna sing you a song about cheating.” Where he begins to sing “Broken Vow”.

    He closed the show with a cover of Neil Diamond’s Play Me - he joked when writing he often asks “What would Neil Diamond do?” - and his own inspirational song, “You Raise Me Up” to where he asked the audience to help him with the song. It was a strong and powerful ending to one of the greatest night of my life as well as I’m sure many people’s in that arena.

    At last the entire company stood up and joined hands as they bowed to a crowd of people giving a loud well-earned standing ovation.

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