When I talk to friends and colleagues about being a Josh Groban fan I sometimes struggle when trying to explain that it involves so much more than just him and his music.
Apart from the awesome friendships that are formed around the world (which most of the time are initially via the wonders of the worldwide web), it's also the inspiration we as fans are given to 'give back'.
Last weekend, Josh was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame. Sadly I couldn't be there, but Josh was well represented by an extremely large contingent of fans who traveled from all across the US and internationally to attend this one night only event.
A large group of fans weren't just content on only attending the concert and instead used the event as an opportunity to help others...
An extremely dedicated group of fans organized a "Meet & Greet" event as a way to get together, have fun and at the same time raise funds for the Josh Groban Foundation and they raised an incredible amount of over $20,000 through auctions and the sale of merchandise...
In response to this amazing effort, Josh posted the following response on twitter-
@joshgroban: remarkable...thank you! RT @Nessuria Hollywood Bowl Meet & Greet raised $20,420 for the @joshgroban Foundation!! so proud to be part of that
Additionally, a group of fans, inspired by Josh's appearance at the Feeding America rally earlier this year, donated food, goods, cash and more importantly their time to volunteer at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank on the morning of the concert.
So, it's not just about the music and I just want to say-
"Thank you Josh for inspiring your fans to give back... I'm so proud to say I'm a fan!" ~
Josh took to Twitter to express his thoughts on the passing of Michael J -
Definitely a "Where were you when..." day. Lost a great artist who had great demons. @theloosh said it...may he finally rest in peace.
Josh recorded a cover of "She's Out Of My Life" (a bonus track on "Closer") which had been the fourth single from Michael's "Off the Wall" album in 1980.
As part of the "Awake Tour" in 2007, Josh performed SOOML while in Manila.
Congratulations Josh on being inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame. From all accounts it was a fantastic night for both Josh and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, the other inductee.
Here's an audience recording of the duet of Col Porters "True Love". Listen out for Josh singing "suntanned...windblown...hall of fame-ers...at last alone!! oh...how lucky we are" around the 0:14 second mark and the funny look he gives just after...
Josh posted a tweet on twitter after the concert which read "Driving home from the bowl, exhausted and starving.,,magic night...thanks to everyone who came!".
Wanted to take a moment to share how truly touched I was by last nights celebration at the Hollywood Bowl. As an L.A. native, it really doesn’t get much better than the Bowl. I’ve been going since I was a kid and its an institution of greatness. Every time I’ve had a chance to set foot on that stage, great memories have been made and last night was no exception. Of all the shows the Bowl puts on during its summer season, this one is particularly close to my heart because of the money raised for Music Matters. Music Matters is an organization that brings music education and inspiration to thousands of young people in my hometown. Last night was sold out and they raised over a million dollars for THANK YOU for making that happen. I also want to thank the great fans who, in their seemingly never ending quest to help make a difference, bought a rather pricey page in the program…every dollar of it going to Music Matters.
Met and made quite a few friends last night as well. Hanging out with Fred Willard and Eric Idle who are two of my comedy heros was a blast. As was getting to know everyone who works in and around the L.A. Phil. As an artist who doesn’t really fit into specific category, to feel part of such a culturally significant organization and to share that support means the world to me. This Hall of Fame award is really the first award ever given to me in my career. The first was Most Promising Newcomer ‘94, handed to me by my 7’th grade music class. 15 years later it seems strange receiving anything that feels like a “lifetime achievement”. It also makes me inspired to keep my head down, work even harder, and hopefully live up to everything that it means. And to me, personally and professionally, this one means a great deal.
Thats all for now from this gloomy grateful day
josh ;)
The following review was posted on the LA Times website -
Review: Josh Groban, Kiri Te Kanawa at Hollywood Bowl opening night
2:34 PM, June 20, 2009
It was a chocolate and champagne sort of night at the Hollywood Bowl.
The festive mood at Friday's season-opening concert proved extra-conducive for enjoying those consumables from one's picnic basket, while, in a more fanciful sense, those flavors wafted on the air as cocoa-voiced Josh Groban and effervescent soprano Kiri Te Kanawa performed separate sets as new inductees into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame.
As a double bill, these talents might have seemed an odd combination -- the 28-year-old boy-man who sends his female fan base swooning with a repertoire that is a bit pop, a bit classical and a bit world music, yet not really any of them, and the celebrated, ever-radiant 65-year-old opera star who's gone largely missing for more than a decade now.
Yet diversity is one of the qualities embraced by the Hall of Fame, which showcases performers who "embody the spirit of the Bowl," as Thomas Wilkins, the evening's conductor and genial emcee, explained.
Proof of that precept promptly materialized as the hall's first inductees, country singer Garth Brooks and composer-conductor John Williams manned a stage-side lectern to introduce this10th anniversary Hall of Fame concert.
Josh When, more than two hours later, Groban and Te Kanawa twined voices for a surprise duet on Cole Porter’s “True Love,” they proved remarkably complementary, with Te Kanawa skimming like a bird just above Groban’s deep waters.
Their fans, on the other hand, were grin-inducingly eclectic. Pre-performance, one Grobanite was the talk of adjoining boxes of concert-goers after she walked by proudly baring the singer’s portrait, tattooed on her upper arm. Later, when Te Kanawa arrived on stage, a shout of “Aotearoa” – the Maori phrase that characterizes her New Zealand homeland as the land of the “long white cloud” – rang out in greeting from one exuberant spectator.
During his five-song, post-intermission performance, hometown boy Groban faced a hillside rainbow of glow sticks and was bathed in a continuous strobe effect from camera flashes. He moved athletically from keyboard to drum kit before planting himself at a standing mike, backed, as Te Kanawa earlier had been, by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra.
The capacity audience of nearly 18,000 whooped for the Groban staple “February Song,” a bittersweet ballad about a young man in search of himself, and “Pearls,” a mournful-resilient tribute to the people of Somalia, performed with Angelique Kidjo, the Beninese singer who’s been his tour mate. A still louder response greeted Groban’s set-capping performance of “Anthem,” from the rock musical “Chess.” He headlined a concert version of the show last year in London; Friday, he was backed by young singers from his alma mater, the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts.
Kiri In the first half, Te Kanawa elicited anticipatory applause as, in the middle of her five-song set, she sent aloft the first phrase of “O mio babbino caro,” the Puccini aria for which the world has recognized her ever since her rendition of it was used in the 1985 film “A Room With a View.” Through the rest of the song, the purity and languor in her voice seemed to float gently down upon the audience like feathers released from some heavenly pillow-cloud. That downy quality also was evident in a graceful pairing with pal and fellow star Frederica von Stade in the fond, playful “Ah guarda, sorella” duet from Mozart’s “Cosi fan Tutte.”
Prior Hall of Fame inductees Tricia Yearwood and Roger Daltrey made brief, 10th anniversary appearances. The country singer struggled to fit her voice to a cross-genre song choice, the standard “I’ll Be Seeing You”; Daltrey half-roared, half-spoke a pair of songs that he once delivered so smoothly in the Who’s “Tommy.”
Te Kanawa and Groban, conversely, made singing seem effortless – though, as any singer knows, that is absolutely not the case. Proper technique requires physical stamina and years of training. Both Te Kanawa and Groban are enthusiastic supporters of music outreach and training, another reason for their presence at this fundraising concert for the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s educational Music Matters program. The evening raised nearly $1 million, according to a post-performance news release.
