living, thinking and writing
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Wednesday, May 12, 2004 Seeing Josh We drove to San Diego for Josh Groban concert. Though he will hold one in Los Angeles, his hometown, in late August, we did not know it when we ordered the tickets as early as in March, the night we happened to push button to PBS Great Performance featuring his concert. Well, because of the superb experience we had with PBS, the concert last night, while still flawless, feels a little soulless. In the other word, the live concert sounds like the exact copy of his two CDs, in want of some personal touch. He surely can sing live, as perfectly as he does in studio; however what we expect is a little twist/variation in a concert. Compare to his elegant and classic look in PBS Great Performance, last night he seemed much groovier, with bigger hair, striped shirt and tight jean. The only surprise was his impromptu (at least it seems like one) of “Look for America” at the last encore. His unique sincerity and purity coming with his young age, gives a fresh tint to this beloved song; he played the pino alone while sang the song, very charming. But the real show stopper last night was his first violin, a young girl with black, long hair. During an intermission, the girl in red played a solo adapted from Queen’s “Bohemia Rhapsody” so passionately that she brought about the only stand-up applause except the ones during curtain call. I would hate to think Groban just wanted this show in San Diego to be over earlier since ‘home is only miles away, and hours away” as he said on stage. I knew he was in this national tour for long; I understand that any repetitive practice, even an artful and inspiring one, could be a labor’s work at the end. He is so young and sings with such powerful, sweet and intoxicating voice. But I am not convinced that he’s touched by the song himself at the first place, and his singing in turn can only gave pleasure to my ears but not touch my heart. Groban got an amazing voice; a give that draws tens of thousands of music lovers together, regardless of ages and genders. The audience last night were really diversified: with well-dressed middle to upper class and mid age as majority, but also many younger and older faces on sight. Two girls behind us kept screaming and deafened us all night, joining other young fans interspersed in the huge arena. I got the feeling that Groban is in a process of defining self, in deciding what kind of artist/singer he wants to be. It is hard, like how do you define his concert, mostly with art songs, but was hold in a stadium, with some people eating pizza and buffalo wing, and others sipping red wine…He certainly has talent and style for classical or musical, but he also play with folk and ballad very smoothly. However, the diversified styles from the broad selections of songs do not really reflect in his singing. Using Bin’s words, why do all the songs sound the same tune? It is not the songs, but the singing, dude. He is so young, and I would hate to see him degraded into a singing machine entangled in national tours and all kinds of venues, even it means scantier opportunities to see his performance. We would rather see Groban an artist than Josh the star. After all, he is our favorite young singer for whom we will not bother to drive 3 hours in rush hour to see the little spot of him from the far and high terrace seats. And I found an amazing usage of cell phone in concert. My friend, another big fan of Groban, listened to several songs with us at his phone, from home at St. Louis, MO. I’m sure I’m not the first one coming up with the idea of dialing your cell phone during the show. As long as I don’t make any noise…anyway, it is in a staduim with people eating pizza and drinking beer. I know taping concert sometimes could be illegal, how about transmitting the show through cell phone? Any regulation? posted by lmeimei @1:07 AM| permanent link| | |
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