Josh Groban - Sydney Opera House...

If I had to describe Josh Grobans' concert in just one word that word would be phenomenal; with that word only doing partial justice to the amazing concert I was privileged to witness on Monday night at the Concert Hall of the world famous Sydney Opera House.

Having never been to a performance at the Opera House before, I’m now able to tick off another one of my “Things To Do Before I Die” list. I really was totally blown away, first by the setting and then secondly by Josh’s amazing performance.

Katie Noonan took to the stage first and she was awesome. I didn’t know many of her songs as most were off her new album, but even so you can’t help but appreciate her amazing talents.

After a short interval, Josh took to the stage and started the show with “You Are Loved” and it really set the tone for the rest of the show. If you don't know about Josh and his music, it's a little hard to explain as he doesn't fit into a specific genre. He sings in English and Italian, but he also tackles Spanish and French songs and his music is diverse as it includes classical and pop recordings. He is classically trained, but is influenced by a very wide and eclectic range of music, which results in a contemporary style that seems to transcend the boundaries between popular and classical.

Josh displayed his versatility during the performance, as along with his flawless voice, he played the piano (which he does beautifully) and then he surprised the audience when he displayed his talents playing the drums. And from what I understand he's self-taught on both instruments... Talk about talent!

The only thing that was as wonderful as his singing was the rapport he developed with the audience. Josh’s upfront, honest and lightly comical delivery charmed the audience, he came across not as a performer who was conceited or arrogant but as one who genuinely enjoyed communicating with the audience and loved being doing what he does best. He is quite a witty dude, and seems to have a real sense of fun and dagginess that comes across as so enduring to the audience.

For me, the highlight of the show was when Josh did his walk thru the crowd during "In Her Eyes". The music started playing, but he was nowhere on stage, then suddenly the spot-light was pointed up into the boxes and there he was. He then started to make his way through the crowd. I was lucky enough to be on the end of my row in the Dress Circle (Row M), and couldn't believe it when at one point Josh was standing right beside me. He was looking directly at me and was singing, and he then placed his hand on my shoulder. Talk about swoon.. I tried my best to get a pic with Josh, but unfortunately I was so excited I didn't have the right settings on the camera, so he moved away after the red eye flash went off, so all I got was part of his arm. Damn! Anyway, here's the pic of his arm and yes his hand was resting on my shoulder. Be still my beating heart...

After he got back to the stage he joked "You guys have lots of steps here!", which is so very true.

There was great diversity in the age groups of the fans at the Opera House on Monday night, from the 20 somethings to the 70 somethings, with a very, very high percentage of the female gender, which was a total surprise -- NOT!!!!

So my recommendation is that if you get the chance to see Josh Groban in concert and you don’t go, you are missing out on a rare opportunity to see a performance that is not only entertaining, it is one that is a moving and inspiring experience as well.

While I can’t recall the exact set list, songs he performed included:

* You Are Loved
* Mai
* Now Or Never
* So She Dances
* February Song
* Alla Luce del Sole
* In Her Eyes
* L’ultima Notte
* Remember When It Rained
* Lullaby
* To Where You Are
* Weeping
* Machine
* Canto Alla Vita
* You Raise Me Up

Here's a video of Josh singing "To Where You Are" and while the quality of the video isn't great, the audio is pretty good and you can really hear just what an amazing voice Josh has-

And finally, here's a quick video that I captured of Josh singing "You Raise Me Up". Again the video quality isn't great, but it's not too bad considering how far away I was. I also had no control over the person in front of me who went a little crazy at one point...