Josh Groban in Sydney...

OMG - this really did happen!!!

I realized this weekend that I hadn't done an entry about my Josh Groban encounter in Sydney back in December. Maybe it's a sign that my 'josh-brain' is returning to normal (???).  Anyway, for prosperity's sake, here it is (and yes, it's a little long)...

This adventure all started with a text message I got from one of my friends around lunchtime on Dec 1st - "OMG josh is going carols in the domain in Sydney!!!! according to a google alert". Well that set off a chain events that culminated in a great weekend in Sydney a week before Christmas.

Given Carols in the Domain is a Channel 7 event, we were pretty confident early on that Josh would also do a performance on "Sunrise" the network's morning show so for those of us from interstate, and even though we only had two weeks to plan, we cleverly arranged to fly into Sydney on Thursday night.  And as it turned out, we were spot on when we got confirmation that Josh would be performing on both "Sunrise" and "The Morning Show".

FRIDAY MORNING
We were up early on Friday morning to head down to "Breaky Central" at Martin Place in Sydney.  We got there a little after 7am and not long after we arrived, Josh's car pulled up.  He got out, gave us a quick wave and told us he'd be out later.  He nearly tripped going up the stairs but thankfully he caught himself just in time and a tragedy was averted.

Josh performed "Higher Window" on Sunrise.  Here's the clip (and yes, if you look hard, you can see me a couple of times).

After "Sunrise" finished, the presenters all came out onto the plaza for pics and a bit of a meet and then it was all systems go for "The Morning Show".  I also caught up with an old uni friend Karen, who works just down the road from Breaky Central.  It had been years since I'd last seen her, so it was good to catch up.

A couple of excited Grobies...

Thanks to my friend Jo, a couple of us were very, very lucky to be allowed inside the studio for the performance of Bells of New York City for "The Morning Show". Jo had mentioned that it might be a possibility but given it wasn't a confirmed thing I really didn't think it would happen so when it did I was beside myself.

Before going inside the studio, we had to turn off our mobile phones etc, were told we could use our cameras without the flash and that we had to keep very quiet as we'd be watching it from the mezzanine level that overlooked the set.

Our view from above...

Not wanting to risk being thrown out we all complied with the rules, even though we would have loved to have been able to say hello to Josh from above. So we were all up standing around the balcony saying under our breath "look up Josh, look up Josh" and just hoping that we would. But all he seemed to do was look around the studio, talk to Tariqh and the musicians on set, so we thought he wouldn't know we were there.

Tariqh and Josh...

 

But thankfully, he eventually looked up and was a bit surprised to see us there. He then pretended to throw things at the "hecklers" above and told the string section that there were snipers above (complete with arm actions), which was pretty funny.

When Josh finally spotted us...

The next funny moment was when they crossed to show him as the upcoming guest. The camera swept in from above him with YRMU playing in the background, and he and the musicians were waving, and then Josh decided to a very 'royal' wave, before pretending to wave a candle back and forth... And the hosts said "nice wave... that's a game show wave".  They then crossed to an break and during this time, Josh did a quick rehearsal of "Bells of New York City".

The wave...

Here's the performance of Bells of New York City (and yes, Kylie needs to do a little more research as we all know "You Raise Me Up" didn't earn Josh a Grammy Award).

And lastly, just after they finished interviewing Josh, they crossed to an 'advertorial' for "strengthening those abs", and Josh being Josh was walking off set and used both hands to "check out his abs" which was a pretty funny moment.

Although we hoped we might get to meet Josh in the studio, we were eventually ushered out and joined the small crowd waiting for him to come out. We were a little worried that he might go out a different route as there was an "overenthusiastic fan" (although the I use the term fan loosely) in the crowd but security handled it really well. Josh came out and signed and even took pictures with us before he had to be whisked away as he was late for a radio interview.  We also took the opportunity to say hi to Tariqh, Josh's guitarist, and let me tell you, this man gives the most awesome hugs!

My autograph from Josh...

Before getting to Sydney we found out that they do a full rehearsal of the show on Friday night (thanks for the tip Bec) and that it was open to the public, so it didn't take a miracle to work out where we'd be spending our Friday night. While at Sunrise we also found out that Josh was scheduled for a rehearsal sound-check at around 6:20pm, which was excellent information.

After a bit of de-brief after the excitement of the shows, we then went our own way. I caught up with my friend Karen for lunch which was great. We grabbed some food and then headed to the Domain, for a quick catchup on what's been happening in our lives these past years.  The storm clouds looked pretty ominous while we were there, but thankfully they cleared during the afternoon.

FRIDAY AFTERNOON
I met my friends in the hotel bar for a drink before heading down to the Domain for the rehearsal. Did someone say drinks??? (and yes, I am wearing a Santa hat...)

Did someone say drinks! And yes, I'm wearing a santa hat...

It's took us about 15 minute to walk to the Domain from the hotel and when we got there the Wiggles were on stage doing a bit of pre-rehearsal check as well. There were probably a couple of thousand people there, but we had a great spot directly in front of the stage but a little way back.

When they rolled out the piano, I made my way up closer to the stage so I could get a better look. 

 

Now for my little fan-girl moment - while I was up close to the stage, Josh was sitting at the piano looking around and for a brief moment "our eyes met" so I gave him a little wave, and HE WAVED BACK!!!!! It was pretty darn exciting.

The proper dress rehearsal then started which they actually record just in-case of any power failures etc on the actual night.  We had to wait about an hour or so before Josh came out to sing "Hidden Away" and "Bells of New York City".  He then came out towards the end to sing "You Raise Me Up".  For me, the weird thing was, that although Josh has one of the best selling Christmas album of all time, they didn't have him sing a Christmas song.  Weird, weird, weird!!!!

Looking good on the big screen...

SATURDAY
The day arrived and it the day of Carols in the Domain. After a late breakfast we headed to the Domain and arrived at around midday. Thanks to an incredible stroke of luck, Trish was able to secure us tickets to the VIP lawn area right up the very front which was beyond AWESOME!! This also meant that unlike most of the crowd we didn't need to either camp out over night (yes some people that were at the rehearsal on Friday night set up camp and stayed overnight) or get to the park very early on Saturday morning. There were already thousands in the park when we arrived and I just knew it was going to be a magical night.

The crowd when we arrived...

Looking towards the VIP seats and VIP lawn area...

Good friends - Jo, Me, Trish, Emma & Tracey...

We arrived around lunchtime, but couldn't access the VIP area until 2pm, so we joined a small line that was forming to get in to ensure we'd have first pick at the available spots. Once we were allowed into the VIP area we picked a spot that wasn't right up the very front as we wanted to have a good view of Josh and not be blocked by the stage.  Then it became a waiting game as the show didn't start until just before 8:30pm. During this time I also caught up with a couple of other Grobies and had a bit of wander around the site and it was really great seeing so many families out spending some quality time together.

Our amazing view...

Even the police horses got into the festive mood...

The crowd is building...

Good friends getting into the festive spirit...

We picked up our candle bags, which for a $15 donation, got a bag of stuff donated from various companies that was valued at over $100 and it had everything in it from tuna, chocolate, biscuits, granola, tea to air freshener, hand sanitizer and even toilet paper).  All proceeds going to the Salvation Army Oasis Youth Support Network, who work with young people affected by homelessness and provide them with support to move from the streets to independent living and employment. But most importantly we'd have our candles, candle holders and matches to get into the spirit later in the evening. 

February Song on the big screen...

Storm clouds were gathering in afternoon, but thankfully they cleared for a perfect Sydney evening.

It was just about time to begin. What an amazing evening...

 

The view from above...

I can only imagine what this looked like from the stage...

"Hidden Away"

"Bells of New York City"

"You Raise Me Up"

It really was a magical night and following his performances Josh tweeted the following, so I think I can safely say that he enjoyed himself -

This was the amazing view from the back of the stage looking out over the crowd. I can only imagine what Josh was feeling as he looked out onto the crowd.

And so even after 4 months, I'm still on a Groban-high.

Thanks again to Jo for getting us into "The Morning Show" and to Trish for her amazing ability to get us VIP tickets for Carols at the last minute.

All my pics from the weekend (and yes, I took a few) can be found at my SmugMug site

Sunrise and the Morning Show - click here.
Carols rehearsal - chick here.
Carols in the Doman - click here.