Meeting Josh Groban (April 2013)...

One of the perks of being a member of Josh's fan-club, is that members are eligible to enter a meet & greet lottery when Josh tours.  I know I've been extremely lucky when it comes to meeting Josh, and when it was announced that Josh would be coming back to Australia with the "All That Echoes" tour, I entered for the shows I would be attending.  In the past, 5 members were selected for the M&G and they could bring a guest, but this year it changed to have 10 FoJG winners with no guests.

I was pretty excited when I got an email a few days before the tour began telling me that I was one of the lucky winners for a M&G with Josh before what would be my first show in Melbourne, which was going to be the best start to my epic adventure of 6 shows in 8 days.

My winning email notification!!!

Melbourne - Night One (Saturday 20th April)

So the day arrived. I flew into Melbourne early and met my friend Jo at the airport as she'd flown in from Sydney.  And coincidentally, she also won a M&G to the same show as well. After checking in to our hotel we then heading out to St Kilda for lunch. We wandered down towards the Palais Theatre to scope it out before the show.  We saw Darren and heard Josh rehearsing, but we didn't stick around.  Instead it was back to the hotel to get changed and prepare for our Meet & Greet.

When we arrived back at the venue, we collected our M&G pass at the box office, met some of the other winners and waited for Darren. Being in the fan club meant were were also at the front of the line to meet Josh.

Meet & Greet madness...

Unlike the M&G I had in the States that was held in a pretty uninviting corridor in the depths of a huge arena, this M&G actually took place inside the Theatre, which was pretty cool because of its Art Deco architecture, which meant a great background for our photos.  I talked to Josh very briefly about seeing him in New York back in January, where I'd kind of doubted him when he said he was going to come back to Australia. Guess he proved he was true to his word on that one, so thanks Josh. I then got him to sign the picture we had taken that day. Of course, in all of this, I forgot to ask to have my signature personalized. Oh well, such is life!

Best pic of the night...

Josh came out and signed after the show.  It was pretty manic, so I made a conscious decision to hang back and made sure that that newbies were up the front.  I had printed out some pics that I'd taken during the "Straight to Your" tour and gave away a few so peeps had something other than their ticket to get signed.  Although I did hang back, I was still able to do a big reach over to get my "Straight to You" Heart picture signed.

Melbourne craziness!!!

Melbourne - Night Two (Sunday 21st April)

After the show was pretty crazy once again.  There was probably about the same number of people as the night before.  I again used my big reach over to get my copy of Konosaki No Michi signed.

Yes, Josh has a song sung in Japanese...

Sydney - Night One (Tuesday 23rd April)

After the first Sydney show, the band hung around a little which gave us a perfect opportunity to say "hi".  The Groband is a fantastic group of musicians who make the whole JG experience even more special.  We even saw them afterwards when we went down to the Opera Bar for a drink.  But we let them enjoy their night and didn't bother them.

With Christian Hebel, Pete Korpela, Andre Manga & Tariqh Akoni...

Sydney - Night Two (Wednesday 24th April)

Stage door wasn't quite as crazy and was a little more organised than the previous night.  Josh was very relaxed and signed for ages.  The Groband also hung out a little as well.

Night 2 post-show madness at the Sydney Opera House...

Brisbane - Night One (Friday 26th April)

After the first show in Brisbane, most people were waiting at stage door, however I knew this wasn't where he came out last time, so my friends followed me as I headed to another exit.  My hunch paid off, and as there were only a handful of us waiting when Darren eventually made an appearance.  He said that he'd bring Josh out, but we had strict instructions not to tweet where we were. Darren was pretty relaxed and even forgot to go through the rules, which provided me with a perfect opportunity to tell Josh that it was "Hug an Australian Day" (thanks to Jaz for the heads up on that one).  And to my surprise, I actually got a full-on proper hug from Josh, not the usual M&G "side hug".

Night 1 Brisbane...

Brisbane - Night Two (Saturday 27th April)

It was a little sad when the final show of the Australian tour arrived.  During the show, I even had a couple of interactions with Josh from my front row position.  Firstly we had a bit of a discussion about the use of G'day at night and then use of Brissy vs BrisVegas which was pretty funny.  Then thanks to my dear friend Cora, I got one of Josh's drumsticks after his drum sole, which was an awesome early birthday present.  After the show we headed back to where Josh came out the night before.  And for what ever reason, there were a lot more people around when Darren appeared, but thankfully he still let Josh come out.  It was the very first show for a couple of my old work friends, so I made sure they were up the front, along with a few other randoms.  Thankfully Cora was able to get my drumstick signed and my super reach came in handy one last time and I got one more photo signed.

Time to say goodbye...

So I somehow survived 6 amazing shows in 8 days, and it was so wonderful to be able to share the fun with my Grobie buddies.  Who knows when Josh will back, but I hope that it's not another 6 years.

Just s few signatures to add to my collection...