Many PBS stations offer the DVD as a pledge gift
PBS featured the show Josh Groban: An evening in New York City as part of its pledge drive this month. The concert was taped for the PBS show, Soundstage, at the Rose Theater in New York City last year. The size of the venue offered a much more intimate setting than the typical venue on the Awake concert tour. The singer even joked about the audience being so close that they could “throw tomatoes” at him. There was no chance of tomato throwing at this event. The concert was a brilliant display of his vocal talent.
The show opened with the song “You Are Loved” which featured a much more complex arrangement than on the Awake album. The song was understated yet still uplifting. In the song “Lullaby,” the vocoder was dropped and replaced with the serene harmony of backup singers. It was performed in its purest form with just piano and somewhat hushed, angelic voices echoing throughout the theater. It is what a lullaby should sound like. Other highlights of the show were a funky solo by Paul Simon’s former bassist, Bakithi Kumalo and accompaniments by Chris Botti and Herbie Hancock. Botti’s trumpet added some richness to the song “Broken Vow.” Hancock is a master at the keys. His collaboration on “Machine” proved that Josh can make people want to dance.
Josh has definitely grown as an artist. This is a far cry from his humble beginnings under David Foster’s wing. When compared to his first PBS performance back in 2002, he has matured by leaps and bounds. He has broken out of his shell and taken more risks with his music. From the cinematography, to the stage set, the Soundstage show had a much more polished look. Josh has expressed his interest in doing more stripped down shows in smaller venues on the next tour. If this is an example of what’s to come, then it surely should not be missed.
Comments
I might throw tomatoes ;-)
Rosa,
You are on the money with your comments on this performance. I can understand why PBS used this concert as part of their fund raising effort.
How could you listen to Josh Groban and not immediately go out and buy every one of his CD's you could get your hands on!
Loved the concert! Looking forward to seeing him "live" one day (just don't know when).
Spot on review of this excellent concert!
I was lucky to attend the taping of this concert & it was a magical night - I kept pinching myself the whole time - I'm a huge fan & have seen JOSH many times but the Rose Hall venue & JOSH's interaction with the audience was like nothing I'd ever experienced. He is a very funny guy & although those portions were edited I am thrilled that PBS is sharing this performance with everyone!!
This is his best DVD ever-simply beautiful. The small venue showcases his voice. So why did KQED and K TSH in Northern Calif. cancel all june performances the day they were to start? Do yoou know Rosa?
In regards to Katy's question about the soundstage cancellation. Here is a response from KQED:
The Neil Young program was originally being presented as a pledge program, with built-in pledge breaks offering DVDs of the program as the main Thank You Gift for membership contributions. Warner Brothers decided on Tuesday June 9th that they were not going to release the DVD at this time after all. So that suddenly left us with a pledge program offering an unavailable gift. So we pulled the program out of our fundraising schedule (as have many other PBS stations across the country). We're sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.
The Groban, Clapton and Stevie Wonder programs were also designed to be fundraising programs. Unfortunately, PBS stations all across the country have reported that neither show performed well in that particular regard, and very few viewers called in pledges of support.
continued quote from KQED...
"We make no bones about the fact that the primary purpose of a pledge drive is to raise the funds that help purchase the many programs you enjoy on KQED and/or KTEH. So when programs do not functioning well as fundraisers, it doesn't make much sense to continue to air them during the pledge drive. So the programs were replaced in our schedule.
Our program director will reschedule them as regular TV shows at some point in future, but he doesn't have any airdates selected at this time. You might want to add your email address to our "Arts-Music" email interest list, which gets twice-monthly alerts regarding programs of possible appeal airing on either KQED or KTEH, so that you can keep an eye out for future broadcasts.
THANK YOU FOR GETTING AN ANSWER FROM KQED.ROSA.BELIEVE ME I HAD TRIED. TOO BAD A MARKET LIKE OURS NEVER GOT A CHANCE TO EVEN SEE THIS BEAUTIFULCONCERT. OH WELL AT LEAST I HAVE MY ORDER FROM JOSHS WEBSITE.
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