Extrawesometasticy

You know, I was super stoked to get tickets for Joshy at Christmas, but then I waited so long to get the tickets and then so much longer for the date of the concert to come around, that it didn't have a super excited build up for the concert. (For some reason I started calling Josh Groban that. Not really sure why.) I knew it was coming and I wanted to see him, but I got stuck in that mindset of 'Oh, it's still a ways away.' But, oh man, when he walked out and I actually saw him..., well I think Dylan still has dents in his arms attesting to how excited I was. And I stayed out-of-my-mind giddy the entire night.

I'll back up and start a couple days ago. I got an email saying that they closed the 300 level of the arena, so our tickets got upgraded. So, instead of sitting front and center row 301A, we were sitting front and center row 201A. Much better tickets; sad because that means crazy people out there didn't want to see the amazingness that is Josh Groban, but good for us. We were going to pick up the new tickets on Thurs., but were told we had to pick them up on the day. Seeing as how we're not crazy and didn't want to be in a crazy line right before the concert, we decided to get them during regular box office hours.

Now, me, I'm used to the Bell Center or Rogers Arena, both of which are smack down in the middle of downtown in their respective cities. Ottawa saw the flaws in that thinking and made the obvious choice to have their arena in the middle of freaking nowhere. Stittsville, or Kanata, or something like that.

So, it took us a good hour to hour and a half to get out to the general area by bus, then we brought our bikes to make the 20 min ride to the actual arena (there are buses that run special for events that we took home afterwards, but the website doesn't think it's a good idea to specify times for these buses). We got off the bus about 15 mins before the box office closed at 4pm, so Dylan took off to obtain tickets. He was successful with ticket-getting, slightly less successful at appearing sane to the box office people. He came back to me and we wasted time in the wonderful air conditioning Walmart offered. Then ate dinner an delicious fast-food burrito place, Mucho Burrito. Think Subway, but classier and with burritos. Doors for the concert were at 7pm, so naturally by 6pm I was getting antsy to get to the arena. After Dylan convinced me to wait 20 mins, we headed down and got there about 15 mins before doors... for a concert that we already had our tickets for and it was assigned seating. And, since it was Josh Groban, security wasn't that tight (as in they didn't look twice at Dylan and his huge backpack), so there weren't any delays there either. Dylan was very good, though and let me have my crazy. The concert itself started at 8pm, and even then it was just the opener.

Some guy opened. A rock jazz pianist who did a lot of medley-covers. He was good.

Then Joshy comes on. But instead of walking straight on stage, he walked out from

the back of the arena, directly under our seats, and goes to this mini-stage that was in front of the sound guys and WAY WAY closer to us than the main stage.He sung a couple songs from there right at the beginning, then came back to sing a couple more near the end. Plus, it was nice for the people with floor seats because he obviously had to walk through them to get to and from the main stage. The whole idea he built the tour was to bring a more intimate feel to arena concerts, which I think he did a good job accomplishing. For instance, the last two songs he pulled a few people up from the audience, had them sit on couches, gave them wine, and sung to them. Of course two of the four people were having their 40th wedding anniversary, so Joshy sung them a gorgeous song about cheating.

He's a pretty funny guy. Now, I've watched more than a few clips of him doing talk shows or guest appearances, plus his little vlogs he makes for his fans occasionally, plus follow his twitter (did I mention I'm a fan?), so I knew he was hilarious. But obviously it's going to be better in person. He called his band the Groband. His security guards call the stairs from the floor to the stage GAPs - Grobanite Access Points, and he made fun of them because his fans are not really the type to rush the stage. He told all the men in the audience to sit back and relax, because the concert was probably just the beginning of a long night for them. And, at one point while in the aisles, he did an impromptu chorus of Biance's 'Single Ladies,' in falsetto of course. I enjoyed it.

He also did some singing. Kinda the whole point. A lot from his new albums, but obviously did a few of his big hits like 'You Raise Me Up' and 'You Are Loved.' I have nothing bad to say. I could have sat and listened to him sing for twice as long. It made me goose-bumpy. Most of the time I go to are somewhat more age-appropriate concerts so it's hard for me to compare, but I definitely can't think of a concert I've enjoyed more.