JOSH!!!
This is rather lengthy, so I'm cutting it. Josh was AWESOME!!!
Josh was SO amazing last night. Oh my God, I haven't been to a concert that good before. His opener was this amazing pianist, William Joseph, who apparently used to play the organ for a pro hockey team in Phoenix. He was soooo good, but he only played for about half an hour. The people behind me were being really rude, too; they kept talking really loud, and it was driving me crazy. I wanted to just turn around and say, "Do you think you could show some respect and stop talking?" One just doesn't jabber through a classical concert. Had it been rock or something, it wouldn't have bothered me, but as a classical musician myself... I hate it when people talk during concerts, or clap after a movement instead of after an entire piece.
Anyway, we waited about half an hour, and then Josh came on, preceded by a large pit orchestra, two set drummers, a pianist, two guitar players... it was a massive ensemble. He opened with "Oceano," one of my favorite songs on "Closer." It was SO SO SO amazing. When he first came on, he was wearing a black suit-type thing with a purple button-up shirt and red Converse. (Yeah, I was that close.) He then sang "Per Te," and "To Where You Are," which is what he sang when he was on Ally McBeal. Next, he sang "Mi Mancherai," another one of my favorite songs from "Closer." He had a little dialogue with the audience after that; he actually sang a different version of Jamie's and my "We Love You Mulkins" song.. "I love you guys, you know I do, when you're not with me, I'm blue.." it was SO cute. He's just so beautiful. He's the most beautiful person I've ever seen.
Then he sang "Alla Luce del Sol," which is one of my favorites from his self-titled first album. He then introduced his amazing violinist, Lucia something (I never caught her last night), and he went offstage to give his voice a break and to change. Lucia played a song from her new album, and then segued into "Bohemian Rhapsody." It was really awesome. She ended with another song from her album, and then Josh came back on. He sang "Alejate," which I don't really like, and "Caruso," which I also don't really like, but then did "Vincent," the song by Don McLean about Vincent Van Gogh. That is one of my all-time favorite Josh songs. So beautiful. Then he did "Remember When it Rained," another favorite from "Closer." He played piano on that one, and I got some REALLY good pictures of him doing that. He was featured on the screen when he did that, and I got pictures of that with the actual Josh off to the side. He also played set on "Alejate," during a break, and he is an AMAZING set player. I was really impressed; I didn't know he played set.
Then he took another little break, and came back to finish up with "You Raise Me Up," no big surprise there. He always recruits local musicians to do his concerts, and he had the Vancouver choir, and probably most of the Vancouver community orchestra. It was AWESOME. The choir came onto these bleacher type things right before their huge entrance; it was really cool. I had goosebumps throughout almost the entire concert.
Then Josh left the stage, and he got a huge standing ovation, so he came back on and played a Simon and Garfunkel tune, "America." He also played piano on that, which was awesome. After that, he left again, but the applause was so thunderous that he came back again, and so did his musicians, to play "Never Let Go," which I really hate, because it sounds really New Age-y, and it's not right for his voice at all. I could see Sting or somebody like that doing it, but not Josh. That was unfortunate.
I took a TON of pictures, too. Almost 40, but I had to pare them down to 19, because a bunch of them were either really blurry or really dark because of poor lighting. After I finish with this entry, I'll share them.
So, after the concert, everyone flooded into the parking lot, where we all proceeded to sit, unmoving, for almost an hour and a half. Then, somehow, everything opened up and everyone got to leave, except me. When I'd turned my car on, my gas light came on, and so I parked and waited until I could no longer see tail lights, so i could be sure of a straight shot to the one gas station in Ridgefield. During that time, I was fucking freezing, because, according to the readerboard outside the amphitheatre, it was 54 degrees, and since my car wasn't on, I had no heat. I turned it all the way off, so for two hours, I was without music, which drives me crazy. I actually used a Port-A-Potty during that time as well. SOOOOO gross. I don't understand how I had to pee so badly, either; I hadn't had anything to drink during the entire concert, and I'd gone twice before the concert started and twice before I left my apartment. Very weird. But eventually (around 2am), I made it home and went right to bed.
Here are my Josh pictures!!
Oh! I forgot! He sang "Remember," the theme song that he did for "Troy," and he went off on this random tangent before he sang it... "Good movie. I wasn't in the movie. Arrr. But I got a helmet. Sometimes I pretend." He's actually really funny. Whenever he went off on tangents, he'd say, "And now for a brief intermission...we will return when I can focus!" He was really hyper. Apparently he's a big fan of Pixy Stix.
Also, I was sad that he didn't sing my favorite song, "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring." There's this part at the end that always gives me goosebumps, no matter how many times I've listened to it. It's so gorgeous.
Josh was SO amazing last night. Oh my God, I haven't been to a concert that good before. His opener was this amazing pianist, William Joseph, who apparently used to play the organ for a pro hockey team in Phoenix. He was soooo good, but he only played for about half an hour. The people behind me were being really rude, too; they kept talking really loud, and it was driving me crazy. I wanted to just turn around and say, "Do you think you could show some respect and stop talking?" One just doesn't jabber through a classical concert. Had it been rock or something, it wouldn't have bothered me, but as a classical musician myself... I hate it when people talk during concerts, or clap after a movement instead of after an entire piece.
Anyway, we waited about half an hour, and then Josh came on, preceded by a large pit orchestra, two set drummers, a pianist, two guitar players... it was a massive ensemble. He opened with "Oceano," one of my favorite songs on "Closer." It was SO SO SO amazing. When he first came on, he was wearing a black suit-type thing with a purple button-up shirt and red Converse. (Yeah, I was that close.) He then sang "Per Te," and "To Where You Are," which is what he sang when he was on Ally McBeal. Next, he sang "Mi Mancherai," another one of my favorite songs from "Closer." He had a little dialogue with the audience after that; he actually sang a different version of Jamie's and my "We Love You Mulkins" song.. "I love you guys, you know I do, when you're not with me, I'm blue.." it was SO cute. He's just so beautiful. He's the most beautiful person I've ever seen.
Then he sang "Alla Luce del Sol," which is one of my favorites from his self-titled first album. He then introduced his amazing violinist, Lucia something (I never caught her last night), and he went offstage to give his voice a break and to change. Lucia played a song from her new album, and then segued into "Bohemian Rhapsody." It was really awesome. She ended with another song from her album, and then Josh came back on. He sang "Alejate," which I don't really like, and "Caruso," which I also don't really like, but then did "Vincent," the song by Don McLean about Vincent Van Gogh. That is one of my all-time favorite Josh songs. So beautiful. Then he did "Remember When it Rained," another favorite from "Closer." He played piano on that one, and I got some REALLY good pictures of him doing that. He was featured on the screen when he did that, and I got pictures of that with the actual Josh off to the side. He also played set on "Alejate," during a break, and he is an AMAZING set player. I was really impressed; I didn't know he played set.
Then he took another little break, and came back to finish up with "You Raise Me Up," no big surprise there. He always recruits local musicians to do his concerts, and he had the Vancouver choir, and probably most of the Vancouver community orchestra. It was AWESOME. The choir came onto these bleacher type things right before their huge entrance; it was really cool. I had goosebumps throughout almost the entire concert.
Then Josh left the stage, and he got a huge standing ovation, so he came back on and played a Simon and Garfunkel tune, "America." He also played piano on that, which was awesome. After that, he left again, but the applause was so thunderous that he came back again, and so did his musicians, to play "Never Let Go," which I really hate, because it sounds really New Age-y, and it's not right for his voice at all. I could see Sting or somebody like that doing it, but not Josh. That was unfortunate.
I took a TON of pictures, too. Almost 40, but I had to pare them down to 19, because a bunch of them were either really blurry or really dark because of poor lighting. After I finish with this entry, I'll share them.
So, after the concert, everyone flooded into the parking lot, where we all proceeded to sit, unmoving, for almost an hour and a half. Then, somehow, everything opened up and everyone got to leave, except me. When I'd turned my car on, my gas light came on, and so I parked and waited until I could no longer see tail lights, so i could be sure of a straight shot to the one gas station in Ridgefield. During that time, I was fucking freezing, because, according to the readerboard outside the amphitheatre, it was 54 degrees, and since my car wasn't on, I had no heat. I turned it all the way off, so for two hours, I was without music, which drives me crazy. I actually used a Port-A-Potty during that time as well. SOOOOO gross. I don't understand how I had to pee so badly, either; I hadn't had anything to drink during the entire concert, and I'd gone twice before the concert started and twice before I left my apartment. Very weird. But eventually (around 2am), I made it home and went right to bed.
Here are my Josh pictures!!
Oh! I forgot! He sang "Remember," the theme song that he did for "Troy," and he went off on this random tangent before he sang it... "Good movie. I wasn't in the movie. Arrr. But I got a helmet. Sometimes I pretend." He's actually really funny. Whenever he went off on tangents, he'd say, "And now for a brief intermission...we will return when I can focus!" He was really hyper. Apparently he's a big fan of Pixy Stix.
Also, I was sad that he didn't sing my favorite song, "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring." There's this part at the end that always gives me goosebumps, no matter how many times I've listened to it. It's so gorgeous.