February 22, 2019 – Manila, MOA Arena. After twelve long years, Josh Groban finally came back to the Philippines for a full concert as part of his Bridges World Tour. The concert, which was also in celebration of Ovation Production’s 40th Anniversary in the industry, became one of the most monumental concerts in Manila in recent memory.

Josh Groban, as most of us know, is that world-renowed singer with curly hair, a semi-bushy beard and a classical singing voice that soars to the heavens. He sang some of the most well-loved tunes a lot of Filipinos might have heard in church or might have tried to bravely (and furiously) belted out in a karaoke session, songs like “You Raise Me Up” and “The Prayer”. His voice is one that you would imagine resonating perfectly with a complete string quarter, something that would reverberate in a musical theater.

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Josh Groban started the evening in the highest of notes with “Bigger than Us” and “Won’t Look Back” off his latest album, and “You Are Loved (Don’t Give Up)” from his 2006 album Awake. With the ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra and his live band to back him up, every song felt a lot more powerful than the recorded versions.

“First thing I have to do tonight, besides singing, is to apologize. I’m so sorry it’s taken me twelve years to come back here. I remember so fondly my time here twelve years ago, when I did my concert here. I remember very fondly when my very first album came out, and outside of America, they told me that people in the Philippines were loving the album. To have an audience so far away from home that appreciated my music, and knew me and my songs, I can’t tell you how much it meant to me then and how much it means to me now,” he said as he greeted the crowd.

“It has been one of dreams and one of my most exciting moments for me on this Bridges Tour, to finally be back here in Manila. We only played for 2,000 people before and now, we’re in an arena. Thank you, guys, for making this so wonderful!”

The Manila-Exclusive Performances

The twelve-year wait was indeed a long one for us, but for what it’s worth, it probably worked in our favor as Josh Groban made quite a lot of special arrangements during his Manila stop.

Manila got to see collaborations with two of the Philippines’ world-class artists.

Christian Bautista, who started his career in music by covering Groban’s songs, expressed his gratitude. “Your music defined me. Without you, I wouldn’t be here right now,” Christian admitted. Together, they performed “We Will Meet Once Again” which was a first time for Josh. The song was originally recorded with Andrea Bocelli in Bridges.

Lea Salonga, whom Josh addressed as a ‘national treasure’, performed a duet of “All I Ask of You” (from Phantom of the Opera) and “The Prayer”. Lea, despite sitting in a wheelchair due to an injury, sang beautifully. Coincidentally, she was also celebrating her birthday on the same day so she also got a “Happy Birthday” a la Groban.

Another Manila-exclusive performance was “She’s Out of My Life”, a song he doesn’t really perform live, but did for Manila because he heard that Filipinos love it.

He even went out to praise Filipinos’ love for music: “I think there are more great singers in the Philippines that anywhere else in the world. You love to sing. Singing is part of the culture, sharing music and singing is a part with you share with one another. (…) I’ve met some of the most incredibly talented singers from the Philippines that are not stars not professional singers.(…) your voices are incredible.”

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Josh Groban and his stories

Besides his incredible vocal prowess that permeated all throughout the concert, he was also a warm, affable presence onstage. With his innate wittiness equally mixed with candor, he narrated a lot of interesting stories about how his songs came about, how his love for theater opened up a world of opportunities for him, how being a stand-in for Andrea Bocelli felt, how “You Raise Me Up” was his ‘Dublin taxi cab song’ and a whole lot more. (We’d love to tell you more, but it would be too long for this article). One of the most striking parts of his speeches was about how he got over his shyness as a child.

“I’m a ham now, and I go on stage and I just, ya know, yap. But as a kid, I had a hard time making friends, showing any kind of leadership, I had bad grades. I knew I loved music. I knew I wanted to sing, but I was just trapped inside myself. Every time, I get to find myself on stage around the world, I have to mention that one of the main reasons I’m even here is because of my teacher, especially my art teachers growing up.”

The story goes: Upon hearing him sing at the back of the choir, his teacher assigned him a song that he would perform in front of the whole class in a week.

“He set me up, and I thought that was the end of life. I’m gonna fail, and I’m gonna be embarrassed, and I’m gonna be made fun of. So that was one of the main reasons why I moved on my own. It was an assignment. In fact, that teacher pushed me to do it. That changed my life because I got there, and I sang, and I crushed it. I crushed it so good,” he said with conviction.

His classmate applauded him. Even the kid who used to bully him told him (and Josh impersonated the guy in a deep comic voice), “Yo, you have the voice of an angel, bro” then proceeded to fist-bump him, an action which, as Josh jokingly put it, made him never want to wash his fist again.

It was the event that turned his life around. It made him more confident about himself which enabled him to make friends and to pursue singing as a career.

“I wrote this next song about that kid. I wrote this song for anybody out there who’s young or old who knows what it feels like to be trapped inside with so much passion, something to give that you just want to get it out. Sometimes it can be cliché, but it was a song that came out very clearly to me about that experience.”

This was how he introduced the song “Granted” from Bridges. The story, long-winded as it seems, depicted Josh’s personality. With the overall serious and solemn mood of his music, it’s easy to imagine him to be as somber as Jon Snow in Game of Thrones (and he looks the part, too), but he’s actually the opposite of that. He’s very welcoming and open as a person; it was both amusing and comforting to listen to him talk.

In between his humorous stories, he also had a lot of insightful commentaries. Before performing “River”, he dwelt upon the significance of confronting mental health issues.

“The thing about depression is that it makes you feel like there’s nothing out that door. It makes you feel like no matter how hard you try, no matter how much you’re hurting, that no one cares; nobody wants to hear it, and that couldn’t be farther from the truth. (…) If you’re suffering in silence or you know someone who does, take the pledge with me to take those steps and reach out your hand because you’ll be so surprised at how many people there are to take your hand back and tell you how loved you are, and how necessary you are.”

The setlist also included “Bring Him Home” and “Pure Imagination” from Stages, the crowd-favorite “You Raise Me Up” and for the finale, “Bridge Over Troubled Waters”.

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So after twelve years, Josh Groban finally crossed that bridge back again to Manila, and being there felt like a spiritual experience. Seeing him perform live felt like a spiritual experience. He sang through every song with such intensity and fluidity that made the message more meaningful, more precisely moving. Groban is probably one of chattiest performers out there, but that is a very welcome addition and a refreshing change for once. He captivated the audience’s ears and hearts as he spoke and sang through the evening.

“It’s a particular privilege to be able to travel the world and see the world – see so many cultures, so many different ways of living and through the lens of music, I have never, in my lifetime, seen the world so divided as it is today – so much fear, so much anger, so much others. To be able to have music as something that brings together, so we can turn off the fuse and just come into a place and just be together no matter what you believe, no matter what your politics, (…) is telling you that we need to be afraid of each other outside of these walls, that music can do that for us. That’s an incredible privilege, an incredible way to see the world,” he said in closing.

“Thank you for coming tonight, Manila! I promise you it won’t be 12 years for us to come back.”

Write up by Sandra Mae Laureano
Photos by Carla Barretto

Special thanks to Ovation Productions

Josh Groban Bridges Tour Live in Manila Setlist:

Bigger than Us
You Are Loved (Don’t Give Up)
Won’t Look Back
Pure Imagination
Granted
We Will Meet Once Again – performed with Christian Bautista
She’s Out of My Life
All I Ask of You – performed with Lea Salonga
The Prayer – performed with Lea Salonga
Bring Him Home
Musica del Corazon
River
Alla Luce Del Sole
You Raise Me Up
To Where You Are
Bridge Over Troubled Waters