Josh Groban In Concert (with Bonus CD)

Starring:Josh Groban, John Williams, David Foster, Lili Haydn, Andrea Corr, Daniel Ezralow, Angie Stone
Studio: Warner Bros / Wea
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Product Description
Josh Groban in Concert is a special DVD package including a CD featuring footage from his PBS Great Performance appearance. The CD contains songs not available on his self-titled debut album. Over a dozen songs are performed during the show including "To Where You Are," "The Prayer," and a cover of Don McLean's "Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)." Additional footage includes a 20-minute conversation with Josh and John Williams. ?
Amazon.com
Josh Groban in Concert has all the ingredients to be a long-running PBS staple: a young (21), good-looking performer with a golden voice; songs in Italian and Spanish for the crossover crowd (i.e., Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman) and pop and movie songs for the mainstream crowd; guest stars galore (David Foster, John Williams, Angie Stone, Andrea Corr, Lili Haydn); a large orchestra; and striking but not obtrusive visual effects. The centerpiece of this DVD/CD combo (also available in a CD jewel case) is the 80-minute concert DVD, filmed in Pasadena, California, in October 2002 and featuring numerous songs from Groban's debut CD, including "You're Still You," which catapulted him into stardom when he sang it on Ally McBeal. There are also two new songs--the ballad "Broken Vow" accompanied by Foster, and "For Always," with the orchestra conducted by John Williams, who wrote the song for the Steven Spielberg film A.I.

Product Description

Josh Groban in Concert is a special DVD package including a CD featuring footage from his PBS Great Performance appearance. The CD contains songs not available on his self-titled debut album. Over a dozen songs are performed during the show including "To Where You Are," "The Prayer," and a cover of Don McLean's "Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)." Additional footage includes a 20-minute conversation with Josh and John Williams. ?

Amazon.com

Josh Groban in Concert has all the ingredients to be a long-running PBS staple: a young (21), good-looking performer with a golden voice; songs in Italian and Spanish for the crossover crowd (i.e., Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman) and pop and movie songs for the mainstream crowd; guest stars galore (David Foster, John Williams, Angie Stone, Andrea Corr, Lili Haydn); a large orchestra; and striking but not obtrusive visual effects. The centerpiece of this DVD/CD combo (also available in a CD jewel case) is the 80-minute concert DVD, filmed in Pasadena, California, in October 2002 and featuring numerous songs from Groban's debut CD, including "You're Still You," which catapulted him into stardom when he sang it on Ally McBeal. There are also two new songs--the ballad "Broken Vow" accompanied by Foster, and "For Always," with the orchestra conducted by John Williams, who wrote the song for the Steven Spielberg film A.I.

Customer Reviews:

Heaven Sent.......2007-05-21

This man's voice is Heaven sent. It is a pleasure to see him in concert. This is one DVD you don't want to miss if you want to relive the experience again and again.

Josh is Amazing.......2007-05-06

This is a fantastic DVD/Cd and if you enjoy great singing and/or great mustic, this is a must for your music library.

Josh Groban in Concert.......2007-04-12

I loved this DVD. I watch it over and over. His voice should be shared with the world. While he was only 21 years old when he made video, he seems much older and much more mature than his age. This man will be a legend.

Josh Grovan in Concert.......2007-04-12

I liked the professional attire on Josh Grovan during the concert and I liked the entire tape dedicated to him and not having "fillers" inbetween except two ladies, both of which were good.

Concert in L.A. Outside Ampitheater(Griffith Park up on the hill)(where I used to live) was too casual.

I heard from my friend in Cary that the Concert in Rauleigh was terrible...too many and too long "fillers" up front - ; much too loud altogether including that of Josh...left @the first song of Josh ended.

Go Go Groban!!!!.......2007-02-22

Today is the 22nd of February 2007 and I asked myself where I was during the last four years of my life to have neglected the talent of Josh Groban. I have also asked myself today why it is only now that I have come across Josh's first concert DVD and how come it never crossed my mind to look for it before. I have heard Josh's voice over the radio many times during the past years with his rendition of "You Raise Me Up" but thought that he was only a very good singer (I still like Brian Kennedy's and Tracey Campbell-Nation's duet-rendition of this song better than Josh's.) Seeing this DVD on this Chinese New Year of 2007 proved that he was more than that!!! He is not only a very good singer, but a really great and towering one. This concert is nearly flawless. The stage production is elegant and richly done with light and shadow effects: ultimately beautiful to behold at.

What makes it all work though is Josh's great voice and the earnestness he puts with each song he sings. Here's a different definition of "soul" for you folks out there. The pieces "Broken Vow," "To Where You Are" and "Cinema Paradiso" are sure to impress and touch you. The only part of the concert I find a bit weak is the duet with Andrea Corr. I find Miss Corr's voice comparatively weak against Josh Groban's. And, her voice was done electronically!! For me, this is a bit of a setback.

But for sure, you will soon forget this tiny flaw when you hear the next offering, a duet with Angie Stone for "The Prayer." It is my firm belief that this is actually the highlight of the whole concert. Personally, I can't understand why some of the reviewers here have criticized Miss Stone's performance as mismatched against Josh's. In my opinion, it is perfect and mature. The two performers' voices blend perfectly, and there isn't even a hint of one overpowering the other. I especially like Miss Stone's style of half-saying and half-singing the lyrics. It holds up very, very well to Josh's own singing style.

One of the merits of this DVD is that you can turn on the Subtitle feature and there you have the song lyrics. However, they did forget to include the titles to each song. How come this negligence? Also, it would have been great if the Italian and Spanish songs were provided a separate English subtitle so that we know their meanings. Knowing the meaning of foreign songs greatly improves on the experience of listening to them.

Overall, this is a first-rate production. Most of the songs are inspirational so therefore, it is safe to say that the DVD is collectible. The beauty of this concert production does justice to the great talent that is Josh Groban. This DVD is a definite keeper.

Feb. 23, 2007: The next DVD concert I got to see was Andrea Bocelli's "Under the Desert Sky." In it, there was also a duet for "The Prayer" performed by Andrea Bocelli and Heather Headley. After seeing their performance, I finally realized why I liked the Groban-Stone version so much. In my opinion, it doesn't do to sing this song too perfectly. What it needs is SOUL, and a sense of world-weariness. After all, it is a prayer. Angie Stone's voice seems to convey both these qualities when she sang "The Prayer" with Josh Groban.

Sarah Brightman - La Luna (Live in Concert)

Average customer rating:

voice and imagery
Best Female voice in the Business
Have the album? Watch the concert
great vocal great DVD
Entertaining, beautiful voice, but..

Sarah Brightman - La Luna (Live in Concert)
Starring: Sarah Brightman , Neil Drinkwater , Todd Talbot , Josh Groban , and Matthew Scrivener (II)
Director: Bruce Gowers
Manufacturer: Angel Records
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Sarah Brightman In Concert

ASIN: B00005ALLX
Release Date: 2001-06-05

Amazon.com

Superstar crossover vocalist Sarah Brightman greets the new millennium with a bold sense of her unique musical niche in this live concert, La Luna. Drawing heavily from her same-titled CD, the material touches on images of the moon that reinforce its ambiguity as a force known to draw together "the lunatic, the lover, and the poet" (Brightman's revealing woodsy outfits and tinsel crown do seem to suggest a sort of Titania-like figure out of a New Age Midsummer Night's Dream). And it's a stylistic as well as thematic voyage, coursing from contemporary synth pop through gorgeously sinuous melodies of classical composers (one song, "Figlio Perduto," even adapts the slow movement of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony) as well as selections from her earlier albums: "There for Me" (a duet with Josh Groban), Puccini's "Nessun Dorma," "Time to Say Goodbye" (performed without Andrea Bocelli), and ex-husband Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Pie Jesu" and "Music of the Night." Limiting stage action to arm gestures, some dancers, and a couple of flying maneuvers (most notably amid a shower of sparks in "A Question of Honour"), executive producer Frank Peterson (who produced the CD) and stage director Bruce Gowers swath Brightman's shiny small voice in luxuriant fabrics of sound. Detractors will lament the resulting sameness of tone--no matter what the style involved--but Brightman's focus on spinning an ethereal spell is never eclipsed. -- Thomas May

Description

Track listing:

1. La Lune
2. Winter in July
3. Scarborough Fair
4. Who Wants to Live Forever
5. Hijo de la Luna
6. La Luna Interlude I
7. Figlio Perduto
8. La Luna
9. La Califfa
10. Pie Jesu
11. La Luna Interlude II
12. Nessun Dorma
13. Siren
14. Deliver Me
15. He Doesn't See Me
16. La Luna Interlude III
17. A Whiter Shade of Pale
18. There for Me
19. Twisted Every Way
20. Phantom of the Opera Suite
21. Little Lotti
22. Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again
23. Music of the Night
24. A Question of Honour
25. Moon River
26. Time to Say Goodbye

Customer Reviews:

voice and imagery.......2007-05-29

At its gentlest and most natural, Sarah Brightman's voice is the lullaby of sunlight through a canopy of leaves. Her low tones are as meditative as wind through a dark stone passage, and her highest trills are a rousing swim through a cold river. And she knows that such a voice is best presented through imagery. There are almost no clichés we've come to expect at concerts. Interaction with the audience is kept to a minimum; and she doesn't introduce the musicians or anyone else performing with her aside from duet partner Josh Groban. Instead, she assumes images of mystical female icons: Aphrodite in "Who Wants to Live Forever," a music-box doll in "Figlio Perduto," the Virgin Mary in "Nessun Dorma" and "Deliver Me," and a vamp in "Music of the Night." Only twice does she seem human: during "Moon River," sung close to the audience; and in her duet with Josh (the affectionate embrace she gives the baby-faced baritone at the end of the song is endearing).
The song selection is very satisfying. I was impressed with how Sarah turned Queen's "Who Wants to Live Forever" into something epic. Her rendition of "Nessun Dorma" has breathed new life into the aria as a stirring piece for a soprano. I also enjoyed the reversal of roles she effected in "Music of the Night": it is now the diva seducing the maestro, and not the other way around.
My only negative comment is that in certain songs, the lyrics are neither on a par nor in harmony with Sarah's voice or the show's mysticism. "Deliver Me," which she sings like a heaven-bound Mary above a rotating globe, has such casual lines such as `I know you're the one to pull me through.' She comes on stage after the third interlude looking like a dryad, only to sing of `cartwheels on the floor' and `drinks' in "A Whiter Shade of Pale." Such a voice, and such a production, deserves more poetic lyrics.
But it is easy to ignore this. Just listen to this voice, and watch this spirited performer lose herself in her meditations.

Best Female voice in the Business.......2007-05-07

A superb collection of songs in a great venue with excellent sound and separation

Have the album? Watch the concert.......2006-11-19

Sarah pulls out all the stops to give us a first rate concert. You immediately feel that you are in another place that is timeless. There seems to be a favorite or classic for everyone.

The only drawback is that the experience seems to be over too soon.

great vocal great DVD.......2006-08-03

Nothing to say but terrific !!!!!!!!!!!! one little bit drawback is the cover is not as same quality.

Entertaining, beautiful voice, but.........2006-07-17

I've been a fan of Sarah Brightman since I went through my "Phantom of the Opera phase" as a 19-year-old. (I had listened nonstop to the Original London Cast Recording and had read the book by Gaston Leroux b/f attending a performance of "The Phantom" in Toronto).

Sarah is a talented artist; I'm in no way contesting that. However, her arm gestures are so strange and don't seem to go with what she's singing. While I enjoyed the background choreography, I found her arm gestures and stage movement distracting and nonsensical. Also, her costumes were not to my taste, though I suppose that her outfits reflect the "moon" theme of the program.

But this DVD is worth the price in many other ways. The second movement (allegretto) of Beethoven's 7th Symphony is so gorgeous, and I love the vocal arrangement of it (Figlio Perduto). The text is sort of a Spanish version of Schubert's "Erlkonig."

I also enjoyed Sarah's rendition of "A Whiter Shade of Pale" (check out the music video in the special features), "Moon River," and "Scarborough Fair." And hey, Josh Groban (the quintessential sensitive, young artist) makes a guest appearance at this concert...need I say more?

Sarah Brightman: La Luna - Live in Concert [Region 2]

Average customer rating:

voice and imagery
Best Female voice in the Business
Have the album? Watch the concert
great vocal great DVD
Entertaining, beautiful voice, but..

Sarah Brightman: La Luna - Live in Concert [Region 2]
Starring: Sarah Brightman , Neil Drinkwater , Todd Talbot , Josh Groban , and Matthew Scrivener (II)
Director: Bruce Gowers
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( S ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

General | Easy Listening | Pop | Styles | Music
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