“I feel like you have to leave a pint of blood when you play a venue here.”

“I feel like this is holy ground, historic ground,” Groban joked. He addressed how long it was since he toured in Boston, and expressed how glad he was to be back. When he finished, Groban took the time to converse with all of us in the crowd. Glow stick-like lights in hues of red and purple hung from the ceiling, painting the stage in a warm, sunset glow as Groban sang “Bigger Than Us,” a song from Bridges. He stepped onto the stage wearing black jeans, a t-shirt, and a bomber jacket as if he was performing at a bar instead of at the TD Garden in front of a whole orchestra. However, when Groban finally came out, I was quite surprised. This gave me the impression that we were in for some high-brow performance, and I had the sinking feeling that perhaps Groban was just going to sit behind the piano all night instead of engaging with the crowd. As the crew bustled around to make last-minute preparations, someone began to actually polish the piano to get rid of any fingerprints.

After Menzel’s electrifying set, the crowd was amped up and ready for Groban to take the stage.ĭuring set-up, an entire orchestra filed onto the stage, while members of the crew wheeled a Yamaha piano out to center stage. She closed out her set with Wicked's “Defying Gravity,” bringing the audience to their feet in a standing ovation. She dazzled the crowd with her smash hit “Let it Go” from Disney’s Frozen, while also playing some original hits of hers. It felt as though each and every one of us was alone in a room with him, having a friendly conversation while he serenaded us with songs from his newest album, Bridges, as well as some incredible Broadway covers and other fan-favorite songs of his.īefore Groban took the stage, Broadway actress Idina Menzel took to the stage in a glittery jumpsuit like the Snow Queen she truly is. Despite playing the Garden, one of the largest concert venues in Boston, Groban managed to connect with the audience throughout the performance. The artist might say some stock greeting like “How you doing tonight (insert city name here)?” They might even reach a hand out to someone in the front row, but that’s about as much of a connection as they’ll make. By Lily Doolin Going to a concert in a large venue like the TD Garden can oftentimes feel impersonal when it comes to the relationship between the performer and the audience.

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