Review of Josh Groban Live At The Greek

Introduction

I have to confess that before I got this DVD&CD set to review, I`d never heard of Josh Groban. It turns out he`s a highly talented vocalist whose big break was singing in a season finale of the popular tv show "Ally McBeal". Since then, he`s sold five million albums worldwide. Recently he contributed the showstopper tune "Believe" to Robert Zemeckis`s CGI kiddie-flick The Polar Express.

The package you get is a DVD and CD of a live performance at the Greek, one of the venues on his Closer Tour. Groban is an accomplished singer of the old school - a well-trained voice singing rather than bellowing the lyrics. A good half of the songs he sings are in Italian and I`m reminded of Russell Watson (although he lacks the sheer power of Watson`s voice).

His performances are backed by a full orchestra, and violinist Lucia Micharelli does two tunes in support. Groban also accompanies himself on the piano for a couple of songs. The only problem with the show is the patter between songs which is typical America. He makes a comment, gets an approving "woo!" from the audience and does one of those cringemaking pseudo-self-effacing "yeah"s in acknowledgement.

The disc box (or at least the box the review disc came in) states the disc is a region one version. Although encoded in NTSC, the disc itself can be played in regions 2-5 inclusive (much of the rest of the world).

Video

The show was recorded by Warner Reprise in 16:9 NTSC. Quality is very high, as one would expect with a brand-new videorecording. To be honest, with a Music DVD like this, the image is pretty much secondary to the sound.

Audio

The sound on the disc defaults automatically to plain vanilla Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo if you simply press the play button. If you take the time to go into the set-up menu, you will discover that you can also select the soundtrack in both Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround or DTS. Both these sound mixes are much more intense than the plain Stereo and fully immersive as the audience surrounds you.

There are eighteen tracks on the DVD and a further eight tracks of highlights on the accompanying CD.

Features

These are listed as On The Road With Josh, and a bonus performance of "Believe" from The Polar Express. There are no subtitles, so Karaoke Night is out.

Conclusion

A talented singer doing a live performance before an enormous audience. Kick-ass sound and a bonus CD so you can listen to the tunes in the car later on. What more could you ask for?