Not Just Another Pretty Voice
Josh Groban, Saturday at Toyota Center, has a wicked sense of humor to match hispristine set of pipes
May 14, 2011 | 10:33 am
I dig Josh Groban and his operatic pipes, but not for the reasons you might think. Most Groban-groupies love him for the pure and powerful classical vocal ability that made "You Raise Me Up" an unlikely radio hit and got him discovered while he was working as a stand-in for Andrea Bocelli during rehearsals for the 1998 Grammy Awards.
In my view, what makes Groban cool is what he has chosen to do with those triumphant lungs over the last decade. He could have been lured off to high-brow theaters and operatic stages and made huge dollars as the young prodigy of the classical arts. Instead, he has parlayed his pipes into pop culture street cred by mixing classical with mainstream and artistic reach with comedy.
Even better, he hasn't suffered one iota for that against-the-grain use of his soaring tenor. As he prepares to land his "Straight to You" tour at the Toyota Center on Saturday night, Groban brings four multi-million top-selling albums with him. His latest release, Illuminations, has already passed platinum status (a million copies sold) and it debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 charts last November.
That's a pretty big deal for a singer trying to sell young adults on classical music. The Three Tenors had a little luck in this area in recent decades, but Groban is the first true American "Popera" star.
Ironically, it's the stuff he does for fun that gives his serious work legs. Do you remember when he sang that medley of TV themes at the 2008 Emmys? When Groban abandoned his operatic roots to stammer like South Park's Cartman and rap like Will Smith, I became an instant fan. His recent Jimmy Kimmel Live appearance, in which he set the crazy tweets of Kanye West to music, was as brilliant as his appearances on Glee. And I can't wait to see him playing a sleezy lawyer in the upcoming Steve Carell comedy Crazy, Stupid, Love.
In other words, Groban has figured out that sometimes, the most sincerest form of flattery is mockery. Even self-mockery. In his ability to laugh at himself and the anachronistic placement of his angelic pipes in a Auto-Tuned word, Groban has carved out a niche for himself. Perhaps even more importantly, he has kept a form of classical music on the minds of a generation that might not have had any exposure to it all if it weren't for his efforts.
Tickets are from $55 to $95 and are available here.
