Josh Groban is satisfied that Josh Groban Bridges From Madison Square Garden, which hits theaters on Feb. 12 for one-night-only, captures his fall 2018 Bridges Tour just as it was getting good.
“The Garden show captured it at a time when I feel like a show really starts to hit its stride, which is at about 15 or 16 in,” Groban, who currently resides in New York, tells Billboard. “We really felt like we were finding our groove as a band. It was also my first arena tour in many years; It’s like getting back on a bike. Feeling my way through that energy again was exciting.
“And on top of that, obviously any time I’ve had an opportunity to play the Garden — this was the fourth time we’ve played there — there’s pressure, obviously, the emotion of wanting to do the venue proud and do the city proud. So we were really on our toes.”
The Nov. 18 concert featured 18 numbers, five from Groban’s latest album Bridges, as well as duets with tour partner Idina Menzel on “Falling Slowly” (live video premiering above) from Once and “Lullaby,” plus with Jennifer Nettles, who’s Groban’s neighbor in New York and will be on five dates of Groban’s just announced summer leg of the tour. “Having people like Idina and Jennifer was such an honor,” Groban recalls. He and Menzel have worked together before, in fact, singing at benefits for each other’s charity initiatives and performing together in Chess during 2007 at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
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“Every time we’ve had a chance to collaborate I’ve just been so happy to blend voices with her, and also be friends with her,” Groban says. “When we were going out on this tour we knew we need a big talent to come out with us. Idina was on top of our list to reach out to and say, ‘Would you like to come out for 18 shows.’ Luckily she was available, and it worked out great.”
After its theatrical screening via Trafalgar Releasing, Josh Groban Bridges From Madison Square Garden is slated for release as an album and home video. An hour-long version will also air during PBS’ pledge drive during March.
Groban — whose TV show with Tony Danza, The Good Cop, was canceled by Netflix after one season (“It was a network show in the wrong arena,” Groban says) — anticipates that the summer swing, which begins June 7 and also includes trumpeter Chris Botti on some dates and a night with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra on Aug. 28 at the Red Rocks Amphitheater, will be the end of the Bridges Tour. “Then I’ll focus on whatever the next thing is,” says Groban, who isn’t sure what that might be yet. “I might focus on a new record, I might do a little film or TV work. It’s been such an incredible year already, and an incredible 2018, I may just take a week off, even.”