Gig review: Josh Groban - Glasgow Royal Concert Hall

CLAPPING, cheering and whooping are accepted forms of expressing approbation at a Josh Groban concert, but if you really want to know how it’s going down, look to the glowsticks.

A scattering of his audience came armed with them, brandished during his most hardcore slushy ballads in a slow waving motion, somewhat undercutting the lyrics’ earnest sentiment. Was this what he had in mind while singing the line “when you change colours, I change mine too”?

There was a fair amount of such extravagant emoting woven through this two-hour show – Groban didn’t get to be the popera-loving housewives’ choice by pulling his sentimental punches – but as much of his set was in Spanish, there was a protective language barrier against his worst excesses, not to mention his self-deprecating, witty answers to some hand-picked audience questions.

Groban is too buttoned-down to convey raw Latin passion or exude a natural groove, though he had a good bash on a small drumkit during the percussion-based face-off which preceded Voce Existe em Mim, and later got to throw down politely on a slick funk soul number. However, he was nowhere to be found when his eight-piece string and brass section took on Live And Let Die, Wings being way too rock’n’roll for his repertoire.

Of his signature ballads, Declan O’Rourke’s beautiful love song Galileo stood out, although Groban’s operatic delivery overpowered all sense of wistful inquiry in the lyrics. As if one strapping baritone wasn’t enough, Britain’s Got Talent winner Jai McDowell was invited to duet on a double cheeseburger rendition of To Where You Are, and the glowsticks were out in force for the closing You Raise Me Up, undulating like radioactive grass.

Rating: ***