It has been seven years since Josh Groban last performed in Manila. On Feb. 18, he will be back to stage the “GEMS World Tour” at the SM Mall of Asia (MOA) Arena.
“I can’t believe it’s been seven years. A pandemic, a Broadway show, you know, lots of things have happened,” Groban said during a recent virtual interview with The Philippine STAR. “Things that have kept me from getting on a plane as much as I would like to, and obviously I love to travel, traveling for music.”
However, touring is more than packing a suitcase and boarding a plane so his most expansive world tour yet, which includes a Manila stop, took time. “It’s not just me, it’s 50 people and it’s so to be able to organize something like a concert so many miles away, something that takes a huge group effort,” he explained. “So I’m embarrassed that it’s been seven years but I can also understand why it takes so long and I’m just so excited to return.”
Among all the places he has visited in his 25-year career (he started at 17 and now he’s 44), the Philippines has always held a special place in his heart.
“One hundred percent,” Groban said when asked if the Filipino audiences had any part in his successful career. “You always want to be feel seen as an artist. You always want to feel like, especially when you’re brand new, that you’re really understood. Not just somebody saying you’ve got a good voice or, you know, ‘Oh, we like that song,’ but really that your soul is really seen.”
And from the very beginning, the support of Filipino audiences was there, he readily acknowledged.
“The Philippines has seen me, really seen me, inside from day one, from album one,” he said. “They have gotten me, they’ve gotten my soul, they’ve gotten my music, they sing along and they have welcomed me in every possible way. They invited me to go into a tour when I barely had any songs to sing and they have embraced me, and so to feel that welcoming from album one is something that I have never forgotten and something that I’m always, always grateful for.”
Groban also observed the Filipino audiences’ “deep” connection to music.
“Everybody there deeply loves music. It is a music country. It is a country of great musical artists,” he said. “But it is the connection to music in the Philippines that goes beyond the superficial. It is truly from the heart.”
That emotional connection is one of the reasons he’s especially excited to bring his “GEMS” tour back to Manila.
“Every artist I talk to about the Philippines also feels this way, that it’s a wonderful place to play music because you know that they get it on a deep level,” he said. “And so I’m just so excited to revisit.”
The “GEMS” tour, Groban explained, isn’t just a greatest-hits run. It will feature certain songs that have come to mean not just to him, but to the people who listen to them.
“There are the songs, of course, that have been, I would say if not hits, the most recognizable for me like You Raise Me Up and To Where You Are and You Are Loved and songs like that,” he said.
“But I’m also intrigued by the songs that have meant something to fans that have been more personal songs like River or February Song, and people who come up to me and say, ‘Hey, I have also battled this or I have also been through this and this song really helped me get through that time.’
“That’s also a gem to me. It doesn’t have to be something that was huge, it just has to be something that was meaningful.”
Returning to Manila also means fans will hear something new.
“I’m working on a new album of songs from great films. I’m really excited by the orchestration, so beautiful, recording it in London right now,” Groban shared. “It won’t be out until after this concert, but I’m gonna give Manila a sneak peek of some of the songs from the album, so there’s gonna be some very epic, very cinematic songs in this show as well.”