My Mama and I left home about 5am for DC from northeastern NC. It took us 4 hours to get to DC. We left early because my Mama wanted to visit with a friend that morning and I also made plans to spend the morning with Sarah (SarahbkBear) and her friend, Kristy, who was going to the concert with her.

We got to DC around 9:30am or so, and met Sarah and Kristy at the Springfield Mall then went back to Kristy's house and had breakfast. After breakfast, we went to a Regatta Crew Team event. That was a very interesting and new experience for me. The only bad thing about it was that it was about a 40-minute hike to the stands from where we parked.

After the Regatta Kristy and Sarah dropped me off at the Metro station where I rode for about an hour to the station that was near where my Mama and I were staying at her friends house. Riding the Metro was a cool experience. I have only ridden the Metro once before and that was last 4th of July with my family, but have never ridden it by myself. This time on the Metro I started out on was a different line than I rode before last July, and on this one it went underground at least 5-6 times, which was very exciting. You have to remember that I am from a very rural country area of northeastern NC.

By the time, my Mama's friend picked me up at the Metro station; it was just after 3pm. I then started getting ready for the Meet and Greet that some of us from The Friends of Josh Groban had planned at a restaurant about 3 blocks from the DAR Constitution Hall where the concert was. The M&G was from 5-7:30pm. My Mama and I were running behind, we didn't leave for the M&G until 5pm, and we still had to find out how to get to Maxims where the M&G was. Luckily, we have the OnStar system in our van. We used OnStar that to help us get to Maxims. The guy from OnStar that was helping us just happened to be a Josh fan. We told him that we were going to a Josh Groban concert and he told us how he had just discovered Josh when he sang at the Super bowl XXXVIII. When we turned on the street where Maxims was, we just happen to find a great parking spot.

As I was walking to the restaurant with my Mama, I told her that I couldn't wait to meet Kay. Kay is the lady that I worked with while designing the labels for the goody bags and the nametags for the M&G. When I walked in, I saw the table where Kay and some others were passing out the nametags and the goody bags and went straight over to it. I found Kay by her nametag and said, Kay its Rachel and she looked up and said I have to give Rachel a hug. She then came and gave me a hug. It was so great to finally meet her.

My Mama and I then looked around for a place to sit. We saw Yasuko and the other Japanese Grobanites and went to sit with them to get to know them since we already know that we will be sitting next to them at the concert. I found out that I would be sitting next to Yasuko when I posted on the boards where I would be sitting and asking where others would be sitting. Yasuko responded to the post, and told me that her seat was next to mine. We had talked some on instant messenger before coming to DC. Yasuko and her friends left the M&G early so they could go back to their hotel and Yasuko changed into her Kimono.

During the dinner, there was an auction and $1,100 was raised for Josh's Future Charity. There were also door prizes, which I was the one who drew the tickets out of the bucket. My Mama and I left the M&G at about 7pm to head to the concert.

We walked the 3 blocks to the concert hall. When we got there, we got in line there were two lines. In the other line, I saw Yasuko and her friends, I asked them if I could take a picture of them and get I got a picture with them. As we were about to go through the door the security guard at the door announced Those of you who have cameras you can take them in but you cant use the flash. Before coming to the concert, I was told that flash photography wasn't allowed during the concert. I was told by someone who went to the Denver concert to get 800-speed film, which is good for low light, blur reduction and other things. I made sure I had 800-speed film for the concert. Thanks to the pen light that I received from the M&G, I was able to double check before I took pictures to be sure that my flash was turned off.

Once we got in to the lobby, we looked around and saw that the merchandise table was crowded, so we decided to go find our seats. We were sitting at row N seats 103 and 105. Which since rows A, B, and C were removed to extend the stage so our seats were 10 rows from the stage. Instead of 13 rows from the stage like we thought they were going to be. When we got to our seats, we were amazed because our seats turned out to be closer to the stage than we thought they would be. My Mama and I then went back to the lobby to look around. I went over to merchandise table while my Mama was getting the programs. We just checked the prices before going back to our seats. While waiting for the concert to start, I started talking to the lady and her daughter that was sitting in front of me. The girls name is Anna I didn't get the name of her mother. They were really nice.

The concert was late starting; it started about 8:15 instead of 8:00. Many people were still coming in at 8:00. Even when the concert started at 8:15 people were still coming in. The concert started with Oceano the music started then Josh came out on the upper level of the stage, he sang the first part of the song from there. When he came out of course, there was lots of cheering for him. Josh finished the last part of Oceano on the lower level of the stage and when he came to the lower level, the crowd cheered again. During the song on the large screen at the back of the stage, there was a video of waves projected. Oceano was a great start to the show.

After Oceano, Josh welcomed everybody to the show. He told us that he had never done a show in DC before but had come to DC for promotional tours and with school trips. The part about school trip got laughter from the audience. My Confession was the next song.

When Josh was setting up the song Alejate talking about how when they were working on the first album he wanted a Spanish song. Some people started cheering. Then Josh said "Yay for Spanish!" then "Lets hear it for Spanish" it was funny.

The violinist that Josh has on tour with him Lucia Micarelli played the main violin parts for the songs. She is an amazing violinist.

For the song Mi Morena, projected on to the screen there was shadowy images of dancing ladies, they were dancing with a Spanish flare. That added a lot to the Spanish feel of the song.

At the end of the song Let Me Fall Josh was at the back to the upper level of the stage and he fell backwards. That was a very cool affect. I'm sure the people who haven't seen the PBS Special didn't know he was going to fall. I figured he was going to fall but didn't know where he was going to do it.

My December was nicely done with a winter forest scene at the beginning of the song and a video image of snow falling at the end of the song.

For the song Carsuo, the translated lyrics flashed on the screen behind Josh that was really cool.

Remember When It Rained performance has to be my favorite part of the concert. Right before the song Josh left the stage and lights went low, leaving people wondering what was going on. Then we hear a crash of thunder and Josh enters the stage, sits at the piano, and begins to play. Since where the piano was, it was hard to see him there, the image of Josh performing at the piano was projected onto the screen. I love guys that play the piano and I already love Josh so I loved to see him play and sing at the piano. When the image was put on the screen I became excited and let out a sigh, it came out louder than I meant for it to. I was melting at that moment.

When Josh was setting up the song Broken Vow, he mentioned it was a sad song that they did for the PBS Special. People started cheering and Josh asked, "Was that for the PBS special or for sad songs?" Josh then said, "I like sad songs."

The last song was You Raise Me Up I was ready with my light pen for when the choir came out. After the song was over Josh told where the choir was from and left the stage. The audience was on their feet clapping and cheering. In a few minutes of that, Josh came back on stage to perform Gira Con Me and Josh went off stage again. The audience was again on their feet, clapping and cheering until Josh came out again for another song he sang Never Let Go after the song on his way off the stage, he did this kind of rock star leap in the air. He then left the stage for the final time leaving the whole audience again on their feel clapping and cheering.

After You Raise Me Up, I put my pen light back around my neck then partly through the standing ovation I took my pen light back off from around my neck to hold it up and wave it. As I was taking it off one of my earrings came off and I wasn't able to find it at that moment since it was really dark. After all the light had come on at the end of the concert, I started looking for the earring. I got Yasuko to help me; we started using our penlights as little flashlights to look under the rows. Yasuko found my earring behind our row. I gave her a hug thanking her for finding my earring.

I then put both of my earrings in my purse for safekeeping. As I was doing that I hear some cheering coming from the stage area, my first thought was did someone see Josh?! I went closer to look and I saw that a guy had just proposed to his girlfriend. That girl definitely had a great night.

I then noticed a group of people around the right side of the stage an there was some of the band members signing autographs so I grabbed stuff and got my Sharpie out of my purse that I came prepared with and headed over there with my program and Sharpie ready. I got the first autograph from Eric Holden. After I got the first autograph the security guards moved us to the back of the auditorium, it was there I got two more of the band members autographs, Tim Curle and Zachary Provost. Then the security guards moved us to the lobby for autographs. I there got Craig MacIntyre's autograph. While I was standing near Craig, Vanady (vm1620) a Grobanite that I had gotten to know some through instant messenger came up to me and introduced herself to me. As she did that two girls across from me waiting to get Craig's autograph recognized that they had talked to my on instant messenger too. They were Jenn and Ruthie. Kay came up and took a group picture of us with Craig. Not too long after that, the security guards were trying to get everybody out of the lobby.

So then, my Mama and I decided to head over to where Josh's bus was. When we got there, there was already a bunch of people waiting. I ended up finding Tariqh Akoni by the second bus, and got his autograph. Now I had all five members of the bands autograph. I made my way over where I could see the walkway where Josh would be coming out. About that, time the choir that sang with Josh on the song You Raise Me Up came out, and we all applauded for them. One guy from the choir even bowed. While I was standing on the grassy area waiting to see Josh go to the bus, Judy saw my nametag and said Oh, your Rachel the one who made the nametags. I said, Yes, that's me. We talked for a bit, I found out that she is from Virginia Beach, which is about an hour and a half from where I live. The security guards came and told us to get off the grass and to get in a line. They opened the barrier closing off the sidewalk at the same time making a direct path for Josh to walk to his tour bus. The bus driver even pulled the bus up some to make it easier for Josh to just walk straight onto the bus. We still had to wait about 5 minutes or so for Josh to come out. Which seemed like forever. I was right next to the bus almost touching it. I did touch it a few times just to say I touched Josh Groban's tour bus. I was also up against the barrier blocking off the sidewalk. Finally, Josh came out. He went to the opposite side than I was on first and signed some autographs then he came over to my side but not far enough down, so I could get his autograph. I took a picture of signing autographs a few feet over to my right. Then he was guided towards the bus, he stopped just outside the bus door before getting on and I took another picture. I was probably about 5 feet from him at that point. He then got onto the bus and it drove away. I also took a picture of the bus as it was driving away.

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