With a 'refreshed sense of purpose' Josh Groban kicks off Harmony tour. See dates

Josh Groban is a decorated singer, a songwriter, an actor. But what's most important to him, he said, is that he's a uniter.

And as he steps out onto the road for his Harmony Summer 2022 tour in a world navigating how to live with COVID and dealing with an immense amount of trauma and division, he said it's with fresh eyes.

"We're all going out there with an enormous amount of gratitude that we get to do this for a living," he said. "I get to sing and express myself as a job, which is already the most therapeutic thing, but especially in these times. In a world that is this divided, I get to be a connector in my job. I feel really, really fortunate for that ... I think we're all stepping forward with a refreshed sense of purpose, and I think that's a good thing."

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Area "Harmony" tour dates include: The Darien Lake Amphitheater in Darien, N.Y., on Friday, July 1; the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., on Saturday, July 2; the Bethel Woods Center For the Arts in Bethel, N.Y., on Tuesday, July 5; the Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, N.Y., on Friday, July 8; the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel on Saturday, July 9; and the Mann Center in Philadelphia on Tuesday, July 12.

Groban had a " pretty bad bout of COVID" right before rehearsals were supposed to start.

"I've outrun it now for a long time and got all my boosters and wore my mask.

" When I prepare for a tour, it's like preparing for a marathon. You're preparing your whole body for what it's going to go through over the next many months."

Creating the sense of community and enjoyment that music provides is an avenue not only to recover, but to honor those lost.

"I think we have to find silver linings," he said. "I think to not find silver linings at the end of trauma is for it to be in vain. As you pick up the pieces and as you mourn, you also need to find those things that have been learned and learned in a positive way ...

"You honor the people that have suffered by holding onto the things that are good lessons: having perspective, focusing on the things that are important to us, the simple things that are important to us, the people, what we like to do, having vitality in our life."

Groban's "Harmony" album, released in 2020 (a deluxe version was released last year), features covers and original music — and looks a lot different than it did when he started working on it pre-pandemic.

"This album was definitely having to ride those waves of all the different conflicting emotions that were happening during the making of it," he said.

Songs were cut and added many times over.

"I remember hearing arrangements and singing demos and trying to get vocals in my bedroom and all these other things," he said. "It's a very powerful thing to be in front of an audience now singing them because we made the album at a time where being in front of people was not possible. And now I'm singing the songs in front of all of these thousands of people and it's very emotional."

The meanings and moments behind the songs runs deep.

" 'The World We Knew' — which we're opening the show with —  all of a sudden I'm listening to that. First of all the vocal was just like, 'I want to try and tackle this. It's so rich, it's so cool.' But it was not a song that I would normally have been like 'I have to cover this song.' But it represented lyrically the idea of going back to a more simple time and connecting with somebody you love during an innocent time."

He said he was "terrified" of covering "Both Sides Now" on the album, a duet with Sara Bareilles, because of the definitive versions recorded by Joni Mitchell.

"But Sara ... and I looked at each other and said this is the right time for a song about perspective, (so) let's do it. And it continues to be really, really powerful for us."

Groban said he had been considering "The Impossible Dream" from "Man of La Mancha" for a long time, and was mulling holding it for a future fully musical theater album.

"But the message of stepping forward in the face of all the walls that are put up in front of you, all of a sudden it's never been more powerful," he said. "I will never feel it as deeply as I feel the song right now. And so we had to do it."

Groban has always been drawn to musical theater, planning to study it before his solo performing career took off. He made his Broadway debut in 2016's "Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812," and has made guest appearances in "Freestyle Love Supreme."

"The incredible thing about these songs is that you can listen to them in the scope of sitting and watching a three-hour show, and it's something within that longer arc and that really, really carries the story, and it can be a great puzzle piece within a bigger picture," he said.

"And then the amazing things about the songs is that when you take them out of context of the show, and then you just sing them on their own, they then became become a puzzle piece of the much bigger picture of just your life."

He said he'd love to make a return to Broadway.

"Oh, there's no question I'll be back on Broadway," he said. "It's a matter of when and what. It's such a commitment that so many things have to fall into place in order for it to be right, but I definitely hope before too long it will happen."

Harmony Summer 2022 tour dates

The tour kicked off June 17 in Detroit and will continue until a stop in Los Angeles on Aug. 2. Special guests joining Groban are the New Orleans Preservation Hall Jazz Band, violinist-singer Lucia Micarelli and singer-songwriter Eleri Ward. For more information or to buy tickets for the tour or other upcoming projects, visit joshgroban.

Here are the tour dates:

June 25: Chicago, Hollywood Casino Amphitheater

June 26: St. Louis, Hollywood Casino Amphitheater

June 28: Toronto, Budweiser Stage

June 29: Cleveland, Blossom Music Center

July 1: Darien, N.Y., Darien Lake Amphitheater

July 2: Saratoga Springs, N.Y., Saratoga Performing Arts Center

July 5: Bethel, N.Y.,  Bethel Woods Center For the Arts

July 6: Boston, Leader Bank Pavilion

July 8: Wantagh, N.Y., Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater

July 9: Holmdel, PNC Bank Arts Center

July 12: Philadelphia, Mann Center

July 13: Bristow, Va., Jiffy Lube Live

July 15: Wilmington, N.C., Riverfront Park Amphitheater

July 16: Atlanta, Cadence Bank Amphitheater at Chastain

July 18: Huntsville, Ala., Orion Amphitheater

July 19: Franklin, Tenn., FirstBank Amphitheater (Quarry)

July 21: Rogers, Ark., Walmart AMP

July 22: Kansas City, Mo., Starlight Theater

July 24: Denver, Red Rocks Amphitheater (with The Colorado Symphony, but no support act)

July 27: Salt Lake City, Utah, Vivint Arena

July 29: Mountain View, Calif., Shoreline Amphitheater

July 30: Santa Barbara, Calif., Santa Barbara Bowl

Aug. 2: Los Angeles, The Greek

Ilana Keller is an award-winning journalist and lifelong New Jersey resident who loves Broadway and really bad puns. She highlights arts advocacy and education, theater fundraisers and more through her column, "Sightlines." Reach out on Twitter: @ilanakeller; ikeller@gannettnj.com

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Josh Groban Harmony Summer tour stops at PNC, NY, Philly