Michael Bublé - Amway Center - 02.16.19

Michael Bublé made a dramatic entrance below a blood moon, silhouetted by red lights, opening the concert with “Feeling Good”. His setlist was a perfect mix from his newest albums, old classics, and his best originals. His team managed to turn the sports arena into an elegant concert hall. There was a staircase leading to the floor seats of his audience, a beautiful display of twinkling lights, and even a set of crystal lanterns that dropped from the rafters just to add a touch more romance.

I have seen few performers interact with a crowd the way Bublé does. It was obvious by his actions how much he truly loves his listeners. At one point he asked one of the crowd members to come up and sing with him. One gentleman froze at the microphone and promptly returned to his seat. A woman by the name of Sarah bravely stepped up and sang “You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine” with Bublé. After that lovely duet, he let one of his bandmates take the stage, a trumpet player named Jovani Smith, and sing “You’re Nobody Till Somebody Loves You”. Throughout the night he bent to touch reaching hands, took a few selfies on fans’ phones, and even jumped down from the stage to dance with one woman through the guard rail.

Bublé made a thunderous (first) exit, ending his show with “Cry Me a River”. He came back for an encore that included “Where or When” and “Everything”, my personal favorite song and one I had hoped would make it on his setlist. To close the night he turned around to thank his band, giving a little extra love to the local Floridian string players who joined him for this show only. Bublé then turned his attention to his fans, expressing how thankful he was to be here with them. Despite having been on a five year hiatus from his career he still sold out the arena. You could see tears welling up in his eyes as he poured out his gratitude for his audience. He ended his encore set with “Always On My Mind” and let the band play on after the song to take one last walk around the stage to wave goodbye to his fans.