The Joshua Radin concert was even better than I expected!

As you may or may not know, I enjoy the music of Joshua Radin.

I have been a quiet fan since I first heard "Paperweight," courtesy of one of Susan's fabulous mixes, in Fall of 2005. The following Spring another mix of hers included "The Fear You Won't Fall," and I was pretty much hooked on Radin's soothing voice, which worked out well considering his first album, We Were Here, released a month or so later in June 2006.

His music is calm and soothing, genuine and heartfelt without being overly sappy. It brought me comfort during times I dearly needed it, so when he came out with another album, Simple Times, last September (which I became aware of thanks to the inclusion of "I'd Rather Be With You" on yet another of Susan's mixes) I didn't think twice about buying it, and I wasn't disappointed. His healing vocals continued to be a balm to my ears, a few particularly uplifting tracks radiantly overshadowing the songs with less cheerful themes.

So of course I bought a ticket when I found out that Joshua Radin would be performing at Webster Hall. I don't usually attend concerts alone but I felt sure his show was worth seeing, and boy was I right.

First of all, Joshua Radin recorded and Joshua Radin live are two entirely different entities. I hadn't given much thought to the reality that he is a person, with a personality. I guess I expected a solemn presentation, since his music tends to err on the side of serious. Well, not even close, as it turns out. Sure, when he sang the sadder songs, every bit of his emotion seemed authentic—you'd never have guessed that minutes earlier he was laughing about a related subject. But his overall presence was, in a word, joyous.

There were a several factors working in favor of an exceptional show. (1) Joshua Radin is from New York, and was visibly ecstatic to be returning home. He's lived in LA for the last four years and moved back to NYC in April, but he's been on the road ever since. So we were the first home crowd he'd played to and he was loving it. (2) The performance was being filmed for a DVD, which meant that, in tandem with him liking us as an audience, he talked about EVERY SONG before he played it. It was awesome. I'm familiar with all of the 22 songs on his two albums, so it was really cool to get the "inside scoop" behind the creative process. I'd tell you more about that, but unless you care, you really wouldn't care. (3) He played new songs, and they rocked. Like, really rocked—he's clearly evolved as a musician and his new album (to be recorded in February) will include not just "whisper rock," as he called it, but also full-out drum-heavy guitar-solo rock. Given the content of his existing albums I'd expected to play a passive role as an audience member, but at his encouragement, the new songs had all of us clapping hands, stomping feet, and hollering at will—he even orchestrated a "primal scream" to get things moving, which was a wonderful release since I can't remember the last time I had the chance to just shriek and yell to my heart's content. (4) Zach Braff was present. I'm not really sure why this was such a big deal, but it definitely contributed to the excitement of the audience. Apparently he's a big Joshua Radin fan—and Radin made eye contact with him time and again, so maybe they're friends—and when it was time to applaud for an encore, Zach stood up from his VIP balcony seat, leaned over the railing, and beckoned for the crowd to cheer louder.

I suppose it was the combination of (1), (2), (3), and (4) that led to (5), one of the coolest things that I've experienced at a concert. When Radin came out for his encore, he told us we were such a great crowd that he wanted to be a part of us. So, to make that happen, he said he was going to perform his encore song right in the middle of the audience.

Guess who was standing right in the middle of the audience? Yup. Moments later I found myself on the inner circumference of a spotlighted circle on the ballroom floor, at the center of which was Joshua Radin. He played an acoustic Bob Dylan cover with no mic, but I heard every word because I was less than two feet away from him.

Even Zach Braff didn't get that close.