Josh Groban. Boston TD's Garden. 11.9.17

It's been three years since Josh Groban's last solo album and just as many years since the last time he performed for Boston, a city that he has dutifully returned to for each of his six headlining world tours.

Groban has never quite fit into any one particular box, but in the last few years he has gone on to further diversify a resume that was already astoundingly diverse and unconventional: he made his long-awaited Broadway debut (and picked up a Tony Award nomination along the way) for "Natasha, Pierre, & The Great Comet of 1812," hosted The Tony Awards, and filmed a season of "The Good Cop" for Netflix which, he reminded the audience, still hasn't been picked up for a second season. "Just put it on and do laundry," he joked. "Netflix won't watch you."

Groban's career has always been diverse, which isn't especially surprising considering how he first rose to fame two decades ago when he unexpectedly filled in for Andrea Bocelli and sang with Celine Dion at the 1999 Grammy Awards, a gig that led to an appearance on "The Rosie O'Donnell Show," which led to a guest spot on "Ally McBeal," which led to a #1 single and a debut album that sold more than five million copies all before he turned 21. His incredible, rich baritone may have been what caught our attention initially, but it's his effortless charm and easy personality that have kept him on our TV screens, stages, and playlists for almost twenty years.

Seeing Groban live in concert, as I did last week when his "Bridges" tour stopped at Boston's TD Garden, I was reminded of all of the things that make him one of the premier entertainers of our time. I also discovered two things that I didn't really know: Groban writes his own music and he's one hell of a pianist.

His 18-song setlist drew largely from "Bridges," Groban's eighth studio album that was released in September and sold nearly 100,000 copies the first week of its release, an astounding number in the age of streaming. The record is a hopeful affair, the original material of which borders on cornball, at least to these cynical ears. But where the album seems hopelessly inspirational, performed live there is little doubt that they mean something to Groban, who performed them with such unflinching sincerity that, by evening's end, the songs meant something to us, too.

A full local orchestra and a small choir added some class, but the evening was infused with a little extra sparkle by way of Idina Menzel, Groban's opening act, who also joined him halfway through his set to perform "Lullaby," a track from Groban's 2006 release, "Awake," and "Falling Slowly," the Oscar-winning song from "Once" that he recorded for 2013's "All That Echoes," Groban's third number one album. (Groban sat at the piano for both).

Menzel delivered the goods during her electrifying opening set in which she breathed new life into a few "Rent" staples, dusted off some "Wicked," and–naturally–a bit of "Frozen." "It's just the straight ones that don't know me," she joked at one point. "It's okay. We'll teach them." When more than a few blank stares greeted "Over the Moon," Maureen's iconic performance piece from "Rent," Menzel added between a verse: "Explain it to the straight guys."

Groban allowed the evening to be about the music and largely avoided political banter (you don't want to alienate those female suburbanite record buyers!), but he spoke openly about his struggles with depression and anxiety and about being bullied in school, crediting his high school's arts program with saving his life. Groban's voice is many things, but vulnerable it's not, and in revealing these little bits about himself he showed off an alluringly tender side of himself that we don't often see.

With the personality of a showman and the voice of a god, Groban is the real deal. So is this tour.

For more on Josh Groban and the final dates in his tour, visit Josh Groban's website.