Hello everyone,
(Here is part 2 of my account of a Clay concert last summer. You can read Part 1 of "Me and Clay's Jukebox tour" here.)
I took my seat, in the middle of the third block of seats away from the stage (and yes, I tried to move up into the second block, but there were guards posted *sigh*). I could see all of the stage, which was great, but people and things on it were quite small. Thank goodness for my binoculars - what an idea to take those with me! There was a jukebox on stage, and I kept thinking to myself - "am I really going to see Clay Aiken live, here, in the next few minutes?" It seemed hard to believe that I was soon to be in such close proximity to the young man I have come to admire since that famous audition in January of 2003, when he brought tears to my eyes...
The band members came onstage and struck up a few chords, then ... sweet Clay himself came on out and greeted us warmly. Beyond my control, tears were streaming down my cheeks, past my wide grin, over and over again. It was an automatic reaction, like when I first heard Clay sing : his presence, his voice, his smile - they inspire such happiness and emotion in me that I can't help smiling and tearing up at the same time!
And I smiled all evening, until the very last song and beyond into the night and the next few days. I loved the fact that there were people (mostly women and girls) of all ages in the audience. On my way to the concert, I was sure I would be the oldest person there (I'm in my early forties), and that I would be surrounded by a bunch of teeny-boppers. I was even slightly embarrassed to tell anyone I was going to a Clay Aiken concert. I was wrong - there were many teens and pre-teens, but most of the fans present were adults, from barely adult to seniors.
The concert was tremendous: Clay catered to all of us, from all generations. The older women were boogeying and clapping when Clay sang Elvis, whereas I especially loved his 60s and 70s medlies. In fact, I loved the entire concert - as far as I'm concerned, Clay could sing the phone book and I would be there, paying to hear him sing! I don't even like Elvis particularly, but I loved Clay's renditions of some of Elvis' classics. I don't think I have heard one song ever in which I preferred the original to Clay's interpretation. He's that good, to my ears, that he even improves on musical classics. And yes, I do have an ear for music, so I can tell (I almost became a professional classical musician in my younger life - I didn't because I decided that social and community action was more important to me).
I especially love when Clay sings Elton John and James Taylor, two singer-songwriters I have always held among my top ten favourites. Yet Clay sings them... better than they do! Yikes, some will say that's sacrilegious... so be it.
Clay has such a great stage presence and amazing rapport with his audience. I had heard that, and I could easily anticipate that someone as sociable, sensitive, funny and compassionate as he is would have been wonderful onstage. I was not disappointed! Clay talked to us, chatted us up, cracked jokes, laughed at himself ("I think my feet have grown again") - basically made us feel like he was talking directly to each one of us and only us. An incredible humanity, an astounding talent, an endearing human being. That's Clay!
More to come in Part 3...
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