INDEPENDENT TOUR FAN REVIEWS

[FAITH]

NYPOST

AIKEN NOT FAKIN': HE'S THE REAL DEAL By DAN AQUILANTE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
March 6, 2004 -- A POST reader - a devoted "American Idol" fan - has been calling me a jerk for months.
All because I said the debut album by runner-up Clay Aiken was a limp, sappy, mealy-mouthed exercise in bombast by a crooner whose only hope was the hype garnered as he was force-fed to America.

In other words, the album was a stinker.

She will be elated to learn that at the Nassau Coliseum Thursday night, Aiken, on a double bill with his "Idol" cohort Kelly Clarkson, played a concert that was startlingly good.

There's never been a question whether or not Aiken can sing. What this concert showed was that, when placed under the lights on a concert stage, the lanky Southerner is an entertainer.

Wearing jeans, a rugby shirt and a sports coat, Aiken was completely unpretentious.

His aw-shucks, between-song banter was natural and the program had a wide reach - from Sting's "Fields of Gold" to his own "Invisible."
 
While his album was a geezer-pleaser, the stage show's program was more well-rounded, catering to an intergenerational house packed with kids.

Take Aiken's concert version of "Perfect Day." In the live rendering, the singer infused the song with unexpected grit and power that was completely missing from the bland, milquetoast studio take.

Aiken complained that he's been suffering from a sore throat, but there was no evidence of it during the show.

Still, the show was far from perfect: The bass and drums were cranked way too high, and the bottom beats overpowered at times, especially in the latter half of his set.

Aiken used his hit-the-back-wall superpower sparingly, but he couldn't help but inject a full measure of ballad bombast and histrionics into his power ballad "I Survived You."

Still, he didn't rely on those tricks to melt the crowd and unglue them from their seats. Instead, the show's real signature was tunes with upbeat tempos delivered by Aiken's rock band, which was propulsive in its attack.

Where Aiken did wow with slower material was when he stripped the instrumentation down to classical guitar, piano and voice arrangements. That was how he set up an unusual cover of Prince's "When Doves Cry" and James Taylor's pretty country/rock ballad "In My Mind I'm Going To Carolina."

Kelly Clarkson, who won the "American Idol" talent show in its debut year, opened the concert, but she was only OK during her hour-long set.

Clarkson's set depended on too may pop ballads fueled with vocal runs and acrobatics. The crowd lent her strong applause to "Beautiful Disaster," "Some Kind Of Miracle" and "Anytime," but the lack of variety was snore-inducing.

She did get the crowd out of the seats when she asked them to do so, but they were soon sitting again. The rule in rock is: If ya gotta ask, it doesn't count.

Where she did hit all the right buttons with the house was on the fast-break number "What's Up Lonely" and her big hit "Thankful."

The latter was her final tune in her set, and for it she made a quick costume change into a T-shirt that said "Clay Rocks" across her chest.

Who would have thought a T-shirt and TV show could be so right?

[lorraine]

Thank you Faith for posting that review.  Very positive comments about our boy Clay.  I think, if nothing at all, that all of these reporters who have been so negative about Clay will really see a side to him that they did not expect that he could do.  He is an Entertainer and is great in what he does.
P.S.  BEYOND GREAT!

Lorraine

[cpnina]

I saw the concert in DC last night..after fears that OBC was sick with laryngitis...he came through, and what a show!! The Beu Sisters are wonderful!! Same kind of wholesomeness, and beautiful harmonies. And pretty girls..Anyway, when Clay came down the aisle surrounded by bodyguards, singing "Kyrie", well, I started tearing up. WOW!!!! He did an hour, mostly from MOAM, but with a few other surprises (although, I guess there are no surprises since the show clips are in Airplay Central). Word to the wise: the  t-shirts were $30, the PROGRAM is THUD-WORTHY, beautiful photos, $15.00.
He sang so wonderfully, was sweet, funny, Clay. And he thanked us, his fans, for making MOAM go TRIPLE platinum yesterday. And verified that the single comes out the 16th. I had pretty good seats, but will get lousy pictures. Oh, well. And the best part was the screams did not overwhelm his voice--he came through loud and beautiful.

He looked wonderful, sexy, adorable, and sounded like an angel.

I am FINISHED now. I can die happy.

cp :D

[lorraine]

You don't want to die now.  There will be more and more of our guy Clay coming I am sure.  Everytime I hear something new about last night it makes me feel so much better.  I have been so worried about him.  I will be seeing him on Monday, March 8th.  You and many hundreds of thousands of us are in love.  At my age, I feel like a teenager again.  Clay I love you.  You have made me feel young again.


Lorraine

[marilyn]

I couldnt wait to tell everyone my experience at Clays concert-yes-I ran my hand down his arm when he passed me-SIGH! And I am a 55 year old Clay maniac. There is just something about him-yes his voice is phenomenal-I play his downloaded bits when I am on the computer. But the boy definitely has CHARISMA-he is a natural with the audiences and he makes many people feel special.
On the unfortunate side-he said that he had been battling a sore throat for two days, and at the end of the concert, his voice started to break a little, and with his duo with Kelly -Open Arms-it went on the last few syllables. I hope with all my heart that he will be ok and doesnt strain himself too much.
The things I like about Clay are his down to earth qualities, his concern for the autistic, and the charities he has started and contributed to-he is so much more of a role model for todays youth because of him not wanting to be explicitly sexual or rude like a lot of todays young pop idols. What amazed me even more was the variety of ages of the fans at the concert, and both men and women were cheering for him.
I had been worried that everyone would scream while he was singing and we would be unable to hear that wonderful voice, but the fans are really considerate-yes they screamed their heads off, but immediately he began singing, they quieted down and you could hear every golden word.
I WANT MORE-wish I could go to ALL the concerts.
I am a Clay fan forever!!

[Pamela]

Still more like puppets than idols
By Rafer Guzman
STAFF WRITER
March 6, 2004

In some parallel universe, there's a Fox show called "American Artist" in which contestants struggle to make bold, original music. Instead of competing for a prize, each artist is given a "task": To find his or her audience and connect with it on some level. The winner gets to have a career - sometimes.

But wait - we already have something like that. It's called reality. But because it requires so much concentration and goes on for so long, with contestants occasionally dying in obscurity or killing themselves, it's not always easy to watch. Fox's "American Idol," then, is the exact opposite of reality.  And now on tour are Clay Aiken and Kelly Clarkson, the exact opposite of artists.

"American Idol" groomed Aiken and Clarkson to resemble other successful pop and R&B artists - hence, they resemble each other. Though one is male, the other female, they can be described with the same few words: Young, talented, likable. If they have more complex personalities than that, Fox wasn't telling.

The trouble is, Clarkson and Aiken still aren't telling. They've exited the bubble-world of "American Idol" (an environment as tightly controlled as "The Truman Show"), but still share the same management company, record label and songwriters- for-hire. That made searching their Thursday concert for hints of originality a tough task, like trying to crack a computer code: The tiniest hiccup in the data became something to glom on to.

Such blips were few and far between, but Clarkson provided most of them. For starters, she's changed her look. Instead of the well-coiffed girl-next-door who appears on her album, "Thankful," Clarkson played the tomboy in ragged jeans and a functional ponytail. She strummed an acoustic guitar on a countryish version of "Low," then an electric one for "Just Missed the Train." During the ballad "Beautiful Disaster," she sat cross-legged on the piano instead of draping herself over it.

Clarkson has a typical soul-belter's voice, powerful and with a big range. Perhaps because of that, the material that should have suited her best (such as the new jack swing of "Bounce") was also the most boring. The bolder Clarkson's song choices, the more impassioned her singing became. She put some sass into Reba McEntire's "Why Haven't I Heard From You?" and did a fine job revving up Bette Midler's old-fashioned "Stuff Like That There."

If Clarkson's personality shone through her songs rather than her words - she barely spoke during her 50-minute set - Aiken achieved the reverse. His between-song patter was far more charming than his music. At one point, he swiped a cell phone from a young fan and spoke to the apparently hyperventilating caller: "Karen? Let me talk, okay? Breathe."

But Aiken's set plodded along with mostly mid-tempo ballads and gentle pop numbers designed to accentuate his wounded-puppy image. After a short while, his songs became a blur of similar-sounding plaints such as "I've been hurt way too many times" or "I survived you."

The only break was an ill-advised cover of Prince's "When Doves Cry." When Aiken tried to purr, "The sweat of your body covers me," we discovered at least one thing about his personality: He can't funk.

NY NEWSDAY

[Pamela]

AIKEN NOT FAKIN': HE'S THE REAL DEAL
By DAN AQUILANTE
   
March 6, 2004 -- A POST reader - a devoted "American Idol" fan - has been calling me a jerk for months.  All because I said the debut album by runner-up Clay Aiken was a limp, sappy, mealy-mouthed exercise in bombast by a crooner whose only hope was the hype garnered as he was force-fed to America.

In other words, the album was a stinker.

She will be elated to learn that at the Nassau Coliseum Thursday night, Aiken, on a double bill with his "Idol" cohort Kelly Clarkson, played a concert that was startlingly good.

There's never been a question whether or not Aiken can sing. What this concert showed was that, when placed under the lights on a concert stage, the lanky Southerner is an entertainer.

Wearing jeans, a rugby shirt and a sports coat, Aiken was completely unpretentious.

His aw-shucks, between-song banter was natural and the program had a wide reach - from Sting's "Fields of Gold" to his own "Invisible."

While his album was a geezer-pleaser, the stage show's program was more well-rounded, catering to an intergenerational house packed with kids.

Take Aiken's concert version of "Perfect Day." In the live rendering, the singer infused the song with unexpected grit and power that was completely missing from the bland, milquetoast studio take.

Aiken complained that he's been suffering from a sore throat, but there was no evidence of it during the show.

Still, the show was far from perfect: The bass and drums were cranked way too high, and the bottom beats overpowered at times, especially in the latter half of his set.

Aiken used his hit-the-back-wall superpower sparingly, but he couldn't help but inject a full measure of ballad bombast and histrionics into his power ballad "I Survived You."

Still, he didn't rely on those tricks to melt the crowd and unglue them from their seats. Instead, the show's real signature was tunes with upbeat tempos delivered by Aiken's rock band, which was propulsive in its attack.

Where Aiken did wow with slower material was when he stripped the instrumentation down to classical guitar, piano and voice arrangements. That was how he set up an unusual cover of Prince's "When Doves Cry" and James Taylor's pretty country/rock ballad "In My Mind I'm Going To Carolina."

Kelly Clarkson, who won the "American Idol" talent show in its debut year, opened the concert, but she was only OK during her hour-long set.

Clarkson's set depended on too may pop ballads fueled with vocal runs and acrobatics. The crowd lent her strong applause to "Beautiful Disaster," "Some Kind Of Miracle" and "Anytime," but the lack of variety was snore-inducing.

She did get the crowd out of the seats when she asked them to do so, but they were soon sitting again. The rule in rock is: If ya gotta ask, it doesn't count.

Where she did hit all the right buttons with the house was on the fast-break number "What's Up Lonely" and her big hit "Thankful."

The latter was her final tune in her set, and for it she made a quick costume change into a T-shirt that said "Clay Rocks" across her chest.

Who would have thought a T-shirt and TV show could be so right?

NY POST

[cassms]

That was fantastic--almost as good as Simon's eating crow! I'm so glad this guy could keep an open mind enough that he could actually let himself see what a great performer Clay is, particularly live--and that at a concert during a many-pronged appearance circuit that strained his voice a little. No doubt Clay just lights up a stage with his presence and the beautiful instrument that is his voice.

[Anonymous]

Word to the wise: the  t-shirts were $30, the PROGRAM is THUD-WORTHY, beautiful photos, $15.00. cp :D

Are his videos for sale?

susan2

[grammaof6]

his hit-the-back-wall superpower

Don't cha just love it? All that and a sore throat too.  :  8)

[grammaof6]

album was a geezer-pleaser

:

The geezer-pleaser that has now reached the triple platinum mark!

[Her]

No, videos for sale.  They should have them as they'd make a fortune.  Hey fellow maniacs, don't forget the key chain-I don't remember how much it was, but you can always take him with you wherever you go.

[LOLA]

[quote
   
                geezer pleaser. sappy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!                      

   :evil:  :evil:
   DOESNT THAT MAKE YOU ANGRY GRANDMA? IT SURE DOES ME. I ALSO AM A MATURE WOMAN WITH GRAND CHILDREN.   BUT I LOVE CLAY AND I THINK  CLAY ATRACKS PEOPLE OF ALL AGES, AND THAT IS WHAT MAKES HIM SO SPECIAL. I ALSO THINK THAT RUBIN, IS HAVING LESS SUCESS THAN CLAY BECAUSE HE APPEALS TO A SMALLER MORE SELECT GROUP THAN CLAY. CLAY CAN SING ALL TYPES OF MUSIC.  JUST CHECK OUT HIS DEMOS AND YOU WILL SEE WHAT I MEAN.ROCK AND ROLL, COUNTRY, POP ,CHRISTIAN ,YOU NAME IT CLAY CAN SING IT. I CANT WAIT FOR HIS NEXT ALBUM, CAN YOU?      CLAYS VOICE IS  JUST HEAVENLY!!!!!! I CANT GET ENOUGH[/quote]

[claymom]

Was wonderful.  Went with my girlfriend, our daughters, and another of our daughters friend.  I wasn't that much of a clay fan until I saw him last night.  Now I'm hooked!!!  Sang all the songs you expected, plus an acoustic part of the show which he likes for smaller venues, but it went over well.  Should have clay on second tho.  Lot of people left after him and during Kelly's show.  Wasn't sure what type of image Kelly is trying to project tho.  Very bluesy.  But what a great voice!!  My fav was when Clay sang Prince's song, when the doves cry. They put purple lights on the state; that's when I was hooked!!!!!!!!!

[liney23]

Welcome to the wonderful world of Claymaniacs.  We love Clay, not just his voice, but the beautiful person he is.  Explore the threads.  We have the latest reviews, news, etc.  Best on the internet.

What's even neater is that no nastiness is allowed here.  A whole lot of nice people.

There is a thread for teenagers, called Claygirls Junior.  Check it out, maybe your daughter and her friends would like it.

Liney

[clay4me03]

Hey everyone from the Worchester concert, where are your video clips?  No one has them downloaded yet??? I wanna see...I HAVE TO SEE IT!!  

Jacki

[Jeannette]

I know I've said this so many times before, but it continues to be said by so many other people:  MOAM has been called geezer-pleaser, milquetoast, karaoke, candycoated, etc. etc. etc. because YOU CAN'T HEAR CLAY OVER THE BAND.  This reviewer repeated what so many others have said, that the really thrilling part of the concert was the acoustic part.  I was also sad to hear that the bass and drums at the concert were cranked way up.  A lot of people don't conciously notice this, but they are deprived of the full force of Clay's voice and personality.

When are the producers going to get it?

Well, off the soapbox again.

[TakenByClay]

I really CAN'T wait for the Seattle show! When Clay comes down I know that I'm gonna start crying!! Just 28 more days.....

[claymom]

Just a footnote; the last time I was at the Worcester Centrum some 18 or so year's ago, I saw Prince in Concert for his purple rain tour and he sang that song!  I didn't know that was part of clay's repetoire and my daughter looked at me and my eyes were wide open with surprise.   Also, were were in sec 235 and saw down below and over to right Clay coming out thru the audience.  We almost died he was on our side of the theater and altho we didn't get to touch him it seemed like the bodyguards were practically lifting him off his feet and rushing him to the stage.  The place went NUTS and I kept saying to my daughter; die-hard clay fan from the start; there he is, there he is!!!!  The woman sitting next to me said, I'm crazier than the kids, and we stood the whole time and danced to his music.  What a night.  It's a shame it ended so fast, but I'm on his side.

[Jeannette]

Just another thought on the NY concert review--I am not so upset with all the reviewers who called the MOAM CD things like candy-coated, karaoke, limp, milquetoast, etc.  Every negative thing I read about MOAM, almost without exception, was this type of comment, bland, mush.  They never said he can't sing or anything like that.  I think they said this type of thing because they were only getting part of his performance.  The "nutsy, overengineered, drownout" background music (thanks to my fellow claymaniacs for the good descriptions) robbed us of the "guts" of Clay's performances.  Anyone who watched AI2 and heard those Clay performances where you could hear every nuance would wonder what those reviewers were talking about.  But if those reviewers had only MOAM to base their opinions on, of course they reported on what they heard.  Those of us who had seen AI2 knew what he's capable of.

Lucky for us and for Clay's career, Clay has made so many other appearances where we can really hear him.  And with the beautiful video of The Way and with what looks like the incredible success of the tour it sounds like he will have lots of new Clayverts.

And this certainly is in no way a reflection on Clay himself.  I know it's almost like heresy to say anything negative about Clay's first CD, especially when it's been so successful and gone triple platinum.  It makes me so sad that Clay put his heart and soul into it.  But look how we are rediscovering some of those beautiful songs when we hear them in the acoustic versions and live performances.

No, I don't blame the reviewers.  The ones I really blame are the producers:  Clive Davis who decided that if Clay's songs weren't edgy enough to sell, the background had to be edgy (make that drownout).  He either hadn't really listened to Clay's music and didn't understand it, or just should have had more faith in his singer.  Or the producers who, as a matter of course, place a wall of generic drownout music between the singer and the listener to cover up the singer's faults.  That works with a lot of singers and is a really good thing (Ruben, Britney, Justin Timberlake) but with Clay it's a huge loss.  

A lot of reviewers have said that "Clay's debut was sabotaged by Clive Davis with the overproduced music", that Clay was "saddled with the bombast of the background music", etc.  They can't continue doing this without doing damage to Clay's career.  I'm getting nervous about what they did to Solitaire, heard that they reworked it.  On a CD, I think it must be just so easy to electronically wreck it.  Given the passionate response to the acoustic MOAM,  and the fact that acoustic stuff was included in the concerts, maybe Clay himself is coming to realize how important it is.
Not everything can be acoustic, but they could just be more careful with the instrumentation.

Well, it's time to get off the soapbox.