CLAY IN ATLANTA 2/25

[claylady]

Thank you all for the wonderful reviews of the concert.  I can hardly wait for mine which is March 10.  

JUST DOWNLOADED "WHEN DOVES CRY"
I'VE WATCHED IT 20 TIMES ALREADY.
ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE.  
CLAY IS WITHOUT A DOUBT THE SEXIEST MAN ALIVE.  
I'M DYING HERE.

[lorilovesgolf]

I didn't know if I missed it in everybody's descriptions of the concerts (which, by the way, were absolutely wonderful!) but was there a catwalk in Atlanta?  I am hoping he has one in D.C. - I am in the 5th row !!

[Leveland]

Nicole I felt like I was there again.. Thanks to all for your wonderful Reports.  

Love, Terry

[Pamela]

First, the story.  The video is at the end of the story.  :mrgreen:

From musicmama at The Clackhouse:

We met a lady at the airport while picking up a friend. The sign we had
to embarass said friend said something about Clay on it.

This lady is waiting for her mom's plane to land. Her mom was coming in
for the concert. She has backstage passes. And she noticed our sign and
just wanted to say hi. She thinks our monkey is cute. And he is. He's a
travelling monkey. Like the gnome. She says she'll tell Clay about it.
She is SO nice, but we don't REALLY believe her.

I got caught with my video camera, so I walk back to the car with my
friend. On the way back in, we run into lady again. She said they're
running late, but she won't forget! (she's sooo nice). We found out later
she was the last one in line and as people are pushing her away telling
her it's time to go, she starts babbling about "sign, 2nd row, monkey"
and he gives her an OMG this lady is crazy look.

Fast forward to midway through the concert. We had a sign that pointed
to the monkey. My friend washolding him and I held up the sign.
Something clicked in Clay's head and he points and motions to give him the
monkey. He's singing the ENTIRE time, never missing a beat. He wants the
monkey. I yell "OKAY, BUT I NEED HIM BACK!" Clay NODS emphatically
(gimme the @#%$ monkey). I said "I REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEALLY NEED HIM BACK" NOD
NOD NOD from Clay. My friend stands there motionless and numb. I rip the
monkey from her dead, cold hands and throw him at Clay. Clay catches
him and holds him up. THIS is where ourcameras STOP WORKING. They STOP
WORKING, ya'll. He's singing, bobbing his head back and forth, "take the
@#%$ picture". He's making the monkey dance. The entire incident is
being played on the Jumbotron. The crowd was C R A Z Y. Finally, and
you'll see ONE big flash go off before he hands the monkey back, that was my
friends. Luckily, we both got one picture each.

He gives the monkey back. Friend and I turn around and FREAK OUT,
yelling and jumping and celebrating with our friends in the lower bowl. They
were telling everyone that would listen, "hey, that's our monkey!!!"
While our backs are to him, Clay's backup dancer can hardly sing, he's
laughing so hard and Clay smiles and winks at us.

After that, everyone wanted to TOUCH the monkey AND have their picture
taken with him. Little girls were almost in tears asking to see him.

He is famous. People were pointing and yelling "there's the monkey!" as
we walked through the crowd.

The video. I want to marry CCF and GBB

Can I just say again how much I LOVE that video?

o/~ and our eyes connected emotionally o/~

The hand up. "Hi, I see your sign, some crazy lady told me to talk to
you"

The wave, "yes, you'll get him back, give him to me, yes you."

The eyebrows "YES, I SWEAR I WILL GIVE HIM BACK, GIVE ME THE @#%$
MONKEY"

o/~ I know everybody here wants to hold you, I know what it's like
cause I feel the same...o/~

He looks at him. Holds him up for a pose. Watches the panicked looks on
our faces as our cameras give out.

Another look "you two okay? what's the problem"

Tips the monkey and the mic. We get picture. Give the monkey back.
Motions, "give the monkey back to that girl there, before her head
explodes. Yes that girl there"

Walks to the left.

Walks back to the right, laughs at us and WINKS. Don't miss it, he
WINKS at us. Then trots over, still laughing.

Ya'll, he could have ignored us. How cool WAS it that he took those 45
seconds to make our entire year?

*sigh*

THE VIDEO

Please - right click and 'save target as' and download the video.  Please - do not watch the video from the link.  ThanX!

[cassms]

Yes, the monkey thing was hilarious, even from where I was sitting two sections back--he looked so cute when he held it up and mugged for the camera!  Clay was so drop-dead gorgeous that night in his royal blue, and his charm and presence is amazing on stage--he is a true performer.  
 His voice was definitely a bit hoarse at times and I felt so pained for him that it seemed a little strained so early on in the tour!  He covered it well though; my husband remarked that he couldn't believe he could still hit and hold those glory notes even when he obviously had some hoarseness or voice strain of some type.  Don't get me wrong--his voice was still amazing, just that every now & then you could hear the hoarseness.  I know touring must be hard work and I hope Clay will take good care of himself and his voice; maybe there are techniques and voice coaches that can help with preventing strain.  And maybe he was sick; I just don't know but I do know that I am concerned for him.
 The crowd was great too; the ClayLove was all around!  If he was sick you sure couldn't tell it by his performance--what a professional!  He really connected with the audience, smiling and pointing.  He laughed when he gave his shirt tug (driving us wild) during Invisible, and pointed the microphone to the audience, smiling that we were all singing along.  (I asked my husband later if he sang when Clay pointed the mike to the audience during Invisible--he said "I was already singing!"  :D  LOL!)  And during WYSYLM he kind of danced a little and pointed at himself dancing and we all cheered--he jokes about his dancing, but he has the moves, baby! (as Randy Jackson would say).
 The acoustic set was wonderful--really spotlighted how just incredibly rich his voice is.  And though I wasn't familiar with When Doves Cry, it was powerful and SEXY!  When he moved with Angela I could feel the tingle : !  WowWowWow!  
 I am so excited about this man!!  And the future looks so bright--his choices of songs (other than MOAM) for his concert suited his voice and were so varied (WDC, FOG, CIMM, All About Love, Kyrie) that I know that we are going to be in for more & more incredible treats from OMC when he gets even more control over his music.  What an amazing man and performer.  I am more in awe of him and his talent than ever.  What an incredible night; only wish it had been longer!  If you get a chance to get to the concert--GO!!

[jazzlvr2]

testing

[jazzlvr2]

I attended the Atlanta concert too .  I had 2nd row seats and as everyone else said, Clay was amazing.  He was a little hoarse, but when he sang, you didn't really notice.   The screams were deafing and long.  I thought it was cute that he mentioned that he thought Atlanta screamed more than Charlotte.  It was dHi,  sorry this is late, but I have not had a chance to post until now.  I was at efinitely a Clay audience.   I thought Kelly did a good job, but the majority was there for Clay.  
   It's hard to pick out my favorite part, but it had to be the acoustical numbers, ISY, and WDC.  I was looking forward to the acoustical numbers because of AOL MOAM, which has to still be my all time favorite video of Clay.  When I heard WDC and watched that performance, I thought I would just die on the spot.  Watching it over and over on line just reinforced my feelings.  Is there anything this man can't sing and make it his own?  As Neil Sadaka said about Solitare, " this will now forever be a Clay song".  
  I am heading for Raleigh tomorrow.  I really wanted to be able to just sit back and enjoy watching Clay's response to the crowd and being home.  
  I did have a pass to get into the meet and greet.  I met Clay, but it was very quick and I didn't feel like I said or did anything I had planned on. He sounded a little hoarse there and I thought he might be getting a cold again or his allergies might be bothering him. They made us stand in a line and moved us through quickly. I have read since that Clay likes the meet and greet to be well organized and people standing in a line. He was signing nice poster pictures, but he ran out right before he got to me, so I got an autographed picture instead, which was still nice.   Clay was wearing that athletic jacket he wore during SNL .  I knew it was familiar , but couldn't place it when I was standing there.  I was so nervous that instead of saying what I had intended,  Ijust babbled something about my whole family loving Clay and his music.  He said, "thank you very much" and then it was over.  I wish I had spent more time looking into his eyes, watching him, etc.   I seemed to talk more to Kelly, who, by the way,  was very nice, friendly and seemed like a really sweet down to earth person.  They were kidding back and forth. I also met Jerome who seemed like a really nice guy and he was telling me he was happy to be back in Atlanta which is his home town.  Clay is very thin. What I had hoped to tell him was that I hoped this concert tour would allow him to eat and rest more regularly than he has been able to do lately, but my mind became a pile of mush.
Then they took a picture with me standing between Kelly and Clay.  Kelly said to me, " You smell good" and then Clay said, " Yes you do"  I had my arm around both of them .   Then I just said "Thank you Clay" and it was all over. I tried to see if I could smell any cologne on Clay, but I couldn't . It all happened so fast, it's hard to remember.  When you are done they rush you out.  They don't let you stand around a watch the others.   If you get a chance to go,  Be prepared and make good use of your time.  I wish I had been better prepared.   It was a last minute thing for me and I really didn't think I was going to get back so I wasn't as mentally prepared as I wish I had been.  
I hope I will get another chance to meet him.  You can bet I will be more prepared next time.  
   If you've hung in this far,  thanks for reading my post.  Now it's off to Raleigh!!

[houstonclayfan]

Thank you, Diann for your review and you must just be ecstatic that you got to meet him and just be that close! If you know anything about a meet and greet in Detroit and tell me how I can get passes, a know two very sweet gals that will pass any messages from you onto him  :

Thanks again for your review.

[ANGELA]

jazzlvr2 said:

my mind became a pile of mush

.

Don't feel bad, I know for sure  that would happen to me too.
Thanks for the review that was great!

Angela

[reeree]

oh ! man, diann i believe your so lucky to have a little piece of clay's  time...I only wish all of us could just cut-up with him for a little while, he's so witty and sincere, hey you think you could buy a lotto ticket for me???? ReeRee :