Greenville is the place to be! Clay Aiken is the man for me!

[Clara]

(Oops!! It seems it's NOT a guy thing, AC...)

Thank you soooooooo much, everyone, for another terrific cellcert!!!!!
Good night!

[tiff]

You're welcome. :)
Thanks to Misha and Susan! *hugs*
Thanks to wonderful reporters at the Clayboard, all 100 of them(What? There were a lot tonight)!
And Thanks to everyone here for making this SO MUCH FUN!!

[songbird457]

Songbird, you must be exhausted.  Take care of yourself, young lady!

Love,
Mama Dev

Aww thanks Dev - Good to see you  :D , but I can't take any credit tonight. I mostly lurked and I just titled the thread and opened it. Tiff, Misha, Susan and others all contributed tonight.
I'm trying to take better care of myself though - thanks.  :

[ILClaymate]

Ok, got caught up again from putting son to bed!!

Thanks to Susan, Tiff and Misha for a great cellcert...lots of fun and I think Clay out-did himself yet again!  I hope he didn't overdue himself with Solitaire!  Sounds like he put all 200% into it!  I am surprised he is doing it this tour since it is such a difficult song every night to sing.  Maybe he will be switching it to a different one sometime.

Thanks again!

[claydevotee]

I am surprised he is doing it this tour since it is such a difficult song every night to sing

That's a very good point, Angela.  It's like a figure skater ending a 5-minute routine with a quadruple turn (I forget the figure skating terms).  I don't know how he does it....I'm sure he is completely exhausted every night after each performance.

[songbird457]

quadruple turn

Isn't that like a quadruple toe, double lutz or something fancy, schmancy like that?  :

[kendall]

AC - I'm with you - I don't really care what Clay wears either. Sure, I like him to look good. But he is his own man. I think it would be hurtful for him to read (or be told about) some of the mean comments about his choice of clothing. What happened to "let Clay be Clay"?
Kendall

[claydevotee]

Isn't that like a quadruple toe, double lutz or something fancy, schmancy like that?

Yup, Songbird, that's it.  My point is that Clay is not making things easy for himself for ending his concert with such a challenging song....But, of course, when has Clay ever taken the easy road???

[songbird457]

Isn't that like a quadruple toe, double lutz or something fancy, schmancy like that?

Yup, Songbird, that's it.  My point is that Clay is not making things easy for himself for ending his concert with such a challenging song....But, of course, when has Clay ever taken the easy road???

I knew what you meant.  : And it's a great point. In all of my recitals I've given - I always find that the light, fluffy songs are best at the end. But then again, I am not and will never be Clay Aiken - so I'll leave it to him, the sexport - I mean.... the expert... :oops:

(back to the BLP I go)

[tiff]

Screaming out "I love you, Clay!" in the middle of a ballad is not a compliment to him. It shatters a mood he and he musicians have tried to create. And, it's distracting and rude to everyone who has to hear their voice instead of Clay's.

I have to agree with you Sundancer. Attendees should know what are appropriate and inappropriate ways to act during a show. I remember I went on a cruise with some family 2 years ago. We watched the theatrical shows they had at the theatre all the time. I remember during one of the musicals a couple of teenagers, about 17 or so, decided it was appropriate to scream and "whoo!" in the middle of the musical! I thought this was totally inappropriate. Even during the end, when the whole audience was just clapping, they were still screaming. At the time, I was a couple years yonger than these teenagers, and I still had the maturity to know not to scream! You said it right Sundancer, it's rude and distraction.

[ACcountryFan]

Clay is perhaps following the clichè: "leave them wanting more" and so he saves his best vocal performance for last. This isn't to say the other songs are not sung well...but "Solitaire" in my opinion is the perfect closing song. It would look weird for the song to be put in the beginning or middle because it takes so much power to sing it...and so he gets "the easy stuff" : over with and puts everything into "Solitaire" at the end. At least that's how i see it.

[Pamela]

Greetings from Greenville SC!  Where Clay amazingly brought it, once again.  What a weekend.

You know, I've always been a person who was content with what I have.  I like to think I'm a simple person; I don't need much. Good friends, a decent job, a roof over my head.  The Internet.   :  So it makes me feel a little guilty when I say -

WHY CAN'T I BE RICH SO I CAN QUIT MY JOB AND BECOME A TRAVELING CLAYHEAD?  

 8)

Just kidding (but not really).   Once is not enough. Twice is not enough.  What is enough?  It's never enough.  <<---fangirl!

I was fortunate enough last night to be on the eighth row and with the exception of that confounded boom camera arm which occasionally blocked my view of the exquisite Mr. Aiken, it was a lovely spot to be.  

I know the show now; however, he always keeps it fresh and funny.  I can't get over how the band and the singers seem to have so much fun.  Clay has fun.  You can't help but have fun - there is no choice.

The girl that had the 'dirty' sign in Greensboro had the same 'dirty' sign in Greenville.  It wasn't really, since he held it up to the camera for all to see - something about Jacob giving good sax and getting lei'd by Clay.  All in good fun.  Jerome even took the sign back and had it autographed by everyone for her.  She's from Raleigh, and I know her.  I can't wait to see it up close!

The girl that went up to dance with Clay was a riot.  She was a total fangirl and when she went right up and shimmied on Clay she cracked him up with her 'enthusiasm' and he just laughed and laughed.  Her tshirt said 'Mrs Aiken' and before she left the stage she said 'did you know we were married?'  Clay said 'you're going to have to do a lot more than dance if you want to marry me!'  Alrighty then!   :  :

Now, to the best part, except I don't know how to say anything at this point without sounding like a total fangirl.  So, beware.

Clay's voice - there is nothing else like it, nothing .  It wraps around you like a warm breeze.  It fills up your heart with such joy you suddenly find yourself dancing, waving your arms in the air, screaming with abandon.  I looked around during a couple of the songs, and I saw people laughing, crying, dancing, staring in wide eyed wonder, hugging their friends in the middle of a song.

I saw guys who knew all the words, little kids who were dancing with total abandon, grandmothers with tears in their eyes.  I saw a man with a tshirt on that said 'I don't know what's going on!'   :

I saw couples, parents with their children, sexy young women.  I noticed that there were lots of guys there, even out at the buses after the concert.

There were groups of people, obviously Internet friends, people who worked together, a whole church group.  Sitting at the end of the row, I was right beside a couple of security people who couldn't keep their eyes off the jumbotron during Solitaire.

I saw different things in people's eyes - respect, wonder, reverence, gratitude.

It was so much fun to spend the weekend with the fantastic people I have met here - Moonshot, Sundancer, Gwenn, quynn, cjrmax and Micki.  Lainey and Carolyn came all the way from Toronto!  I ran into Bweber from CA. I was privileged to sit with the lovely Macknscu and Perfect Match, two of the most sweet and energetic girls you can imagine!  Being with all these great people made the experience even more special. Thanks to all of you for being there - I am honored to know each one of you.

I have to hit the road now, but I'll post in the concert thread about the actual concert later.  For now, I'll just say that I love this show, I love every song, every little bit of schtick, the band, Jacob, Quiana, and Angela, and especially, Clay.  Oh, and Raleigh too.   :

I have but one complaint.  He didn't wear the paisley jacket at all.  Why Clay, why?   I think I'm going to have to write him about that.

See you when I get back home!

One more thing!  Here's what the dancing girl from Greenville wrote on RHT about dancing with Clay:

I've been a dancer for a long time and when Clay announced a dance contest i was all about it. I was in the 10 row and very visible to Clay. I made myself even more visible buy dancing like a crazy person. I GOT PICKED!!!!! Then Big bad Jerome came an escorted me on stage. He siad to walk up the steps and go out on stage. So...I strutted my stuff out on stage taking him by surprise. I made him crak up. He didn't know what he was getting into when he picked me. I am not shy at all and i have been performing on stage for most of my life. He stood in the middle of the stage still laughing at my entrence. So i decided to go over to him. I put my left arm around his waist then shimmied up and down while feeling his chest (not in a dirty way, seriously) I totally cought him off guard, he was not expecting me at all. He was laughing so hard he couldn't sing for a second. He then took my hand and walked me down the runway. I was freaking out jumping up and down. Then we walked back and i danced some with his backup singers. He gave me a beautiful lei made of real flowers . He gave me a hug that was very nice and genuine (loved that) . As for the marrige rumor. What i said was... (pointing to my shirt that said Mrs. Aiken) "Didn't you know we were married?" "See (holding my left hand up with an engagement ring on it) this is the ring you gave me." Then he leaned in toward me and said, "You're going to have to do a alot more than just dance to marry me." Oh i forgot, he sang to me FACE TO FACE and i was freaking out again, not knowing what to do but just stand there and stare like a big dork. It was the best night ever. I loved every moment of it. I will never forget this night for the rest of my life.

[ACcountryFan]

Pamela: You don't have to worry about sounding excited; it beats sounding sour and upset and nit-picky! i didn't know so many from here were going to the show!

[ANGELA]

Pamela,
I read your review and must admit ,  I am going totally crazy---cannot wat to see CLAY--THANK YOU!!

YOU GAVE ME GOOSE BUMPS!ANGELA

[lorraine]

PAM - ANGELA AND I READ YOUR REVIEW TOGETHER ON THE PHONE AND LET ME TELL YOU THAT THE LOVE YOU FEEL FOR CLAY SURE CAME OUT.  YOU EXPRESSED IT SO WELL THAT WE BOTH HAD GOOSE BUMPS.  I CANNOT WAIT UNTIL I CAN SEE HIM ON JULY 29TH.  THANK YOU SO MUCH.


LORRAINE

[Her]

Pamela, thank you girl!  Hope to see you in Charlotte!

[reeree]

hello out there !!! i too was at the greenville concert and it was a blast.... I so wished i could have met all of you, i was on 10th row sec 1 seat 1and 2, me and hubby, it was his first clay concert and he was impressed...as all of us are , clay is truly a performance package, talent, charm, personality, wisdom and has the spiritual guidance to go that extra mile for all of us.... he truly is all that and a bag of chips, it got warm on the floor of that concert, toward the end we all were a bit overwhelmed at his presence.....  at  the end of the show our car was parked in the lot next to the busses so we walked by there as jacob and i think angela walked out , a few minutes later clay came out , we heard everyone screaming and cameras flashing, dangit! i had to go to the car because i thought i was gonna faint (literally) so when we got out on academy st. by the bus lot, a guy flagged us to stop to let clay's bus out, and we did .. and girls of all ages were chasing it and kissing the bus..the driver of the bus had to honk the horn for them to step back, and clay was still waving!!!!! he truly does love his fans, but i bet it does get scary sometimes.... i got some great pictures i'll get on here soon , thanks for a great concert and a wonderful claymaniac time , you are all just as enthusiastic as i am... loved him in nashville on wednesday and went crazy in greenville on saturday...    maria    reeree :

[Her]

Thanks Maria...glad to see hubby liking OMC...

[Prissy]

Pamela,

Thank you so much for sharing your Clay experience with us.  You really make us feel like we are there, too. I would loved to have seen "Mrs. Aiken" struttin' her stuff and dancing for Clay!  That sounds like it was a hoot!  I'm starting to get a "little" excited about seeing him in September!!! 8)  :

reeree,

I appreciate your sharing with us, too.  Clay is totally awesome!!  

Prissy

[CT loves Clay]

Pam,

I just read two of the paragraphs and I knew I had to print this out to save forever and ever!  You should have been a professional writer!  The love just came pouring out of you.  I got the chills and my eyes started to tear.
I will go and read this like a love story.  It is a love story.  The love for  Clay that gets deeper and stronger as the days go by.  I would have given anything to be there with all of you.  July 29th is coming soon.  I can't wait.


Linda