Cellcert: Clay at the Orchestra Hall at the Max M. Fisher Music in Detroit, MI

Beth's Review of Monday December 18th with Clay Aiken at Orchestra Hall at the Max M Fisher Music Theatre in Detroit, MI

I left here at 3:30. Arrived at Carolyn's (Caromiller) house from the RTM at 4pm. We left her house and arrived at Marilyn's (mcraig) house around 4:30. There was a group of 17 of us all going down to the concert together. We had rented a limo bus. Once the bus had arrived, we all got on board and drove down to the concert. Once we were on board, we attempted to watch a DVD of Clay's concert. It didn't work and we kept hearing It's That Time Of Year over and over and over. We all had a good chuckle at that, because we said when Clay would sing it in person, we would be like...Don't you know any other song? That was the Margarita's setting in. We arrived at the Hall and had to wait inside until 6 pm until the restaurant opened. Once it was 6pm we all went upstairs to the restaurant and enjoyed a lovely buffet dinner. There was beef stew, caesar salad, prime rib, salmon, and chicken; vegetables and rolls.

Once dinner was over, we gathered all of our belongings and went back downstairs to find our seats. I was sitting by myself, so I went down to the front of the Hall to find my seat. I was surrounded by members of the MiClayNation board. Jerome was sitting in the corner by the stage. The members of the orchestra were already on stage when the conductor came out. The orchestra played a few songs and then us local Detroiters received a little surprise. Charles Pugh a morning news anchor from FOX 2 Detroit came out and read Twas The Night Before Christmas. When that was over and he found his seat, he was sitting in the same row as me . Then shortly after, it was intermission. I never left my seat. After about 15 minutes. The concert was about to begin. I know for a fact that the conductor did not appreciate the screams from the audience from the look on his face when he announced Clay Aiken was there. The screams were deafening. I was even amazed at how the sound was amplified. Clay came out and did his thing and we all sang along. He was gorgeous. I really wanted to use those binoculars, but didn't want to look like a fool, being so close to the stage. As you all know, due to time constrictions, Clay had to cut his concert short . I have heard that some people were upset by this and others were upset by the fact that no cameras were allowed. I, on the other hand was not. Let me explain...Clay was a guest that was invited to sing with the DSO. They have rules that they need to abide by. (Sidebar: When you are a guest in someone's house, you don't jump on their furniture or run screaming through their house, you obey their rules as you are a guest in their house.) If Clay would have done his concert his way and not followed the rules, he may not be invited back. JMO. Anyways, He finished his concert and disappeared off stage for a long time. We clapped continuously until he came back. It was very noticeable how nervous he was to sing All Is Well. A lot of us screamed, "You can do it!" and he just nailed it! When the concert was over, our bus was waiting for us right outside the venue. It was hillarious as to how many people came up to the doors of the bus wanting to know if it belonged to Clay. We kept telling everyone NO that we were just a group of fans that got together and rented a bus. After everyone had arrived at the bus, we headed back to Mcraig's house. We didn't get to go to Clay's bus because we only rented the bus for a certain number of hours. After we arrived back at Mcraig's house, we all went inside and visited for a couple hours. Several out of towners spent the night. Carolyn (Caromiller) and I had to leave because we both had to get up early the next day.

The End