sheiladownunder Posted July 19, 2007 Report Share Posted July 19, 2007 Thanks for the review. Have fun in Canadaigua. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treenuts Posted July 19, 2007 Report Share Posted July 19, 2007 Thanks for the review, luckiest. But where's the second half? And why in the hell were there NO SO's during the first half?! (insert foot tapping emote here) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheiladownunder Posted July 19, 2007 Report Share Posted July 19, 2007 Paging, Clayzor. Download IWTKWLI from canfly. Too bad she lost her focus on the zoom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treenuts Posted July 19, 2007 Report Share Posted July 19, 2007 Waldo will do that to ya! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckiest1 Posted July 20, 2007 Report Share Posted July 20, 2007 I probably won't get a chance to post this until after Canandaigua is already over, but I am going to write my part 2 Syracuse recap now, because it will not be fresh in my mind later. We have no connection at this hotel unless we either go down to the lobby or sit out in the hallway at the other end of the hall. The second half of the concert is definitely my favourite half. I believe there was a standing ovation after every song, and of course everyone stood for both TWYMMF and the Classics medley anyways. OK, so he came out first with Without You and I pretty much died in my seat. I have been waiting for almost a year to hear him sing that song live, and he sure didn't disappoint. It's different from the recorded version, and different from the way he performed it on TV, too. It's shortened or something, he repeats the same part twice at the end. But it was glorious. And he didn't seem to mind the ovation, whereas after HYCA in the first half, he made one of those "yeah yeah, just sit down" motions that he does. I can't remember the order of the songs, I just remember how freaking great he sounded and how incredibly funny he is. At one point Angela pulled something out off her sleeve and Clay said "what's that, your bra strap?" BWAH. It was the ad from the airlines about keeping your feet off of the armrests. Clay seem quite flabbergasted and tickled with it and said he should get money for that ad campaign. TWYMMF was funny, he actually moved the ropes and came and stood right beside us to sing part of it, and had us sing the chorus of course. It's definitely schtick, because he has the words but he pretends to lose his place. I didn't mind, I liked singing it to him. LOL. He is so gorgeous up close, and had a little bit of stubble. The classics medley was priceless. It is worth the price of admission. I think, for me, it'd be worth the cost of any airplane ticket I could ever buy, too. He is just on fire during it. I can't even remember all of what he did. I can't wait to see the clack of it, and to see it again tonight in Canandaigua, because I think he does something different in it every night. I do remember lots of hip thrusting. Angela did her solo, which was great (I don't think I mentioned it before but I was blown away by Quiana's solo too) and then Clay came back for Lover All Alone. He told the story about David Foster writing the music "in about 35 seconds" and how it was 7 months before the song was "born" (i.e. he wrote the lyrics). You could hear a pin drop while he was singing, it was just beautiful. He really seems comfortable now singing it, and does look at the cello player during her parts. He said the whole show felt like it had gone by in about 5 minutes and he was right. It felt so short, but I know it was probably a couple of hours long. He told us that Because You Loved Me was for the fans, and then he started singing it. He put his finger up in one of those "wait for it" gestures before he sang the line "through the lies you were the truth" and of course everyone cheered. I think he came back onto each of the side parts of the stage again during the song as well (I think the Aiken fog was taking over at that point so I am not sure, will have to check the clack, hee) and then it was over. The only saving grace was knowing I could see it all over again tonight, and tomorrow, and at my other shows. I will no doubt cry at the last one I attend, as I do every tour. But it's so much easier knowing we'll see him again at Christmas! Afterwards we went out and stood by the big blue bus for a while, and watched Jesse and Sean and Jamie all put stuff in the luggage compartments, and then Jerome started directing everyone to line up down the block. So we walked to the end of the line, which just kept getting longer and longer, and had to go behind parked cars and in front of road construction. It was crazy, and of course people in line who had never done it before were really worried that he wouldn't come that far down to see us, but we kept reassuring them that he would, and in fact would probably start at our end! Sure enough, there came Jerome and a couple of security guards and Clay, wearing a hoodie shirt and shorts and flip flops, walking down the middle of the road to start at the end of the line and work their way back to the bus. There were a couple of seconds of panic when it looked like he might skip our section of the line because we were behind a parked truck rather than in front of it, but he actually had to kind of push his way through a couple of ladies to get to us (one of them was in our party and she wasn't unhappy to be body checked by Clay ). And then he was there saying "thanks for coming". He was going slower than I've seen him before, making sure to touch each and every hand. His hands are so soft, and he doesn't slap your hand, he kind of caresses it for a quick second. It's not quite a handshake, but man, is it worth it. I plan to do it again tonight. I used to be a bit uncomfortable with bus lines because of all the pandemonium and pushing and shoving that went on, but I think Jerome really has a handle on it now, and the fans seem to respect him and do as he asks. I am loving it. So we all wandered down the street, dazed and delirious, and refused to wash our hands even when we got to Denny's for a midnight snack. However, I hope the first thing Clay did when he got to the bus was wash his! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Couch Tomato Posted July 20, 2007 Report Share Posted July 20, 2007 Thanks for the review Lickiest. I'm so thrilled that you are enjoying this experience. Why am I not surprised heee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treenuts Posted July 20, 2007 Report Share Posted July 20, 2007 Excellent recap, li/uckiest! You gave great detail inspite of the Aiken fog I loved the bus line story too. So, have you washed your hands yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maddy Posted August 3, 2007 Report Share Posted August 3, 2007 (edited) My blog about a relative who accompanied Clay at Syracuse: I’ve never met Clay, but lately fortune has smiled on me in Syracuse, New York. A relative of mine is a member of the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra who played for Clay on July 18th. She was aware that I’m a v.v. enthusiastic Clay fan, and went out of her way to do me a favor. Here were her original comments in an email, with more to follow in a letter: (all with her permission) We had an afternoon rehearsal with him, and he was very nice to work with. He had two women singing with him (Angela and Quiana), and they were really good. They did some solo numbers. The audience really liked him, and they screamed a lot. As you can well imagine, our regular audiences don’t do much screaming. There were sound shields up (the drummer completely encased in Plexiglas), but it was still really loud, mainly because of the audience. Clay’s group was quite adamant about not having people backstage, so I asked our stage manager to ask about an autograph. He spoke with Angela, and she arranged it. From letter: Clay Aiken was very nice to work with. I think he’s better looking in person than on this picture - and he’s good looking in that one! He has a nice voice, a really easy, pleasant delivery, and great rapport with the audience. He brought his own conductor, who had done most of the arrangements, his drummer, and the two vocalists (who were excellent). The conductor was also the pianist and conducted from the piano. The winds (one oboe, one flute, one alto sax doubling flute, and one tenor sax) didn’t have a lot to play. I had a few solos in the first couple of songs. The rest of the orchestration was brass (2 horns, 2 trumpets, and 2 trombones), a lot of interesting percussion, more keyboards, and strings. I spoke with Angela, who said that she has been touring with the group for about four years. They have a great ensemble. Clay was very complimentary to the orchestra. He told the audience that he likes the sound and Feel of playing with a big, full orchestral sound. I asked Angela to tell Clay that you are his most Ardent fan in Texas. Hee! Clay signed the back of the above Syr Symphony Card--- (my name) Use your voice, Clay Aiken and the date. His handwriting, which we've seen so much was exciting to see (especially my name!eeeee!) I have his autograph in his book which we ordered from Dover Press, but it wasn't personalized. Now I finally had a personal autograph. It was so nice of Clay to do that, considering all the hundreds of things he has to do to prepare for a show. I’m grateful to him, Angela, the stage manager, and my dear sweet relative! She didn't know very much about Clay before that concert. Now she has a high opinion of him. Edited August 3, 2007 by Maddy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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