Aug. 10, Cary, NC

[jamar1700]

From the end of BYLM...tonight

Edited August 11, 2007 by jamar1700

[Ansamcw]

It always made me wonder why a guy like Clay would be such magnet for hate...sigh

good question to discuss in one of our fast forward chats. Maybe we can schedule another one after the concerts. And I get back from VEGAS. My buds kept me quite under control in California. heh.

hee...sorry you were with such inept gamblers...hee won;t forget my first experience... :F_05BL17blowkiss:

[Claygasm]

I was just going to bring that over - along with this background on the picture posted by GBB at the CH:

I think nearly every single person in Cary had a glow stick tonight during "Because You Loved Me" (except me at first -- I'll tell that story in a bit) but it was really, very pretty and quite touching. After Clay was finished singing, he looked out over the crowd and then had this moment, captured by Snix. He held the pose for several seconds:

*sniff*

[Couch Tomato]

ahhhh a picture says more than a thousand words...or some such cliche...

[Claygasm]

Speaking of pictures......

[JennaZ]

Thanks for bringing over the photos!

Performing in North Carolina must be especially emotional for him. Hopefully, the loving response will be what he'll remember most about tonight.

[ldyjocelyn]

I was just going to bring that over - along with this background on the picture posted by GBB at the CH:

I think nearly every single person in Cary had a glow stick tonight during "Because You Loved Me" (except me at first -- I'll tell that story in a bit) but it was really, very pretty and quite touching. After Clay was finished singing, he looked out over the crowd and then had this moment, captured by Snix. He held the pose for several seconds:

*sniff*

*anyone need Kleenex?*

That's beautiful. God, now I'm a blubbering mess.

CG, I totally hear what you are trying to say....but, as YSRN suggests with that RV in her driveway, the human psyche sometimes has a way of being counter to what SHOULD be done. Yes, I would have loved for Clay to stand up to him at the busline (and I think that probably had at least SOMETHING to do with it), but it IS Jerome's call. I also truly believe that if enough fans had figured out that he was there, it would have been a mass riot. Probably for good reason, but I wouldn't have wanted Clay anywhere near the scene.

And besides, this IS just speculation.

[FearofH2O]

I feel bad about not doing a new recap for you all but here is a post from another board under another of my many names. I'm just way too tired and have to pack for Asheville.

Loved, loved, and so on, the concert last night. My sister and I drove in from Winston and at one point the temperature registered 106 degrees. Our GPS system failed us but my husband helped with the directions to the venue by phone. We first went to the Claymaniacs party at Lucky 32 and met some very nice fans there and had a good dinner. We got to the venue at six and it was just starting to get busy. We were a little worried as it did not seem to be as busy as when we went to the JBT. By seven the place was jumping and hoards of people were descending upon the venue. Eventually the place was very full including the lawn.

The screams for Clay when he came out singing "Here You Come Again" were deafening. I think people were so hot from waiting around and the extreme temperatures that quite a bit of energy was lost from the crowd in the first half. There were a few semi standing o's, but the audience just didn't have it. Clay was a real trooper and gave his all to every song as did Quiana and Angela. Because of the temperature and the hot lights, even Clay had trouble getting out some of his thoughts and words. The TV theme songs were amazingly performed last night. I think that Clay and Q & A could form a business just to record these songs. So much better than the originals.

During the intermission, I looked around and saw the lawn area was packed, even in back of the sound booth. Clay announced later that Jaymes was in the venue last night. We could see her seated in the sound booth in back of us.

They had repaired the venue and evened out and tiled the section with the seats, so no more dip. I could see perfectly in row o. I did not see any jumbotrons last night which was too bad for those in the lawn seats and tables.

In the second half Clay came out on fire. We were shocked to hear "A Thousand Days" brought back, but it really sparked up the audience and we rose to give him a real standing O. I had gotten a little tired of the song on the cd, but last night it was just WOW!. SSTBTSW and "Without You" were so great. There was a pair of panties on the stage and Clay said it was so hot people are taking off their panties . He then threw them back to Jesse, who was examining them. Clay asked if Jesse had them on his head yet, laughed and said that he wouldn't say anything else about that.

The classics bit, I,m not cool, was a riot. Clay teased the audience saying that he was going to announce something that night and really dragged it out with Quiana before saying, he was not cool. Funny! When he sang the big butts song, BGB, and he did the I got sprung part, I think he realized his Grandma and Grandpa were in the front row and backed away from Angela. No spanking for her last night. I have to say that despite everyone saying certain parts are over the top, it really was a progression of him developing the cool factor and fit in just right. I heard howls and cheers from the back of the venue. Another standing O. My sister looked back and saw many on the lawn standing and dancing.

When Angela sang "Listen', for which she got a standing O, Clay was in the back drinking a whole can of Dr. Pepper. So when he came back out he couldn't stop burping. He made a whole new bit about it. He did say he was so hot that he needed the energy from the drink. "Lover All Alone" was absolutely beautiful and perfect as was MOAM. He received standing O's for both. We refused to sit down and stop cheering despite his trying to wave us off. "Because You Loved Me" was so lovely. There was a sea of waving lights in the seat section and when we looked back the lawn seats were also full of waving lights. It was great.

It was so worth it to sit through that unbearable weather. The audience did the easy part. those on the stage worked themselves to exhaustion. We didn't go to the buses as we had a two hour drive hime and are leaving for Asheville later this morning.

I don't think I will ever regret the time, money and, sometimes, inconvenience of going to Clay's concerts. He is so worth it.

Sorry for this discombobulation of thoughts, but I'm pooped today. The cats woke me up at six thirty to eat

. Edited August 11, 2007 by FearofH2O

[Ansamcw]

I was just going to bring that over - along with this background on the picture posted by GBB at the CH:

I think nearly every single person in Cary had a glow stick tonight during "Because You Loved Me" (except me at first -- I'll tell that story in a bit) but it was really, very pretty and quite touching. After Clay was finished singing, he looked out over the crowd and then had this moment, captured by Snix. He held the pose for several seconds:

*sniff*

sniff indeed...love him!!!

the other pictures are great as well

[JennaZ]

Thanks for bringing over your recap. Sounds like a beautiful night!

[Ansamcw]

read somewhere that JP was ignored by the fans sitting around him and that he was followed by security when he left his seat during intermission. Jerome also told the fans in the line that Clay wanted to come out but Jerome overruled him for security reasons.

[Ansamcw]

Fear...thanks so much for the recap...loved it!!!

[jmh123]

My Cary recap:

I was excited all over again, like a first date, even though I'd just seen Clay a few weeks before. This was the first concert ever that I'd gotten in my car and driven to see Clay all by myself. Musikfest was probably closer, in terms of miles, and I saw Clay three times in Raleigh while I was living in PA, but this felt really different to me.

I was supposed to meet the FCA'ers at 3, but my mom had worn me out the day before with her hot, hot house, and I felt almost sick when I first got up. I drank lots of water and ate a bit, and eventually started to perk up. I decided to go the long way over country roads so as not to challenge my old car too much in the heat, and for the fun of driving off the Interstate. I also hoped to find an N&O with a poster at some little store along the way, but the one I bought didn't have a poster in it.

I arrived at Lucky32 around 4, and there were lickiest, NCDonna, and mandmlady, and they'd even saved me a seat. Crimsonice and DisneyKid were off getting tattoos. I was right next to sassafras from CH, who was at the next table with a couple of NJU friends. After we ordered I went and introduced myself to playbiller and FearofH20, and playbiller gave me a pack of glowsticks for later. Dreamlarge from PA was there too!! I also went over and spoke to Divayenta, CantGoADayWithoutClay, and Salamander, and waved at geekette, but there were so many more I didn't get to meet. Usually parties kind of freak me out, so I was pleased with my ability to be as social as I was, but sorry not to have met more people. We had a delicious dinner and I talked lickiest1 into getting grits so I could have some. She wasn't impressed, but I thought they were great.

Here's some stuff I wrote the next morning:

The concert was amazing--major Aiken fog took over. Was feeling bad for lickiest that he didn't sing RHW--haha--and ran into her after the concert where she said DUH, he did, where were you? Heh. ATD was hawt--I'm glad he did it again. The banter was hilarious, as always. I think the classics was the best I've seen--live or on clack. He really did become "cool." He played everything but SexyBack pretty straight once Angela had taught him to dance during "Bills," and the later numbers were amazing. The "I'm cool" walk was across the full stage, and fantastic to see as he was headed our way.

I saw Cindilu at the venue--*waves*--and crimsonice and DisneyKid. Sat with lyndolphin from CH, who was excellent company. Went off smoking with Brandilyne, goatlady, and crew. (Apologies for forgetting sns.) Goatlady was a few seats down from me at the venue too.

It was hot, but honestly, not that bad considering. It seems like the temperature went up 10 degrees as soon as the concert was over. Clay is cool, y'all.

Hope someone got a picture of that cello Clay was admiring. The spotlight guys weren't doing so well. They couldn't manage to light Clay on our side of the stage at all. Quiana got two spots. Heh.

It was hot, but it was bearable. I had one of those frozen strawberry lemonades between sets, and that was yummy. Sorry you didn't get to keep yours KAndre.

After the concert I hung around for awhile till the crowd cleared and then headed back to my car. Getting home was funny; I don't drive much after dark and my only correct prescription is my sunglasses, so I thought I was lost briefly. I drive that road every week and I didn't recognize it, but apparently the directions took me the opposite way past my mom's house in Raleigh on US1N and then back again on 40W, so that was confusing, but I wasn't lost, so it was all good. I did much better after I took the bad glasses off.

It wasn't til I got home that I heard about the drama, and I learned in Asheville that I was apparently very near the creepy one--same row, next section. Like I posted earlier, the situation was mentioned to me that night (isn't xx supposed to be here?) but I chose to immediately forget about it. So I guess in retrospect I probably saw the creepy one, as I can now picture the people in those seats in my mind's eye, but it didn't register with me at all. Clay didn't come to our side much, but I assumed it was because when he tried at the beginning, the spotlight didn't follow him over there so he was in complete darkness. I watched jojoct gathering clack, and I have to say it was really impressive. She was very relaxed and steady, and was in full view of Jerome and venue security the whole time. I was way off to the side where I could see the backstage area. There was one security guy I didn't recognize, and he and Jerome were vigilant as always, but I got absolutely no sense that there was anything unusual, from them, or from Clay, or from anyone around me. Well, except that his family was there and he was happy about that. He loves his pappa, and it was cute when he filled in the "hell" for Clay, and I also recognized Faye, of course, and his grandmother from the Martha show, and Jerry Aiken from the recent TV appearance. They were all front and center, which was cool for them and him, even if he did joke about how they wouldn't stand up. All this "he was so brave" stuff seems a bit OTT to me; the man's a consummate performer under any circumstances and from my own brief experiences, you pretty much forget everything else once you're on stage. He definitely didn't seem at all vulnerable to me. I do congratulate the fans for not engaging in any way.

Somehow I never seem to see KAndre or Scarlett, missed them in Asheville and Cary, and I was looking for them too. Sigh.

On the Cary venue survey, I told them the best thing about the venue was the bathrooms. The woman's bathroom was huge with many stalls, so there was hardly any waiting. Asheville, on the other hand, had a much smaller bathroom in the next county, so there would be no drinking of any beverage during that concert.