CLEVELAND, OHIO PALACE THEATRE 02/19/2011

[Tiffany]

Clack so far at CU. Clay doing opera is a must see. So funny!!!

http://www.clackunlimited.com/clack/Concert_Clack/2011_Tried_And_True/Cleveland/

[Marilyn]

My Cleveland recap: by cincy



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Got back a couple of hours ago from a fantastic time in Cleveland!!!!

The meet and greet was nice. Only 13 of us for this one (No PBS M&G's sold with those tickets) Clay has been eating healthy and it SHOWS!!! I had brought a picture for a fan who posts here CV for Clay to sign. After he signed everyone's item, we lined up for pictures. My friend's name was called first; mine second. After Mary snapped the shot, I said Thank You to Clay and he pulled me back and said we had to take our picture again because I had moved away too fast. So for the second time in a row, I got to keep my arm around Clay and he around me for a bit longer (same thing happened with the pic with Ruben, Clay and me....). And no, it wasn't on purpose either time, but feel free to try it if ya want!!!

My friend and I asked the same question....was he going to sing Misty tonight? He said he didn't know what was on the play list that night. I said, "I've got a quarter" and he laughed. The sweetest thing though was when the meet and greet was breaking up, Clay asked us to wait and he went up to the stage and checked a yellow sheet that had that night's play list and came and told us that Misty was on the list. What a sweet thing for him to do, huh? Still said our quarters weren't necessary.

Our front row seat was partially blocked by a speaker, so we opted to sit in the fourth row and gave our front row seats to a couple who were out on a date and sitting way back in Row W....the guy was tall and could see over the speaker. He was most appreciative (probably "got lucky" that night LOL!) We had another set of tickets in Row M Center that we also gave to another young couple who were sitting in Row V way to the side. It felt like Christmas giving these great seats away!!! And we were very happy with our seats, so it was good for all involved. We ended up sitting next to a fantastic couple whose daughter was the producer of the Tyra Banks show when Clay was on it. They told an interesting story about how the chemistry was so strong between Clay and Tyra that what was to be a half hour with Clay ended up with an hour show and Jada Pinkett Smith and someone else had to wait in the green room and then tape a totally separate show when Clay's taping was over. Their daughter now produces Jerseylicious and In the Soup.

Although the crowds seem smaller, the trade-off is that rather than all women, there were so many men and so many younger couples. The crowd was very receptive and Clay threw the love right back in its lap! He seems relaxed and happy, both onstage and off. Physically, more attractive than he has ever been, both on stage and off.

I'm glad to see you all got a cellcert and Scarlett was getting lots of clack. Personally enjoyedh Theme from Love Story which really showed off his ability to transitition from one key to another (on purposes that is....I change key at least 30 times in one song unintentionally). Other favorites for me were From Both Sides Now; his duet with Quiana of Crying, Q's Cry Me a River and Foggy Day in Londontown; Misty (of course); What Kind of Fool am I; and his closer, In My Life. Funny funny autotune of a Katy Perry song (California Girls???) and hilarious Who's Sorry Now sung in operatic style!!!!

I love Cleveland and my Cleveland friends!!!! I can't wait for us to reunite for more Clay fun!!!

[Petjen]

Was there any report about Clay's voice tonight? He really sounded hoarse when he talked last night.


Canflys video of Clay singing BSN is to die for. He is one good looking man.

He did sound a bit hoarse tonight.  There were some notes (more in the beginning of the concert) that you could tell he had problems hitting, but he was great.  He always, always, always puts on a great show.  I love him. 

Thanks for your insight and glad you enjoyed it. Good to see you here. Haven't seen you in a long time.

I'm here a lot.  I just do a lot of lurking.    

[Marilyn]

luckiest1

Bringing my Cleveland M&G and concert recap over for those who may not have seen it

We shopped a bit, then had lunch at iHop. The wind was so bad that our mapquest directions to get back to the hotel flew out the car window and disappeared. Thankfully the waitress gave us an even better route to take home. We hung around the hotel room for a while chatting, then got changed, and when I couldn't stand the suspense anymore we headed over to the venue to wait for Jerome. cindilu2 and Claymatron came with me for some much needed moral support. Jerome arrived about 5:30 and started calling names and asking to see photo ID. I got chatting with another first-timer from CV, nekia. We decided to stick together and provide moral support for one another. There was one lady who said that her name had been misprinted on the email as 'Martin' instead of 'Marion' so Jerome took a bit of time to sort that out before we were all ready to go.

Jerome ushered us all in and told us there weren't really any rules, just no pictures at the M&G, although we were free to take pictures etc at the concert, just no flash. Then he left to get Clay and we sat there for a while talking amongst ourselves. A theatre employee came over and seemed angry at us for being in there, she said no one was allowed in there. We explained about Jerome and she said he had neglected to inform management. Thankfully he picked that moment to come back with Clay.

Getting to see Clay the person rather than Clay the performer was unreal. He is so animated, so at ease, so friendly, so open, so generous....we sat in two rows in the theatre and he stood in front of us in an aisle. When he first arrived he shook each of our hands and asked our names. I remembered mine, go figure! Then Mary collected things to sign while people started asking him questions. It was all a bit much at first and I missed a lot of his answers until I got my stuff organized. Some people were just asking the questions while others were raising their hands. I am a 'raise my hand' type, but others kept getting the opporunity. I thought maybe it wasn't meant to be but then he said 'ok one more question' and pointed at me. Thank you Clay. I am not assertive enough to just shout it out. Anyways I asked him how he came up with Love Story as the opening song on this tour. He said that it was considered for the album but didn't make the cut, so that is why he chose it. I told him I loved it and others chimed in to agree. As for the item I gave Mary to have autographed, I took the page out of one of my scrapbooks. Originally I was thinking of something more recent, but last night I realized that this concert was going to be in the same theatre that the 2003 Kissmass concert was in, so it seemed fitting to choose that page. On it, I have pictures of myself and my daughter modeling an Indians jersey (the one someone won in an auction from the AI tour) and I have my tickets and other BAF stuff, as well as some photos of Clay on stage. He looked at it for a minute (probably trying to figure out where to sign) then said that he was sorry but he had to sign on top of something. I said it's ok, just turn it over and there is more room on that side. So he did and signed it a second time. I think my favourite part of the whole thing was the picture. He lined everyone up and then we went up one by one as he motioned us to. It was just so cool to have that invitation to come forward, and he is so welcoming. I said 'hi' (great, eh?) and then while I posed and smiled I asked him if he remember that this was the Kissmas Concert theatre. He said he thought it might be but it seemed so much bigger then! Then I explained that that was why I had him sign that page, and he said "oh, ok, I get it now!" I hope the picture turns out, since I was talking the whole time. LOL.

After everyone's picture was done, someone asked Clay if the stage configuration was going to change at all, because the front row seats had obstructed views, due to the monitors. He went down and had a look and moved a few things around. Then he waved goodbye at us and was gone. Jerome left through a different exit and we all decided that we should show ourselves out. The venue staff told us that we could stay and sit down in our seats if we wanted to, however I still had no ticket so I left and found cindilu2 and Claymatron again. The venue would not allow anyone into the theatre to use the washrooms without a ticket, so we were stuck until carouselnut arrived with ours (thank you!). She finally got there about 7:10 and we ran in to pee.

We had seats in row J and row G. It was an awesome view, very centred. There were a lot of NJU and men in the audience. I had an older couple on my one side, and cindilu2 had another on her side. There were 2 guys and 2 girls in their late 20s behind us. One of the guys was very knowledgeable about both Clay and Broadway and was filling his friends in about both. It was cool to listen to him. Later, when Clay mentioned that Matt Metzger was in the house, we wondered if maybe that was him. Then the lights went down and Clay's voice came through the speakers and I was transported into another realm. His voice was perfection all night long. It was really hard to reconcile the larger-than-life performer on the stage with the down-to-earth guy from the M&G. I felt that the show was very tight, not a lot of inside jokes, which was probably a good thing considering the number of NJU in the audience. The applause and cat-calling was very loud between songs, with some partial ovations. It was a very appreciative crowd. The couples beside us weren't quite sure sometimes why we reacted the way we did to certain things (i.e. the shirt tug during Invisible). The opera was a hoot. I didn't know the autotune song but it is funny to hear him through that filter, and he gets such a kick out of doing it. He also gets a real kick out of Quiana's antics. She was really on and energetic, and Clay attributed that to her new blouse.

I can't go song by song but I know that Love Story, Crying, and UM were spectacular. But it wasn't only on the 'frying pan of talent' songs that he impressed me, he has such a range with his voice, he can go from loud, strong notes to soft, beautiful ones in an instant. His voice mesmerizes me. I don't think he messed up many lyrics at all...the only one I can think of was Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You, when he went into the chorus too early and had to correct himself. From all the cellcerts and clack I've seen, I'd say this was the best concert vocally yet. I hope we get mime_fan audio. When the curtain came down after UM, both couples beside us got up to leave, and we told them there were two more songs to come. One couple sat back down, the other continued on their way. Oh well, their loss. I was thrilled with Both Sides Now and In My Life for the encore. I loved his explanations about the cellcerts and how he realizes that they (and clack) do not cause people to stay home from the shows. For the most part, I believe that is true. Clack sells tickets. There is nothing that can replace a live show. He bantered a bit with a woman who said she was from Peru, and she was cellcerting someone in Kansas. After In My Life, he gave a quick sign language thank you and walked off the stage.

After it was over, we headed out quickly to try to get a table at a nearby restaurant, because we were starving. However, it was closed, so we ended up going into a pizza place and taking an absolutely gooey and delicious pizza up to our room, where we looked at all of cindilu2's great pictures and squeeeeed until we were exhausted. We never heard a peep from the room beside us, but if they were in there, I'm sure they heard us.

Addendum: I was definitely in a fog but a few things have come back to me, and I don't think this has been mentioned yet. Someone asked a question that I only heard parts of, but it was something about Clay's unique style of singing in this day and age, and comparing it to heirloom tomatoes and free range chickens....how 100 years ago all chicken roamed free, and all tomatoes would have been considered heirloom, but now they are considered special....it really made Clay laugh, and he said he thought it was sweet that she felt that way but he didn't really see it like that. Then he said something like "some days I feel like a free range chicken with it's head cut off!".

[Marilyn]

The following Scarlett clips from the Cleveland concert were uploaded to You Tube just now:

There's A Kind Of Hush: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MAqowG2BX0

Misty: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR3rfreGSbk

Moon River: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AroKY8z7gHU

What Kind Of Fool Am I: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maAbOlXZqhM

Scarlett is hoping to get some of the other Waterbury clips uploaded today.

Links can travel.