WATERBURY, CT-PALACE THEATER 2/20/2011

[Marilyn]

Scarlett clips of Waterbury concert uploaded to You Tube since the last ones posted:

Jazzy/Big Band Medley Intro (too funny *g*): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChyxEGzLi3I

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

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do: (Thud time) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNo8TehpgRE

Links can travel.

[Marilyn]

emerson

Maybe I just had great seats, but, I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the show! When he did that jazzy arrangement, I was in "Clay heaven"and I knew that we were in for a very special night. He looked so amazingly good. What I really was impressed by was how much fun he seemed to be having. For all the LOL moments he gave me, it was nice to see him in fits of laughter at times throughout the show. When he talked about his fans and how much they meant to him ....I was a bit misty-eyed.

As far as doing a cellcert for the very first time, once I heard that it had worked, it couldn't have been easier. I would be more than willing to do one or two on the next tour....it was that easy and in no way interfered with an amazingly great evening. I know people say this over and over again, but, Clay just seems to be getting better and better. Aside from my first concert (the first is always memorable) and the Juke Box Tour....this was by far my favourite. If any of you are questioning whether it is worth a long drive or maybe an unexpected flight, I can vouch for the fact that you won't regret seeing THIS concert. Get on the phone. Make reservations. If you are a Clay fan....you have to see this concert live if at all humanly possible. The clack is wonderful, but, the live performance is just something that words are not enough to describe!!

Call me one over-the-moon and blissfully satisfied Claymate!!!

[Marilyn]

Scarlett clip from Waterbury uploaded to You Tube:

There's A Kind Of Hush: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfw8AQoq8Is

Link can travel.

[Marilyn]

dksfriend

Just back from the Waterbury concert last night and all I can say is "I'm in love all over again"!!!

Last night was absolute perfection! I can't think of one thing about the show last night that I would change. Clay looked great, sounded great, was hilarious one moment and then bringing me to tears the next. I was a bit nervous at the start because his speaking voice sounded very hoarse, but I can honestly say I have never heard him sound better vocally. It's like he can just "sing through" any issues he may be having with his voice - if possible, I thought he sounded even stronger at the end of the night than at the beginning.

He has a way of making me love songs I never liked - I can't believe how much Moon River has grown on me (and Adam sounded great on the guitar solo). And (I know this is "sacrilege") but I have never liked the song In My Life (including when he sang it at the PBS taping last March). But last night it brought me to tears. Of course his beautiful introduction to the song, thanking all his fans (near and far) was very touching. But the way he sang the song was so moving - he had us all spellbound (you could have heard a pin drop while he was singing).

I can't pick a favorite song because I really loved them all - Breaking Up Is Hard to Do, You Don't Have to Say You Love Me, It's Impossible (shit, just read the cellcert thread and I see he didn't even sing this song!!), Both Sides Now, What Kind of Fool Am I, the list goes on and on. I loved the new medley of "the Clay Aiken repertoire" (as he called it) - I think it's an improvement over the previous medley of Clay songs plus other songs. (And the front orchestra gave it a standing ovation so I think he got the hint that we liked it!!)

There were so many funny moments during the show too - the lady yelling out "try it" after he did the autotune bit to I Kissed A Girl and Clay's retort to her ("I did!"). Telling the story of how Jerome almost clocked Adam the other night (when he pretended to be a crazed fan trying to get on the bus). Giving the bass player Dell a chance to tell a joke and then doing all the gestures to indicate what Dell meant by "member". When he just lost it watching Quiana squat and shout during the grunge version of Who's Sorry Now. His funny little speech about how "pretentious" it is to bring down the curtain before his return for the encore. He seemed to be in great spirits all night and he was really playing off of the audience. As much as I want him to have opportunities to do more tv or movies, the man was born to perform live on stage - he is just in his element there.

Two interesting stories about audience members. I met a lovely woman who described herself as a "casual fan". She discovered Clay in 2005 because a friend of hers was a fan and wanted to download clack but she was on dial-up. So this woman downloaded clack for her friend, and eventually she started watching it herself and she fell in love. She's gone to every tour (plus Spamalot) since then - talk about a walking advertisement for the power of clack!! She loved the concert and I saw her waiting by the bus when I left last night.

I had an extra ticket in Row D so I went to the back of the orchestra to see if anyone wanted it. One woman was very enthusiastic about moving down front so I figured she was a fan, but it turns out she really wasn't. She lived in Waterbury and goes to lots of shows at the Palace. She had seen Clay once, during his first Christmas tour (at the Oakdale Theater in Wallingford CT), and of course she had seen him on Idol, but she had not seen him since then. So it was quite the experience sitting next to her for this show. As soon as the curtain went up she exclaimed "he looks so different!" (said with appreciation I might add). At the end of the first song she said "I'm glad he isn't wearing a tuxedo like on the poster, he looks so much better like this". After Mack the Knife she said "I can't believe what an incredible voice he has". By the time Unchained Melody came along she was grabbing my arm and saying "this is my favorite, I'm so glad he's singing it". Needless to say, she had a great time!

As always, it was wonderful to see so many friends and familiar faces at the concert last night. Eight years later, we're still here, all thanks to this amazing man.

I have a ticket to Westbury NY next weekend that I didn't think I'd be able to use. But now I must get there, even if it means driving up and back (4.5 hours each way) on the same day/night. I just have to see this concert again.


Edited to add: yes, I do think that Del's joke took Clay by surprise. He said something about "we'll have to do pre-approval of these jokes in the future!"

[Marilyn]

Corabeth:

We were commenting afterwards that he looked loose and happy up there. I felt the sincerity of that thank you at the end. And he signed thank you before he left the stage, which just makes you love him more.

Scarlett was right behind us filming away.

There was so much wonderful about this concert. I know there were sound problems when I was doing the pre-concert summary. The venue has been recently renovated and my oh my they did a beautiful job. It's almost too beautiful for that neck of CT, which is kind of run down. The reception was nothing great but they had cookies and brownies for us and the brownies had nuts. So Jerome said "if any of you have touched nuts, please wash your hands." People were half paying attention to him and so he yelled again that he was quite serious. Later, he had us pass some Purell down the line and he said "use don't abuse". We handed our thing to Mary and she put it on the table next to Clay. He signed it (after noting I probably had help with it) and then we took the picture. (I sincerely hate getting my picture taken as I am not very photogenic, don't ask me how I ended up with two kids who are extremely photogenic. Must be my Dad, he's handsome and takes good pictures.)

Note to Clay: I may not have assembled this thing (my niece did) but I had to pick out the 134 bricks made up of 25 different shapes that went into it. The top alone is 75 bricks.

I really, really, REALLY loved the CT set list. The energy created by WDIB was kept alive with a great MTK. He really grooved. In fact, he really grooved a lot last night. He sang with his whole body.

The All Clay medley was great! We kept waiting to hear what is next. If he had done Ashes or any of the uptempo from "On My Way Here", I don't think I could have contained myself. (BTW, the man you hear chuckling in the pre medley banter is MrNan.)

All the special things were such fun. The autotuned I Kissed a Girl was a hoot. He said he had been waiting for that one and "oh the irony" and " I hope my mom isn't listening". When he was singing It Felt So wrong, it felt so right, he shook his head with a "nope" look on it! Then at the end, a girl in the loge yelled out "Try it!" He said "I have!" then he added the part about He and Quiana making out last night (which drew ick faces from her) but the punch line wasn't initially related to the "I have", IMO. I'll bet he did in high school and maybe college.

WSN requests were also funny. Somebody asked for Irish which I had posted here was my choice. He did a couple of one legged steps and Quiana did some sort of half march, half Rockette thing. He sang it in an Irish accent. Hip Hop was very fun as well. I got concerned for Grunge because his speaking voice was hoarse (not his singing though!) but he only sang for a few seconds before Quiana did this deep bend backwards wail and he cracked up. He remarked later in the show that he was impressed with her hamstring strength. (She came out much later in this show because the medley was all him.)

The audience was good a lot of energy but the woman who kept flashing him drove us crazy. He was in the dark during the two encore songs so it made it that much brighter when she flashed.

The story of Adam playing a joke on them last night was very funny. Adam seems like a serious kid but I think he is having fun. The band is excellent.

Watching Clay during Del's joke was funnier than the joke.

This is my last show of this tour. I'm a little sad because he probably won't tour again until Christmas 2012. But it's hard to be worried about him when he seems so happy and he's got Broadway "on the table" and who knows what else with Ruben that is requiring weekly or more calls.

We were talking before the reception how 8 years is a long time. It is really evident when you look at my kids' ages. My son turned 17 Saturday and he was just a boy of 9 when Clay sang Always and Forever.

He is amazing and I just sat there in awe last night at the voice, the gorgeous profile with a hint of sideburns, the wit and the love. It was a perfectly perfect night. I'm so glad that I stayed on the roller coaster with my seat belt on.

HOPE!, can we get WSN, autotune and the last two songs pretty please!

[Tiffany]

Great recaps!!! Loved the swing Medley with HIS songs now. Pretty awesome and catchy too. It's a must see. I want to see I Kissed A Girl and the jokes he made too. Every show really just gets better and better! Love him!!!

[Tiffany]

Here's I Kissed A Girl. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbupnlCyMr8&feature=player_embedded

[Marilyn]

amazed in nj

I am still flying high from the concert and my M&G yesterday.  I am still in the Clay-fog, but there were a few things Clay said he wanted put on the boards.

The first was about cellphones. He started by saying that he thought cellcerts were "cute." (Either the term or the concept, I'm not quite sure) But then he added that he does not like when people hold their phones up or talk on their phones during the show and distract others around them. He went on to tell about someone (possibly in the second row) who was talking on their cellphone and the person in front of them turned around and told the person behind her to be quiet. Clay was quite happy the woman did that! So he hoped to get the word out that if you do a cellcert, to do it discreetly so as not to disturb those around you. (Sounds like common courtesy to me.)

When asked if we'd be seeing him this summer, he said no. Then he stated that he was not going to be touring this summer, so we could feel free to plan our vacations, summer jobs, etc. He said that he's asked that question at every M&G. (He focused on touring, though the question was about seeing him in any capacity.)

He was cute and sexy sitting there on the stage talking to us. When it was time for pictures, I went up to him and leaned my head against his chest.  After the picture, he turned to me and began saying something to me. But while he was doing this he was slowly rubbing my shoulder with his finger. My mind was saying, "OMG he's rubbing my shoulder!!! He's touching me!!!!!!!!! EEEEEE!!!!!!" I turned to look at him, and he was looking at me with this cute questioning look. (I was told he was asking me if I knew where to go.) I turned to walk away and promptly walked directly into the chairs.  Such grace!

[Marilyn]

The following Scarlett clips from Waterbury were uploaded to You Tube a short time ago:

Dedication To The Fans - Waterbury: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfoLgw_8w5s

In My Life - Waterbury: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lOTMA6LVMU

[Marilyn]

This is the You Tube link for Scarlett's clip of "Both Sides Now," Waterbury: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzEP3ceWqVg

Link can travel

[Marilyn]

The most recent Scarlett clips from Waterbury uploaded to You Tube are:

Auto-tune Banter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyktwxF4_a8

I Kissed A Girl Auto-tune: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DabNfyr9_ek

Something About Us: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlBRaHpLPZs

Unchained Melody: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiDyRstybLo

Links can travel.

[Marilyn]

(mainenanaj4clay @ Feb 23 2011, 10:59 AM)
Hi everyone here is my recap from Waterbury,
This was the only concert I was going to and I am glad that I was there! Clay was awesome, as usual and his voice is to die for and he looked fantastic and was so funny and relaxed on stage.....you don't think that I like him, do you?
We had someone with us that had never seen Clay before and it was such fun watching her enjoying the concert. We were sitting right behind the little boy that yelled out for Clay to do hip hop and he also yelled out that he loved Clay, he was very cute. At the end of the concert I asked the NJU with us what she thought of the concert, she said that it was the best concert she had ever gone to, maybe we have a new Clay fan!
When we arrived in CT from Maine we checked into our hotel and then tried to find somewhere to go and eat supper. Like someone else said it was very hard to do everything in the area was closed on Sunday night. We finally ended up at a small restaurant right beside the Palace Theater. It was very good, I can't remember the name of it, but we were sitting in two booths right by the door when this young lady came in to pick up her order of pizzas. She turned around looked at us and said you must be Clay fans. We struck up a nice conversation with her and found out that she worked for the Palace Theater and she was one of the ones in charge of the concert that night. She told us that when the bus pulled in around 10 a.m. that morning she figured that Clay would be arriving later in a limousine and was very surprised to see him climb out of the bus with a hooded sweatshirt and the hood pulled up over his head. I said I couldn't picture Clay arriving in a limo, but she said most of the entertainers that come there do arrive by limo. She thought that Clay was very down to earth and she had to set up messages for the group, she didn't know if Clay was having one or not. She was very nice. When we went into the theater to find our seats, she was in her uniform by the door and she came right over and talked to us and found out we were from Maine, her name was Judy, and she said she would come see where we were sitting and she told us where our seats were. She had an ear piece and was talking to them backstage. We saw her afterwards at the bus and she told us to have asafe trip back to Maine. As I said above the concert was fantastic and Clay was so funny singing "I Kissed a Girl" and all of the interaction with the lady in the balcony was a hoot! He was so funny. Adam the guitar player was very cute and we talked to him out at the bus afterwards. He was talking with a young girl who was the daughter of one of our friends from Maine. They were very cute. When Ben came out to go home with his Dad we talked to him for a few minutes and I told him what a great job he had done with Unchained Melody, it definitely was a Clay song now, and I mentioned how talented I thought that he was. His Dad was with him and was beaming! We also got to talk to Quiana and Jerome, but we stood outside in the cold for 2 1/2 hours nearly freezing and finally left, we couldn't wait any longer for Clay it was sooooo cold. We were told afterwards that about 15 minutes after we left Clay came out. Doesn't that figure?? Oh well, that was okay the evening was very special and everyone was so appreciative of Clay during the concert and you could just feel how excited everyone was to be there. Clay is just so special, I just hope that he keeps touring and letting us hear him live.