2003-07-21
3:01 p.m.

BEVR: Juliem/Detroit

Let me apologize in advance for my writing skills and the length. But here it is. My day began in a state of nervous anticipation. I live on the other side of the state from Detroit, so had to leave at 2:30. I had prepared a doll to give Clay. It's a TY "beany-bopper," I don't know if you have seen these but they are about 5 or 6" tall. This one has spiky blondish brown hair and green eyes. The name on the tag reads "footie." Appropriate, wouldn't you say? And you are going to laugh but since the doll was dressed as a soccer player, I changed it's clothes into jeans and a black "leather" jacket. But the feet on the doll were so big that I couldn't get the jeans over the feet. (I did find a pair of Ken jeans that fit.). I had cut out the caption from the congrats page on LBFCA and used iron-on to affix it to the doll's t-shirt so that it read "Platinum Clay."

When I arrived, a woman came over to my car to look at the pictures in my window. I had a 8 x 11 of the clutch in one window and The LBFCA in the other. She had a hard time pronouncing the lecherous part at first, but I walked her through a few times and now she's got it. When we finally get to our seats, I was disappointed to see that we were seated next to 4 teenagers, all very young and very beautiful. Guess who got the backstage passes? One of the girls was crying when she got the passes so I felt my intense jealousy, decrease a little after that. I think that Charles is the one that sent thse but I'm not sure since these girls had a huge Clay sign. Though he didn't seem to pay them any extra attention or even make eye contact.

As for the show, it was good. I won't go into detail about the others except to say that I was impressed with Rickey and Kim Lo. Kimberly C looked great but alas, her voice is still very unremakable. Charles is very spastic and was carried away by a large security guard at the end due to his hyper antics.

I got to see Jerome, Clay's personal body guard. When they were doing the speil about clay not being able to get the moves down right for that shoulder thing, he had the audience try it and sent Jerome with a backstage pass for the lady in the audience who did it right. This is the only time I saw Clay direct a backstage pass handout. He made a point of taliking about all the fans way up in these boxes just under the celing and stated "that's dedication," so I think he may have sent many to these poor people who surely didn't see the show very well.

The dance moves with Carmen are almost x-rated. They are on the left side of the stage for this so my husband and I got an eye-ful. My husband brought it up no less than 3 times on the way home. He said Carmen was really rubbing her behind into his "package" as my husband puts it. My hubby went on to state that he watched Clay with the dancers and no one was rubbing into him in that way. It was painful for me to watch and I kept looking away. I hope you don't lose your lunch after reading it.

I didn't see a lot of panty-thowing. There were a few attempts during TITN, and a half-hearted attempt with a beach ball after "Invisible" that didn't make it past the barrier between the stage and the front row. But I'm sure that I could have missed many things. As I've explained, when Clay's on the stage he takes you somewhere else entirely. Also, some of the others can be distracting. Only because they are right in front of you, and, I did have a spot when Rickey was right in front of me making eye contact. I like the guy but geez, by the time I realized what was going on and dragged my eyes away from Clay the moment had passed. Similar episodes with Charles and Kimberly C, when they jumped off the stage and directly in front of me. So, I could have missed so many things

As for Clay, he clearly was the star of the show. The crowd goes wild and the resulting noise is DEAFENING! I really don't have the words to describe him, but I will attempt it: Gorgeous, Magical. Sorry ladies but I'm a nurse, not a journalist. Let's suffice it say that Clay is phenomenal! My only complaint is that his speaking voice sounded funny. It was several octaves higher than normal. This could have been due the adoration of the crowd that literally leaves your ears ringing, or the arena or the sound system.

He sounded incredible when he sang. (I almost said normal.) When Clay is on stage it's sort of like being struck by lightning. When he's on the stage there is such a brightness and palpable energy in the air. And when he leaves you're left awestruck and a feeling of being very aware of his abscence. I was disappointed that when he was talking he was always very far to my right, though he was standing right in front of me(8-10') while singing on many occasions. Some of the stuff he does with the others is clearly staged. But when it's just Clay, and when he's being himself, he really connects with the audience. He also never sat on the stage to chat, as I had seen in previous BEVRs. He made a point of reading the signs after TITN, and commented on how creative they were.

Either before or after "Invisible," I can't remember which now, he spoke about his BUBEL FOUNDATION and thanked his fans for the support that they have shown towards autism since AI.

Broads, there was SEVERAL clutches and he was wearing a white Detroit Redwings hockey jersey. I'm not a hockey fan but I can't explain the feeling when he wears a jersey from your home state and does that clutch. It's kind of like sleeping in your boyfriends t-shirt when you were young and in love, only in reverse. It was defintely the "climax" of my concert experience, if you know what I mean, Broads.

Okay, I know this is getting way too long so I'll wrap it up. I waited until "Invisible" was over and talked my husband into throwing the doll. (I should explain that I had a large security guard standing in front of me and just 2-3 feet to my left through the entire show.) I just wouldn't risk being thrown out before I saw "Invisible." My husband, bless his heart, threw it way to the left and several feet past Clay, he never even saw it. So Clay leaves and Ruben comes out. There's much dry ice and fog, and all I can think of was Ruben tripping over my Clay doll, which was still lying on the floor. He doesn't. Then they all come back to sing GBTUSA, and at some point in the middle of the song, Clay bends down and picks up my doll. His back is to the stage, more specifically, his butt. He pauses and looks at it for a few moments then sets it down next to a band member and continues on with the performance. I should memntion at this point that I had printed and cut out the first two paragraphs of the congrats to clay from this website, signed my name and wrote "your devoted fan, 'always and forever,' julie m." and tucked it down the front of the doll's pants. So I don't know if he read it or not ladies. Maybe he'll post a thank you to us. Wouldn't that be great?

Clay did not sind for most of GBTUSA. he was crying or trying not to cry throughout the entire song. He also got very choked up when speaking about his foundation and his gratitude to his fans. It was so touching.

And finally, I have one last remark about the show. This is the part that touches me so deeply. The show is over and all the idols have left or are leaving the stage through exits on the left and right. Clay is the last to go through the right stage exit and he turns to look for Ruben, who is left standing alone on the stage, receving very positive attention from the crowd(MANY OF WHOM HAVE ALREADY LEFT AT THIS POINT). Clay turns and starts to go back out to Ruben, then stops, looks at Ruben, then at the crowd, smiles, and turns and exits. This is the most poignant part of the whole show. Clay clearly knew that if he were to go back out and join Ruben that he would detract from his moment of glory. And he clearly made the decision instantly and with a smile, to leave it for Ruben. I was and still am so very touched by this gesture that I can hardly type anymore through the tears. This is a perfect illustrastion of who CLAY AIKEN is as a person and why we all love him so much.

juliem

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Note from Nelle: You, too, can participate in the LBFCA Summer Series, and have your Broad's Eye View Report of Clay's Summer Concert Tour on the LBFCA Main Page. Just send it to Nelle via email, and she'll post it ASAP. (If you are a lurker, or otherwise wish to remain anonymous, just let me know that in your email). Don't worry about your BEVR not being the same size or looking the same as anyone elses. Here at LBFCA we celebrate diversity. Every BEVR is unique. This is your personal experience of witnessing what Katynka so gloriously described as "a little hockey-jersey-clutchin', white-leather-wearin', DTTR revealin', mic-flickin', thigh-strokin', eye-f***in', smokin', jokin', singin', hunk-o-burnin' libido."