2003-08-08
8:43 a.m.

BEVR: Raleighgirl/Raleigh

8/6/03 12:30 am

I sit here unable to sleep. The excitement is just too much because This Is The Night!!! Clayton Aiken is coming home to Raleigh, NC as I write this and I?m desperately trying to resist the urge to drive out to Interstate 85 to intercept a tour bus heading from Richmond, VA to Raleigh NC carrying One Green-eyed Spiky-haired Singer.

8/7/03 12:30 am

I sit here unable to sleep. The excitement is just too much because This Truly Was Clay's Night!!!

I don't know how I'm going to put into words what I and all of Raleigh experienced tonight, so I sit here scribbling notes hoping to capture the electricity and emotion of the evening.

8/7/03 9:30 am

To try to explain, I think I will have to explain a little of what Raleigh is like. I'm originally from a much larger northeastern metro area where it was unlikely that most people would feel any personal connection to local celebrities. Raleigh, however, is one of those cities that is large enough to feel like a real city but once you've been here a while you start to feel that there are no more than 3 or 4 degrees of separation from you to any other person in the city. Because of this, I think that almost every person in Raleigh feels a personal connection to Clay. Everyone seems to have a story. Personally, I have so many "almost" connections that it sometimes amazes me that I don't actually know him. I think that everyone in the RBC center last night felt like they were watching their brother/son/best friend return home after making it to the big time.

So, as the arena filled up last night before the concert, there was electricity in the air. As I looked around the arena it was obvious that EVERYBODY was there for only one reason. To see their hometown boy make his triumphant return home. Almost every sign I saw was for Clay (the arena would only allow sign smaller than 18"x18" into the place so many signs had to be left at the door, including ours) and there were Clay t-shirts, and other signs of support for Clay everywhere. When the pre-show video clips began the crowd went wild whenever a clip of Clay flashed on the screen.

I won't get into the actual performances of all the others because that's all been covered and there was nothing new this night except that every time Raleigh was mentioned the crowd the crowd went wild. They all knew that THIS concert was special. This night was all about Clay. So, we came to the point in the show when Kimberly Locke is supposed to introduce Clay. She almost couldn't do it because the crowd got so loud that it was impossible to hear her. We watched the video clips of Clay's rise to stardom with even more screaming and then Kim introduced CLAY AIKEN!!!!!!! The noise was EARSPLITTING!! And then THERE HE WAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My heart was pounding. My body was shaking and I truly thought that I was going to Faint. Clay looked GORGEOUS in his suit and swirly purple tie with his hair perfectly spiky and mussed. I think he looked a little flushed. Clay sang his heart out and sounded beautiful (thankfully, as loud as the crowd was they also REALLY wanted to HEAR Clay too and they quieted down every time he sang or spoke). Clay sang TITN like I've never heard him sing it before. There was so much emotion in it and the way he ripped the mic out of the stand and the way he did his knee bends, it was like all this pent up emotion and energy was finally being released. He emphasized lines in the song like "I've been waiting forever for this, This is the night" with his gestures. Trenyce said later that Clay had been nervous about the concert, but you couldn't tell. Once he was on that stage he OWNED it. I think he knows EXACTLY what he's doing to us and he knows EXACTLY how to do it. Clay sang the last "heart" in the song the way he did on The View and I went into a full body scream (who was it that coined that phrase?). Thank you Clay for granting my request (check the guestbook about 20-30 pages back). When the last note of the song came the O began, Ovation that is. The noise in that place was like nothing I had ever heard before and I had been to see the Hurricanes play in the Stanley Cup Finals last year in the Arena that is said to be the loudest one in the NHL. I thought the roof would blow off the place. The Ovation went on and on and on for so long and then you could see Clay on the big screen starting to tear up with his lip quivering. He was clearly just overtaken with emotion, and so was the crowd. Well the ovation lasted for two solid minutes (I timed it later) and let up only when Clay finally started to speak. I don't remember anything specific that he said because I was having an out of body experience, but finally he introduced Ruben and then he was gone from the stage. End of Part One of the Clay Aiken concert tour.

Part Two began as you all know by now with Clay looking all yummy in white. He was wearing the white sport jacket that he wore on Finale Night of AI not the one that was previously believed to be leather. The group numbers were great and the crowd went wild every time Clay was on stage. Then came CYFTLT and let me tell you the crowd and Clay were definitely feeling the love this night. Beautiful song, Beautifully sung. There were more group songs and then the point where the uninformed might think the show was over, but very few people started to leave. They all seemed to KNOW that the best was yet to come.

INVISIBLE!!! When Clay appeared on stage wearing a Carolina Hurricanes jersey strategically tucked in the front the crowd went wild!! (side note: Hurricanes team captain Ron Francis was there at the concert) Clay talked about having had the opportunity to record an album (like we didn't already know that) and then he said he was going to sing a new song from the album. Clay asked if anyone knew what the song was and many, many people yelled INVISIBLE. He seemed surprised that people knew that. Then he started singing. This song was soooooo much better in concert than in bootleg internet video clips. There was so much jersey clutching and deep knee bending and crouching and hip thrusting that I thought I would combust. At some point he must have clutched so hard that he un-tucked his jersey because by the end it was completely un-tucked but I missed the exact moment it happened. I had been afraid that he might hold back on the sexiness of this song with his Mama and other family in the audience, but this was the hottest, sexiest I've ever seen him. He SO knows what those jersey-clutches, and crouches and hip thrusts do to us. After the song the roar of the crowd was as earsplitting and went on almost as long as after TITN. Clay seemed to get choked up again, and they showed shots of Miss Faye tearing up.

Ruben came out and sang his song and then they all did Imagine and God Bless the USA, and the crowd savored every last moment that Clay was on stage, and then it was over.

8/9/03 11:00 am

I am still left with such an amazing feeling of energy from the show mixed with sadness that it is over. I'm sorry it took me so long to get my BEVR ready to show to y'all but I've found it very difficult to capture the pure emotion of the night in mere words.

Can't Wait for the Real Clay Aiken Concert Tour.

Raleighgirl -

Note from Nelle: You, too, can participate in the LBFCA Summer Series, and have your Broad's Eye View Report, or, for any other Brude's out there, your Summary of Clay, about 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."