I spent the spring glued to the second season of American Idol,
so when I found out that the tour would be coming to Pittsburgh,
Cleveland, and Buffalo, all within about two hours of my hometown of
Erie, I knew I had to make it to at least one of the performances. A few
friends and I decided on Cleveland, July 23rd. We made the trek earlier
in the day so we could take in a few of Cleveland’s sights, which ended
up being the science museum and the Hard Rock Cafi??. Unfortunately, we
discovered after the fact that there had been an opportunity earlier in
the afternoon to meet the Idols outside the CSU Convocation Center, but
chances are it would’ve been too mobbed to see them anyway. So I tell
myself…
The place was packed with fans of all ages bearing
posters and clothing advertising their favorite contestants. This
concert was a new experience for me, since I generally attend concerts
where most of the audience is two or three times my age. Not so here.
While there were plenty of adults, even senior citizens, by far the
largest population segment at this concert was teen and pre-teen girls.
Girls armed with an arsenal of high-pitched screeches. I, just out of
college, found myself screeching along with the best of them with my
“I’m Achin’ for Clay Aiken” t-shirt and “What a Day for a Claydream”
poster. Though Ruben had the title, Clay definitely received the biggest
audience response that night, from mass squealing so loud that his
comments were usually drowned out and clever signs waved throughout the
auditorium to signature Clay glowsticks and items thrown onstage to him.
The concert made good use of gigantic screens on either side
of the stage, which played introductory clips for each performer and
zoomed in on the singers during each act. I happened to own a pair of
theater glasses and brought them along for the four of us to share. Out
by the souvenir stands, binoculars were being rented out for $10 a pair.
Crazy! I tried to buy a tour book, but the crowds were so
insurmountable but I had to settle for ordering one from Ebay when I got
home. Before we entered the theater, however, we got a nice free
souvenir when we got our picture taken in a cutout board featuring the
Idols.
The first half of the concert went in chronological
order, from the first person voted off to the last man standing. Charles
Grigsby was voted off the show second, but Vanessa Olivarez, the first
to go, was not included in the tour. I would say that the night belonged
to Clay in Cleveland, but it also belonged to Charles. This was his
hometown, and his mother was in the audience, along with the mother of
Trenyce. There really seemed to be a surge of hometown support for this
finalist who probably should have stayed on the show longer than he did.
He was in top form throughout the evening.
Next came Julia
Demato, and her performance was fine as well. At this point in the
season, Corey Clark was booted off the show, and two weeks after Julia
left the eternally cheerful Rickey Smith got the boot. He was full of
energy, and so was my friend Libbie, who waved her “I’m With Smith”
sign, featuring Rickey and some ducklings (an allusion to the famous
clip of Rickey singing to the ducks in the park), high in the air.
Rickey did a marvelous job, showing that he, too, got the boot too
early.
Next up was Kim Caldwell, my least favorite person on
the tour. I must admit that she is quite talented, but there’s something
in her overall attitude that doesn’t agree with me. For some reason, I
can’t recall for sure which songs the first three sang, but I do
remember that Kim Caldwell sang the Stacie Orrico song Stuck,
which I found rather odd since she had never sung it on the show. There
was nothing wrong with the performance, but I personally found it
somewhat obnoxious.
After Kim came Carmen, who stayed in the
running much longer than she should have by most people’s reckoning.
Hers was probably the weakest performance, but it was still decent. No
complaints. Trenyce came next, singing Proud Mary. A very good
performance. After this, the tone of the concert changed a bit. The Top 3
kicked the proceedings into high gear. There was slight dismay that
Joshua Gracin, the Marine who took fourth place in the concert, was
absent; instead of there being 10 Idols, there were only 9. Josh had
been returned to active duty. As we were going in, my mom noticed a sign
reading “Oh my gosh, where’s Josh?” Nonetheless, Kim Locke was very
well received. She had several solos throughout the show; I think the
one she sang at this point was Band of Gold. Of course, she did a
fantastic job, but as soon as she was done singing, the audience was on
pins and needles for the one coming out next.
Kim took her
time announcing Clay, partly because the excited fans were making so
much noise. When Clay finally did come out, raised up to the stage on a
platform, the noise was deafening. During his flawless performance of This is the Night,
hundreds – perhaps thousands – of Claymates screamed their heads off,
particularly during the chorus, if they weren’t singing along. As soon
as he sang the words “lift me up,” his fans stood, waving their signs
high in the air. It was an exhilarating experience. Finally, Ruben came
out and sang Superstar, also very well done and applauded heartily. At this point, it was time for intermission.
After the intermission, group performances began. The first featured the guys in dazzling white suits singing The Lady is a Tramp, followed by the girls singing Bootylicious,
and eventually both groups singing at once. The guys came across as
classy, while the girls looked, well, trashy. This was the case with
most of the group songs, in my opinions. The guys’ group songs were
great, but the girls’ were less than enjoyable, unless they were singing
by themselves.
Kim Locke sang several more times, including her signature Somewhere Over the Rainbow, while Trenyce got to belt out I Have Nothing.
Kim Caldwell got a laugh by pointing out a man in the audience who was
dressed as her. She was so impressed with the likeness that she invited
him backstage. Later, Clay actually invited him onstage to see if he
could dance as well as the real Kim. All of the finalists had several
solos in this section. One particularly nice performance by the
lower-level contestants was Rickey and Julia’s duet of If I Never Knew You from Pocahontas.
But Ruben and Clay got the most solos. While Ruben showed off a couple songs from his new album and returned in an encore with Flying Without Wings, which Clay described as “an anthem for American Idol.” Clay sang To Love Somebody as part of a BeeGees medley. He also belted out two new tunes: Can You Feel the Love Tonight? from The Lion King and his upcoming single, Invisible. I loved his rendition of CYFTLT, but then I love that song already, and I already knew Clay could nail Elton John. But Invisible,
which has been getting so much buzz over on the Clay message boards,
left me pretty cold. Part of it could be that it was a song I had never
heard before and really couldn’t get a good first impression of because
there was so much screaming. I could only make out some of the words and
the tune got pretty muddled as well. He seemed really into the song,
indulging the females in the crowd with several dramatic shirt tugs, as
widely requested on the Clay boards (leading to speculation as to
whether he might actually read them). Nonetheless, I didn’t enjoy it
very much as a song; just too much like most of what’s on the radio
nowadays, I guess. I’m hoping that most of the songs on the new album
are more like what he sang on the show and less like this one.
Ruben and Clay also sang a duet, The Girl is Mine.
It was pretty cute, a chance for them to do some friendly sparring with
each other. Just before this song, Ruben and Clay spent some time
dodging gifts, mostly various kinds of underwear, thrown by female
members of the audience. Clay also received a marriage proposal with a
real diamond ring from a young woman near the front. The back and forth
banter between Clay and Ruben at this point in the show was very
entertaining. During the encore, after his performance of Invisible,
Clay mentioned that he was starting a charitable foundation to benefit
children with autism. He also thanked the audience for all their
donations to other causes close to him.
The show concluded with Imagine, sung by Ruben initially until the other eight joined in. This moving performance was followed by the grand finale, God Bless the USA,
accompanied by flags and small fireworks. The audience stood and sang
along, ending the evening on a powerful and patriotic note.
In
addition to the nine Idols, there were several dancers and musicians.
It was pretty nice to have live music as opposed to the canned music
featured on the show, although it was probably easier to hear the
performances on the show. Did I mention this audience was really loud??
I had the smallest sliver of hope of getting backstage to see Clay, but
I had no reason whatsoever to expect this would happen so I wasn’t too
disappointed when it didn’t. By all means, bring posters and homemade
t-shirts. It’s lots of fun to identify other fans of your favorite
contestant and give them a wave as they pass by. I brought my camera
and, encouraged by the hundreds of concert photos I’d seen and read
about, shot two and a half rolls. In a few, you can actually tell who I
was taking a picture of, but they are about the size of ants. I wouldn’t
bother with pictures unless you’re sitting pretty close to the stage.
If you’re sitting that close, you might also chance tossing something
onstage.
All of the contestants put their best effort into the
concert and seem to be having a great time. The concert lasted two and a
half hours, a pretty solid playing time. I had a great time at the
concert and would especially like to attend one of Clay’s solo concerts
if he hits Cleveland, Pittsburgh, or Buffalo. Something tells me I’ll
have plenty of chances in the future!
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