Rickey Smith in Erie, PA February 3, 2007: Despite Snow, Rickey's Show is Just Ducky

A couple weeks ago, while my friend Libbie was over, we saw a commercial on television announcing that Rickey Smith would be in town the first week of February and we could win tickets to his concert. "Rickey!" we squealed, grinning at each other. It had been four years since the second season of American Idol introduced us to the velvety-voiced Mama's boy described by Simon Cowell as the nicest contestant of the season; four years since the man Randy Jackson berated for dressing like his dad pumped his fists, whooping "Hercules! Hercules!"; four years since his premature departure left teddy bear Ruben in tears; four years since we headed off to the American Idol concert in Cleveland with a poster bearing witness to Rickey's endearing fondness for singing to the ducks in his favorite hometown park. Four years since Libbie first dreamed of getting to meet her favorite finalist, and now it looked like she might actually have her chance.

We never heard anything more about the contest. But last week, on January 31, Libbie called me before I left for my job at the mall, informing me that Rickey would be there that afternoon and wondering if I would be interested in going. I was, of course, so I hung around after work until she came and met me, and we made our way to FYE music store together while she worried about what she should say. But once we got there and ventured inside after waiting to avoid getting in the way of a group photo with a gaggle of teenage girls, Libbie didn't have any trouble conversing with Rickey and letting him know what a fan she was. Her obvious enthusiasm earned her a couple of hearty hugs from the congenial young singer, who thanked us and asked if we would care to buy his CD, which cost $5 and featured three tracks. After he signed our inside album covers, he went off to wander the aisles of the store while we paid for the album and inquired about tickets.

The show was planned for 7 p.m. three days later at the auditorium of Central High School, where my brother attended high school. The clerk informed us that we could buy VIP tickets if we wanted; these were $20 rather than $8 and included guaranteed seats in the first three rows and a backstage meeting and photo op. After some consideration, we decided to spring for the more expensive tickets; even with the $5 service fee, they were still cheaper than most concert tickets, and we figured it would be a pretty cool experience. Plus, neither of us had a camera with us, and we wanted another shot at a picture with Rickey. Because the tickets had to be paid for with cash, we trotted off to the ATM; twenty minutes later, we returned and paid for our tickets, which were large and featured embossed writing. Libbie was especially impressed with their appearance and suggested we ask Rickey to sign them, so he cheerily obliged; as we left, he bid us farewell by name.

Saturday arrived to frosty winds that plunged Erie into near-zero temperatures. By late afternoon, a combination of poor visibility and frigid air had led to a slew of cancellations for area Sunday schools. In his conversation with Libbie on Wednesday, Rickey had indicated that he was getting a kick out of the wintry weather. "I'm country," he told us, "so Erie reminds me of home. But we don't usually get snow like this there!" We wondered whether he would retain his high opinion of our blizzards if the snow caused everyone to stay home that night.

When we got to Central, I dared not take my ticket out of my purse until we were safely inside the school for fear that the wind would whip it away. Tucked safely beside it was my camera with a fresh roll of film. When we approached the ticket table, the woman there didn't know what to make of our tickets. It seemed she might not have even been aware that tickets could be bought ahead of time. Luckily, the other ticket seller had been at FYE that day and not only knew about the tickets but had remembered us buying them. She ushered us inside, where we were a bit perplexed to find several teenage girls - the same ones we'd seen at FYE, as it turned out - singing song snippets on stage as their families looked on. After 15 minutes or so, the girls and the crowd near the front dispersed, and Libbie and I made our way down to the second row. Shortly after we sat down, the girls returned, so that we were surrounded by these young singers and their families and friends. We soon discovered that what we were attending was not so much a Rickey Smith concert as an Erie Idol Jr. contest for which Rickey was a judge and special guest. A few folks trickled in after we got there, but the vast majority of people seemed to be there more for Erie Idol Jr. than for Rickey, so we felt slightly out of place.

Still, we had prime seats, so we sat back to enjoy the concert. First up was Chelsea, a 19-year-old emerging recording artist who has evidently been touring with Rickey. She started her four-song set off with a sultry Black Velvet. Another up-tempo number was followed by a reflective Open Arms, which she sang while seated on a stool in the middle of the stage before getting up again for a hard-rocking I'm the Only One. Then it was time for Rickey, who took the stage for a shivery, soulful rendition of God Blessed the Broken Road. Throughout the evening, he was very energetic and animated, at times dancing wildly if the song called for it. His banter with the audience was very natural, and we chuckled as he confessed that this was a little more snow than he'd bargained for.

Over the course of eight songs - one of which he repeated as an encore, asking for audience participation - he treated us to perfectly pitched falsetto squeals a la Michael Jackson, contemplative and reverent songs evenly mixed with high-energy opportunities to show off his exuberance and always the famous Rickey Smith down-to-earth friendliness. Among the other songs were Some Kind of Wonderful, an ecstatic duet with Chelsea; the ruminative Ordinary People, before which Rickey revealed that he had once been engaged; a smoothly earnest version of Edwin McCain's I'll Be, which has been mangled by so many American Idol hopefuls; the moving Gospel-country hit I Can Only Imagine, accompanied by the six Erie Idol Jr. finalists with a solo by the girl declared the winner; and the inspirational I Believe I Can Fly, which was preceded by Rickey's recollection of the "Full House moment" with his mom that cemented it as his favorite song.

The Erie Idol Jr. competition occurred after Rickey's fourth song, and each of the six girls - Chelci Gette and Erica Williams of Fairview Middle School; Christina Cerezo of the Iroquois School District; Jenna Sulecki and Kayla Moore of J.S. Wilson Middle School; and Ashley Criscione of Rice Avenue Middle School - went up and sang a full-length song, though apparent problems with the backing tracks cut a couple of them off a little early. Song selections included such overblown ballads as Reflection (the winning performance), Wind Beneath My Wings and Hero. The girls ranged from 12 to 14 and had been recommended by a voice teacher or choir director. All had nice voices and performed well, so it wasn't an unpleasant diversion, but we would have liked a few more songs from Rickey, who served as one of three judges determining the winner amongst the six. While they did not make any comments on individuals following their performances, they had evaluation sheets, so each of the girls received suggestions on how to improve.

Aside from Rickey, Chelsea and the girls, there were a couple of guitarists, a keyboardist and a drummer, plus one person working stage crew and another running the light board. Last but certainly not least was the local actor, a congenial gentleman who served as M.C. for the evening and kept the whole thing running smoothly. I made a note of his name but it eludes me now, which is a shame because he really was enjoyable and obviously had a great deal to do with the preparations for the event.

The show was over by 9, and a quick glance over the auditorium told me that there couldn't have been more than 100 folks in the audience, and probably considerably fewer. I blame the weather. At any rate, when it came down to it our VIP tickets didn't really do us any good; there were so few people there it seemed everyone could sit wherever they wanted, and after the show Rickey came out front and signed autographs and posed for pictures and chatted with whoever was interested. So that was a rather bitter irony, but we got our picture with Rickey, and with Chelsea, too, while we were at it, so we weren't about to complain about the extra expense. Hopefully at least some of that actually went to him...

All told, the Rickey Smith concert wasn't quite what we expected, but we got to hear him showcase him fantastic voice again and demonstrate that Simon's assertions of his downright decency were not misplaced. Rickey is more than welcome to come back to Erie any old time he pleases. Next time, we'll try to go easy on the snow...

Clay Rules American Idol Concert in Cleveland, July 23 Concert Reviews

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!