We got to Clearwater around three or four…checked into the hotel and did hair and makeup, then went to dinner across the street at Applebees. Then we went BACK to the hotel to get dressed. Then we headed to the venue. And got lost. And I was sitting there FREAKING out because it was like, 20 minutes till showtime.

We got there, and they wouldn’t let Will in cause he didn’t have a ticket. But they told us before he didn’t NEED one. So while mom fought against that, she sent me and Courtney into the theater. The show started five minutes early, so I freaked out more.

But I tried not to. I enjoyed William Joseph, he was very talented, and as Clay later said, “A good ad-libber!” For Clay pulled a few ‘last concert shenanigans’ on him. When he first came out, he asked for a towel to wipe his seat, I think it was, and someone in the front row screamed, “That’s ebay gold!” and WJ (will call him that from now on) laughed. Then the shenanigans started around the third song. After the song, he informed us that Clay had been playing “Invisible” over his headset while he was trying to play. Then Clay started talking to him, cause WJ said, “(to Clay) Thank you Clay. (to us) He’s talking to me now.” Jerome came out on the front row wing, and WJ said, “I see you Jerome…” and everyone started laughing. Jerome quickly left.

WJ apparently had time to spare, since Clay kept messing him up. So he told a story about how he learned from a movie how to play piano backwards. So he laid down backwards on his bench, head under the piano, and crossed his arms and played a Christmas medley like that. It was pretty amazing.

Then during “Homeward Bound” I think it was, they pulled the curtain on/around him and the piano. He had to jump up and pull it back. Then later, someone walked out and closed the piano and he just kinda stared. It was really cute. He did a great job. He told us he was going to play “O Holy Night” an octave higher to get back at Clay, but I don’t think he did.

Mom and Dad and Will had already gotten to us by then (they had to pay to buy Will a ticket) so we talked about that during Piano Intermission. Will loved WJ, he was clapping for him and everything. He loved all the lights effects too.

During Piano Intermission (which was very long), I noticed Ethel down around the first rows; she was trying to get the wave started in the venue. Not that successful, but a nice effort anyway. After Piano Intermission finally, the show started. The pre-recorded flash message played…and we screamed and clapped for the message when it said ‘NO FLASH!’ Clay was very smart to say, ‘look around…there’s someone with black tape somewhere’. He’s been reading the boards for sure. Anyway, Clay looked lovely, of course. But the sound system, I noticed right away, wasn’t working. Nor was the snow machine. It was shooting big huge puffs of snow randomly (it was NOT cottonballs, folks) because at one point, Clay stepped right through it, and there was foam all over his shoe. So despite what the cellcerts said, I don’t think this was a prank. I think it was a malfunction of the snow machine.

My sister immediately asked me if Clay was supposed to be an angel, which was good. I was hoping she’d understand. She asked where his wings were, though. Gotta imagine those…its not that hard. Throughout the show, she kept saying he was the perfect angel already, didn’t need to pretend…

“Christmastime” was a good song…not my favorite by any means, but it set the Christmas theme, I suppose. After that, Beverley came on, and Clay sang “Merry Christmas With Love”. Angie and Quiana came on during this song, and I LOVED their harmony. They did a fantastic job throughout the show. You could tell the sound wasn’t really working for this song. It almost sounded recorded, which worried me. (I had grandparents in the back of the theater seeing their first Claycert, and I was afraid they’d think he was a lip-syncer.)

Gregory/Tommy came on now, and he was adorable. Very loud little boy, he stumbled through a few of his lines throughout the show, but he did a fantastic job. Clay was up there laughing at him often, ‘specially for the “wrinkles” comment (from ‘Learning To Sing’). I also loved how Clay made Beverley’s son’s answering machine full by just waving a hand so she couldn’t leave a message. Such power!

From here on out, I don’t really remember the songset…I’ll have to guess.

I am pretty sure that Sleigh Ride was next…that was adorable. I was quick to point out John to my mom. The dancing for that song was really cute, ‘specially Clay’s ‘giddy-up, giddy-up, giddy-up’ move. And of course, the hop onto the set at the end.

Then it was Jingle Bells? Ok, I’ve heard many people say they didn’t enjoy this. But I LOVED it. Clay was rocking out, and who doesn’t love a rocking Clay? There were several growls in this song, if I remember right. The dancing was very nice too. Though I think John slipped at one point in the song on that foam snow, but if so, he caught himself nicely. Unless he always lurches like that.

I’m fairly sure that “The Season For Romance” was next. Tommy’s talk about Mr. Ledford was like something my sister might say. And I can totally hear Clay saying those things. I honestly think that Tommy was modeled after young Clay.

While not my favorite song, “The Season For Romance” was sweet. The sound was messed up, so it was hard to hear the words pronounced, but the dancing and story was nice. When the extra dancers left stage, one of the men (John or Nolan) ripped the wig off one of the gals. My dad got it on tape. Concert shenanigan? Dunno. But then came “Have Yourself A Merry Christmas”. Patricia and Adam were AMAZING. They are really great dancers.

Now was Tommy and Beverley’s dance… I LOVE “The Christmas Waltz”, but I loved it even more how they did it. So precious. Beverley was dancing with Tommy, and a flash back of young Bev and her husband were dancing…and then older Beverley and her young husband danced. So swwwwwwwweet! I almost cried there too.

Okay. Now was the most hilarious part of the show. Tommy started talking about his singing competition. You should have HEARD it. When he said, “I came in second.”, the theater was crazy applauding. Then there was the “Look at Clay Aiken!” line. I swear, they couldn’t finish, we were all applauding like crazy. Clay, over in the dark there, seemed amused/embarrassed/something. I need to watch the video again, everything’s fuzzy.

“Silver Bells” was nice, but not my favorite either. I much prefer Kimberley’s version with Clay. I guess I expected a grand voice like Kim or Quiana from Ms. Lawrence, being Clay’s music teacher and all…but it wasn’t my cup of tea though. But it made me smile to hear them sing together, that must be their favorite part of the show.

“The Christmas Song” was fantastic. I usually hate that song, by ANY singer. It just bores me. But it was so sweet to see Beverley and Tommy making cookies together, and then see the flashback on the other side of the stage of her doing that with her own son so long ago. Plus, Clay put some vocal gymnastics at the end to dress it up.

Angie’s solo was next. She was playing with vocal gymnastics for sure, I don’t know if she always does that or what. But she sang you “I Miss You Most At Christmas Time”, which was a very lovely, but sad song.

“Celebrate Me Home” … I had heard great things about this song, and was looking forward to it. Well, I didn’t really think much of it. We didn’t get any growls, one. Two, the song just seemed…melody-less to me? I don’t know. But what was going on in the story had me all sniffly. Mom too. At first, when Angie started whispering to Clay, I thought she was pulling a prank. But then I realized it was part of the show when Clay waved his hand and Beverley’s son appeared at the front door.

When the curtain fell, my mom was like, “That’s it?” and I’m like, “No…intermission.” Me and dad took Courtney to the bathroom, and while I waited for her, dad ventured to the concession stand. He returned with an ornament for me. I was flabbergasted, I hadn’t expected any to be left over. Then he quickly explained it was from a different venue. So I have a Eugene ornament now. Haha. They are trying to get rid of all the stuff, since it was last concert…so they had a bunch out there, I noticed. We got the program, then headed back to our seats. As soon as I got back, mom told me that Ethel wanted to meet me. That came as QUITE a shock. Someone so important wanted to meet ME?

My mom had gone and talked to her while we were gone, and when she said who I was on the board, Ethel got excited and said she wanted to meet me. So I got to meet Ethel. She gave me a great big hug immediately, and we chatted a bit before returning to our seats. (Thank you Ethel, you were really sweet, and it was great to meet you!)

When intermission ended, the church scene started. It made me sad for Tommy…his parents didn’t show up. But Beverley was there. She comforted him and sent him to do his narrating job. He did so, (Gregory stumbled over a few lines, but did well overall), then Clay sang “O Holy Night” which got a small standing ovation. He was playing with vocal gymnastics at the end of the song. I noticed, by the way, that the sound system had been fixed…NOW we were in business.

I think that “Hark The Herald/O Come All Ye Faithful” was next….and my lord. Clay sung the CRAP out of that song. It was AMAZING. I just had to throw all my stuff in mom’s lap and stand up for ovation. It was incredible. (It’s very hard to do ovations when you’ve already been to the concession stand and you don’t want to put your stuff on the floor. I eventually did so, and my program got stepped on.)

“Emmanuel” was nice, but again, not my favorite song in the show.

“Mary Did You Know” was incredible, as always. Lots of applauding for that one.

Beverley talked to Tommy now, congratulating him on his narrating job, then it was time for “My Grown Up Christmas List”.

My. God.

If you know me, you know I’m not Quiana’s biggest fan. I think I’m jealous of her, I don’t know. But anyway. I said in a thread last night that she stole the show. She really did. (Or that part of it, anyway)

As soon as she started singing, I leaned over to my mom and said jokingly, ‘man. I hate her’. Her voice is SO clear…so sweet, the kind of voice I want. Haha. It was amazing. And the meaning of the song…the way it ran with the play…when Beverley dropped the ornament into Tommy’s bag…I didn’t even really get why she did or what she was doing (getting rid of bad memories…or sharing hers with Tommy? I dunno), but I still just started BAWLING as everyone started cheering. You could tell Clay was proud of Quiana for her performance, she did incredible.

(Wow. I actually remembered all the songs. Amazing)

They left the stage, and the recorded message from the program started playing. Everyone was donning the New Years hats now. But before we could even say Happy New Year to Clay, he came out and said it to US. I think he read our plans!

Introductions and banter now. And I know for a fact I’ll forget a lot of stuff…so bare
with me, or better yet, go watch the videos on MeasureOfAFan.com. I’m just going to put the highlights and what I remember.

He commented about how the last concert was a bittersweet event…how they were all tired, but they were going to miss each other. He also commented on the New Years hats, but I don’t remember what exactly was said.

He introduced Felix first. Said he liked him so much, he had him chained to the chair. Then he introduced Daniel…apparently he changes his haircolor all the time, because Clay asked, “Do you even know what your original haircolor is?”

Next was WJ, and this was when Clay said he was a great ad-libber. Then Andy, who he explained had been around since MOAM. When he mentioned MOAM, someone said ‘woo!’ and Clay went, ‘yea, woo!’

Then he started introducing the dancers. Adam Kent was first, then Brianne. It was funny, he said she was someone who was always smiling and happy. When she got out onto the stage, she was crying. So Clay got her on that. (And later messed with her about it)

After Bri was John. Clay explained that John was the one who made him ‘not so ugly’. Then he said something about how he “was able to make a skinny little dorky kid from NC into a skinny little dorky kid from NC with good hair”.

Then Patricia. Clay said that at first, he didn’t know she and Adam were siblings – he thought they were married. So when he found out they would be dancing together (they play the young Beverley and her hubby), he said, “Eeeeeeeeeew you’re dancing with your brother!” He also said that Jerome nicknamed her, ‘Happy’.

Next was Nolan, who he said was brought along on JBT to steam their clothes (jokingly). He said he was welcome to come back and do that anytime he wanted to. He also mentioned that Nolan was in the “Invisible” music video, which I didn’t know. Learn something new everyday!

Now Clay started in on his main stars. Gregory was first. He said that originally, he planned to get a new kid in each city, but his director said no to that. He said he was ‘too cheap to hire a teacher’, so he had to pick someone from Raleigh so he could teach him himself. He also said that when they saw Gregory’s audition tape, they stopped searching. They knew he was the one.

Another thing I didn’t know. When introducing Alison, he said that she introduced the song “Merry Christmas With Love” to him. So he loves that he can sing the song to her every single night. Alison came out (with the star ornament, no idea if she does that every night) then she took off her wig, and hugged Clay.

Quiana was next. Clay said something to the effect of, “If you haven’t heard this story before, good. If you have, act surprised.” Then he explained that he had auditioned in Charlotte before Atlanta, and that he got cut. He paused, then said, “Stupid people.”

It was HILARIOUS. Everyone was going crazy. When we finally stopped, he introduced her, and she came out.

Then he started talking about Angela, and how he met her through Kelly. When he said Kelly’s name, a few people ‘wooed’ and he said, “Yea, cheer for Kelly. She’s done good for herself” or something. Anyway, he said then, “I fell in love with her” (and I was thinking ‘oh NO honey, bad choice of words!’ but I think he knew that too, because he quickly added, “we all fell in love with her” and then said “And now Kelly can’t have her back!”

He then introduced the crew and the community theater group. He made the comment on how he was giving all the hugs, and nobody was hugging him, so one of the staff members walked around and hugged EVERYONE. Clay was like “Oh…thank you?” I think it surprised him.

Gregory had something to say, and Clay said, “Oh lord help us” or something like that. Gregory stepped forward, then said something to the effect of, “I just wanted to thank Clay for letting us be in his show and we love you’ and stuff like that. It was very touching. Gregory ran over and hugged Clay.

Now Clay told everyone to sing along, and started in on “Don’t Save It All”, which was just INCREDIBLE. (We all broke out the glowsticks now). When he sang, “Oh baby, that’s a fact”, he lowered his octave…a lot. So it was muuuuuuuy sexy. Everyone SCREAMED, and he cracked up laughing.

When it was time for the glory note, they all started hopping around…and I thought Clay wasn’t going to do it, because the timing was off. So either he missed his cue, or was just waiting. I think he missed it, because he kinda shrugged. Then he did it. It was INCREDIBLE, standing ovation, and Gregory and the others were hopping on the sides of him. Clay did a bit of twisting and hopping too.

He gestured to the group on stage when he said, “We gotta give love”, then he said what I think was “Happy New Years…goodnight America!” which makes me wonder….was this showing being taped for something? I doubt it, but who knows.

So of course we were all screaming, trying to get an encore. We heard the music come on again and screamed, and I started to sit down again, when my mom goes, “HE’S UP THERE!” and I turned around and sure enough, Clay was up at the top of the venue. And he sang “What Are You Doing New Years Eve”, which hasn’t been sung at all for this tour. So we were very lucky. He walked down the stairs, slowly, flirting with everyone. Then he danced with a lady halfway down. When he continued singing, he headed down towards the bottom, did a bit of vocal gymnastics with the last few lines, and then exited after saluting to us.

We headed outside, met up with my grandparents, and then said goodbye to my dad’s parents and put our stuff in the car and drove around to the buses. We were only out there for maybe an hour. We saw Quiana, Angie and them get into a van and pull out and leave. They waved as they drove by. We also saw John walking his dog. Alison also came out and called “Happy New Year” to us before leaving.

About halfway through this, I heard someone call my name. I turned around, and it was Joyce and Melissa, so I went over and talked to them for awhile. Dad took a picture of us and then we brought Will over to flirt with them. Cause he loves to flirt.

We saw one of the cellcert ladies handing the phone to a security guard to let him talk. That was pretty funny.

After awhile, we discovered Clay had gotten into the other van, so I went back to my parents to see if he would come out, but he didn’t. One security guy told me and my parents to stay where we were, cause Clay would be on that side of the car. He drove by in the van and said, “Happy New Year” and wave. My dad got a decent picture (though it’s black and white) of him in the car.

We heard later that he left quickly because he was going to a party. That would explain why the others left so early too.

It was a GREAT night, though it was very tiring, and I’m still feeling like I need to go to bed! But Clay really thanked us by giving us the best concert he could give. Thank you, Clay!

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