How on earth does anyone ever write a recap? I'm a mess. I have loved and supported this man for almost 3 years without having a clue how truly amazing he really is. I feel like I've been watching him through a keyhole this whole time.
That man was more mesmerizing than anyone has a right to be. His voice is a magnificent instrument that he plays with such mastery that I now understand when people say that he must be experienced live.
As I've said, I was a fan since "Take". Every performance on AI2 had me shouting to my family to come quick to see each week's performance. They all thought he was amazing and we rooted for him to win. Of course in Canada we were impotent to help with the voting and I felt so helpless and useless. I prayed each week that my American counterparts would see what I could plainly see. That he was like no other and that he MUST win. Of course we all know that didn't happen. at least not in the way I expected at the time. Like many others, I pledged to make damn siure that I would find him after it was over and help him in any way I could to take his rightful place.
So last night I finally saw him and was blown away. I had NO IDEA what I had been missing. I took my daughter to the show with me and I want to share her impressions because she is one of the Not. Just. Us. In part I hoped that she would finally see for herself why I have devoted the last few years to supporting his career and partly to experience his talent and to join me in my appreciation of him as more than a casul fan. She always liked his voice, admired him as a man but didn't get him enough to go to the next level. She was expecting Perry Como or something, not exactly her kind of music. I think she got it last night.
Many times she'd nudge my elbow during a song and we'd exchange raised eyebrows and smiles. I was doing the cellcert as you all know and she had strict instructions to be quiet. What a blessing in disguise that was! She had to be quiet and pay attention and her usual witty asides and comments had to be made non-verbally or not at all. What a hoot!!! There is a part in the second half where he sits in an empty pew while the actors are doing their bit and he is just watching them with the sweetest expressions crossing his face. She could NOT contain herself. She kept bumping me and sharing smiles and at one point she just couldn't help it and blurted out " OMG! He's so CUTE, I can't stand it!"
Score!!!!!
She loved the growl in Celebrate me Home. She looked at me all wide eyed and asked " Has he ever done that before?" I replied " Oh yeah" She sure had her pre-conceptions blown away about him. After the show was over the one other comment she made that I loved was that she said that it just doesn't seem possible for someone to sound exactly as good as they do on the CD. She was SURE that he sounded better and that's impossible, isn't it? She was also amazed at the demographic that attended last night. It was a completely mixed crowd. There were all ages, all races and all genders represented (how PC of me, hee). She had bought the impression given by some critics that it was all older women and their tweenies that make up Clay's fanbase and she could plainly see that it was so totally not the case.
One of the coolest things that I think we'll never forget was another unexpected gift. I was one of the coordinators at our pre-party. One job that I took upon myself was to try to make the best possible use of all of the tickets that were purchased. Unfortunately some were left holding tickets that would be empty seats. I asked everyone in the room of a little over 100 people if anyone had unused tickets and if they would be willing to donate them to the group in order to move people down and forward to fill up any holes there may be in the Orchestra. I didn't want Clay to see any empty seats. I was so surprised and happy when so many people came forward and handed me tickets. Then I asked the room whether anyone was up in the balcony or far back in the mezzanine to come up and trade tickets to upgrade forward. That went really well. I was happiest that a man who was taking his daughters, and had bought them Orchestra seats and himself a seat way in back got to trade up and we found him a seat right beside his daughters. They were all 3 just thrilled! Many other people got much better seats and in the end there were about 20 extra tickets. I gave some to the staff that were serving our dinner at the restaurant and some to the employees of a travel agency that was in the same building with a firm promise from all of them that they would not take a ticket if they were not sure to attend. Then we were down to about 12 tickets. This is the fun part. I was busy getting set for the Cellstream, the doors only opened to take our seats about 9:10 and the show was to start at 9:30 so time was running out. My daughter (who is 30 by the way, in case you thought she was little g) agreed to go far up in the back of the balcony and upgrade about 12 people to the Orchestra. She came and joined me in our seats just as the curtain was about to go up. She was in tears. :bawling: She had never seen anything like this fandom and we have a lot to be proud of. I would never have thought to do something like that on my own but I've read so many recaps by others about upgrading people from the far back and the utter amazement and joy that it brings to perfect strangers was very moving to her. Nuff said.
Clay has some amazingly generous fans and I thank all of those who gave their tickets to make the concert better for perfect strangers and for Clay. Of course we aren't really such strangers. We all have Clay in common and I think that we are a very special breed of people that Clay attracts. I was very proud of us.
Yeah, I know I didn't talk about the concert much. Everyone has said it all so much better than me and many of you were there on Cellstream with me anyway. I'm still a sappy mess. Forgive my long winded recapless recap, I am in that fog where I can't remember what he sang or too many details about his performances. I'm glad that I sort of got the character that Clay was playing. I said that I thought he was invisible but in charge. Now that I have read that JFL describes him as a sort of head Guardian Angel I am glad that I wasn't far off. The show was pure magic. Do not expect to get it from the downloads. You have to see it as a whole and in context. Clay wrote a very moving and poignant story. I'd recommend that you enjoy the song clips as individual performances and suspend your disbelief until you can see it as a whole.
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