Raleigh News & Observer Post-Concert Article

The Raleigh News & Observer published this post-concert article today. Clay performed at Raleigh's RBC Center last night. The News & Observer also published an extensive pre-concert article earlier this week. Warning: This article has a slight negative slant.

COMPLETE COVERAGE OF THE JOYFUL NOISE TOUR 2005 AVAILABLE HERE.

Locals bask in Clay Aiken's limelight
Raleigh native and American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken performs "Sleigh Ride" before 9,000 fans at the RBC Center on Thursday evening, Dec. 22, during his Joyful Noise Tour 2005.
Orla Swift, Staff Writer

Clay Aiken's fans didn't need much prompting to believe his stage persona Thursday as a good spirit casting magical spells upon a host of fictional characters.

The Raleigh-raised pop star already had cast countless spells on audience members gathered at RBC Center for his "Joyful Noise Tour 2005."

Many boasted of having attended Aiken's concerts five times, 10 times, or, in middle school teacher Danielle Parker's case, 22 times.

And most are quick to point out that they've never been so, well, Parker doesn't like to call it "obsessive," but, OK, obsessive about a celebrity before.

"He's just so energetic," says Parker, 25, of Raleigh, who sat spitting distance from the stage for the RBC show and also drove to Charlotte to see him Wednesday.

"He engages the crowd," she says. "You feel like you're part of the show."

Aiken engaged Raleigh in more ways than one with this tour. He hired local actress Alison Lawrence, his former voice teacher, to star in the show and to coordinate community theater actors who would join them at each stop -- including several Thursday from Raleigh Little Theatre. Lawrence plays a lonely widow who has lost her passion for Christmas.

And Gregory Ellis, a sixth-grader from Magellan Charter School, played Lawrence's sidekick, a boisterous neighborhood kid who stops by to pester her and ends up lifting her spirits.

The Raleigh audience cheered wildly for the local actors, yelling out "Gregory!" and laughing hard at their kooky punch lines.

Larry Paisley, 66, of Columbus, Ohio, also got struck by Aiken's magic wand. The retiree drives around the country catching his shows -- seven so far for this tour, 12 on his "Jukebox" tour, a few more last Christmas.

"He has a great voice, and he has the highest morals of anybody I've ever thought about," says Paisley, who wore a T-shirt Thursday with a photo of him and Clay on it from a meeting in Michigan, and a cap with Clay pins.

"He does so many good things, helping children out in every way. He's just a great -- well, I think of him as a kid."

Aiken returned to his theatrical roots for this holiday show, writing a story that incorporated traditional Christmas songs and tunes from his Christmas CD. He spent little time in the spotlight, instead letting the actors and dancers perform scenes as he sang.

Parker liked the sentimental tale, though she admitted "it's kind of cheesy. But it's good cheesy, not roll-your-eyes cheesy."

Paisley Cookson didn't care for the cheese. The Raleigh 12-year-old and her mother, Shirley Register, left at intermission, bored with Aiken's show.

"When I go to a concert, I like when the singer takes time to talk to you, like, 'Hey, it's good to be back in Raleigh,' " said Cookson, who loved Aiken's past concert tours.

"It turned from a good, personal, heart-to-heart audience-to-Clay Aiken show to a boring opera play."