Clay Attends Kelly Clarkson's Concert in Raleigh

Clay showed up, along with Ruben Studdard and other friends (including the BAF's COO Kristy Barnes), at Kelly Clarkson's concert yesterday evening in Raleigh, North Carolina. By all reports, the Clay's fans were thrilled.

Notrelated from the CH, who was at the concert, gave the following report:

"Just back from the Clay show, oops I mean the Kelly show in
Raleigh...

I sat about 8 rows directly behind Clay and ended up spending the
majority of the concert staring at the back of his head (and his
swirly *g*). I was lucky enough to be in the VIP seating and it's a
bit higher up than the seats Clay and his group were in, so I had a
pretty good view of him the entire concert.

Kelly who?

Clay and his entourage really created quite a stir when they came
in. I was a little worried there for a while because SO many people
surrounded the area to take pictures and get autographs. I kind of
felt bad for him until I realized he seemed to be enjoying the
attention and was not at all bothered. At one point he even stood
up, turned around and waved to the crowd.

It looked like the venue brought in more security as time went by, which helped, but people still kept coming up for pics and to chat. At one point it looked liked he had a security guy directly behind him, which seemed to control things, but alas, impeded my view *g*. It was so cool that Ruben was with him. They all seemed to be having a great time. I caught Clay's head bee-bopping during several songs and I saw him singing to Miss Independent and maybe SUBG. And he was very chatty with his group…leaning over Kristy (?) several times to speak to Ruben. There was a guy sitting next to Clay also, maybe Nick. His profile looked like Nick's, but his hair was very short.

I tried desperately to get a few pictures, but he was just far enough away that everything I got was dark and/or blurry.

Our seats ended up being great for several reasons…the view of Clay, first and foremost, of course. But then Kelly ended up coming into the crowd to sing Breakaway and she was right behind us. Everyone turned around to watch her which gave me a perfect view of Clay watching her too. Again, I tried to get a shot of Clay, this time of his actual face, but it wasn't to be…just more blurriness.

They all left pretty quickly once the concert was over and the lights came up.

What a fun night…the concert actually was pretty good, but seeing Clay, unexpectedly, was such a treat!"

What a great review! Later information says that the guy sitting next to Clay was a venue security guard and that he left when the show started.

Here is another report from Cats4Clay at Clayversity about Clay, Kelly, and Ruben having dinner together.

"Okay, folks, I may have my very first, official, new Clay item to
contribute to the conversation. I was also at Kelly's concert tonight with my wonderful son, and we had a very nice and talkative security guard standing by our section, and he told us that he had heard a rumor that Clay Aiken might be a surprise guest singer tonight, but to not hold him to it, because this was only a rumor. We all know that did not happen, and I honestly took it with a grain of salt, anyway, but then he started talking again, and he said what he did know for a fact, because he saw it with his own eyes, was that Clay dropped Kelly off at the venue this afternoon. I also heard this same thing from two different security officers throughout the night, so I would pretty much think that this is true. When word was getting around that Ruben was in the building (Clay hadn't made his way to his seat yet), two girls behind us said that they were just entering a restaurant in Raleigh last night (sorry I can't remember the name), and that as soon as they got there their waitress asked them did they see Clay, Kelly and Ruben just leave. The waitress said Clay loved to eat there, and he took the two of them out to eat last night. I hate like crazy that I was on the total opposite side of Clay tonight (we were in almost identical seats, just in opposite sections), at least I knew I was breathing the same hot, sweaty air as he was, and that he was doing fine and enjoying a night out with friends. I love seeing his smiling face in that picture, and I'm glad that he was there tonight to support his friend."

It does my heart good, and I'm sure yours as well, to know that Clay was not only out with his friends enjoying Kelly's concert, but also that he was having a blast giving out autographs to his fans, even standing on his seat and waving to everyone. And how awesome for him, Kelly, and Ruben to be together again and able to spend some time together.

If you'd like to read more about this and see some pictures go to the following sites:

Clayboard Kelly Concert Thread (pictures begin over halfway into the thread)
Aikenized Photo Gallery (Kelly Concert) - All pictures in one spot
Truth Rules... blog about Clay, Kelly, Ruben spending time with each other
Southern Girl also blogs about this

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Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, American Idol, Invisible, Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard