Reliving Jukebox 2005: Cary, NC, Regency Park Amphitheater
After his highly successful Greenville, SC concert, Clay took a short trek north to his hometown of Raleigh, NC (the concert was actually held in Cary, NC, a suburb of Raleigh). Clay's return to the Triangle was marked with jubulation. It was the first time Clay returned home following the busy 2004 holiday season marked with the releases of Learning to Sing and Merry Christmas With Love. It was also Clay's first North Carolina concert after his double sellout during October 2004's State Fair when tickets were all snapped up in less than 15 minutes. The Cary concert was no less successful. Only a handful of the 7,000 tickets were available hours before the start of the concert. Proving that North Carolinans still took pride in their 'Idol', the press covered the concert like crazy. The Raleigh News & Observer and Cary News published multiple articles welcoming Clay's return to his beloved hometown. A crew from an area TV Station even showed up at a pre-concert gathering of Claymates. North Carolina was still CLAY AIKEN CENTRAL.
The Performances
- When Doves Cry continued to entice Claymates. Even with Ms. Faye Parker in row #1, Clay gave it his all (perhaps the best performance thus far). The CB's ClayKeepsOnShining says: "The women in front of me were going ballistic. They were in their mid twenties and had left their husbands at home. My husband was standing next to me so I had to watch my P's and Q's." cc777 adds: "WDC, yes he is sexy, to say the least. Sexy like real southern nights. Any woman that is not dead can see this. Me, yeah I like it."
- 1000 Days - Clay replaced Just You to debut a new song for the hometown crowd. Similar in musical flair to Just You, 1000
Days was another slow-tempo'ed love ballad. After almost 2 years without a new Clay song, Claymates held onto every note Clay sang. Cellcerters on the receiving end posted the lyrics to the song frantically as Claymates around the country crashed message boards and servers. - The Elvis Medley was astonishing as usual. The heat and hometown atmosphere was perfect for Clay's flawless rendition of Elvis' classics. cc777 said this in her recap: "I absoluley love his singing of Love Me Tender and playing the piano. The thouught that he learned to play this and hearing him sing it at the same time is such a wonderful gift to fans like me. It is truly beautiful. It is the sort of thing that if you could only have a few things in life, a recording of this would be one of the things I would want." LUVClay26 said: "I have not seen anything that incited so much jealousy for that hussy mic stand until that night. OMG. Everytime he'd just shake it, I had to grab the chair in front of me and remove my gaze from the binoculars. He so knows he's sexy. Gah! It was bad when he straddled that thing. Man please let me be a mic stand when I am reincarnated. I'll be good."
No Stump the Band during this concert.
The Fans
As with any hometown show, Clay's best friends -- old teachers, old classmates, relatives -- were in attendence. Ms. Faye Parker had a comfortable seat in row 1. Clay's grandparents were also in the audience. Clay remarked during the Elvis banter how some of Clay's past music teachers would be "crying" over his Elvis performance. Also, Claymates from across the country flew, drove, used any form of transportation to get to Raleigh for the show. Taking advantage of cheap airfare, the CB's hanapepe, hosaa and Texasgreeneyes flew in from Oregon, Maryland and Texas to see Clay.
Classic Clay Moments
- The night was VERY HOT... During the Elvis portion of the show, Clay asked the audience to collectively blow a breath of air towards the stage... "no... just kidding". Clay also joked, "Wow. I think I am sweating more than Ruben."
- Clay spent a long time in the audience this time around. The CB's LUVClay26 had a close encounter with Clay: "Clay then before intermission wanted to go and find someone that was there that didn't want to be there. He went into the audience and I DIED. He almost came down my aisle, but didn't. He saved my life by not coming down my aisle I think. I would have died worse than I did."
- Clay took the risky step of dancing on top of the piana during Great Balls of Fire... "It was somewhere around here he gets up on the piano. HOLY HOTTNESS!! It was cool as he shook his thang and just sang "Great Balls Of Fire." I was dancing having so much fun watching. He looked out to probably somone in front of or in back of me and just looked like he was happy and having fun too. I felt myself blush and cursed at myself for reacting that way because I'm thinking he was just pointing to someone close to me," says LUVClay26.
- Clay spent time talking about his move back to Raleigh ... "He talked about moving back to Raleigh and said he would never camplain about the traffic in Raleigh again after living in LA. He referred to one of his band members as being one the many people he's met from LA whose insides were not rotting," said the CB's ClayKeepsOnShining in her recap.
PRECONCERT ARTICLES
- Raleigh News & Observer- is Claymania quieting down?
- Cary News has an article about Claymates' pin sharing
- Cary News: The wait for Aiken is finally over!
- Cary News article about Faye Parker & Clay success.
- Fayetteville Online wonders why the concert wasn't a total sellout (CDD's note... it was very close to a sellout. Only about 100 seats out of the 7000 in the venue was left by concert time)
- Triangle Herald Sun reminds us of Clay' origins- teaching in Raleigh
- Fayetteville Online has a mixed review.
- Cary News -- very good review, positive
- Raleigh News & Observer published fan reviews.
- CDD Jukebox Archives: Cary, NC
- Photos from the Cary concert
- Recaps from members of the Clay nation
- MeasureOfAFan.com video downloads
- Entire Cary Concert @ Google Video
- Clayboard cellcert
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