Reliving Jukebox 2005: Essex Junction, Vermont - Champlain Valley Fair

Thanks to Buzztechie and Invisible926 for the great photos in this article.

Note: All fan stories and Classic Clay Moments are from The Clayboard.

Essex Junction, Vermont. The site for Clay's third to last concert of the Jukebox Tour. How quickly the tour had gone by. Essex Junction is a small town with a population of 19,065 (in both the town of and village of Essex Junction). That is twice the seating capacity for the Champlain Valley Fair Venue! Since Vermont is the safest state in the U.S. in which to live, I'm thinking I would love to see Clay perform there more often!

The Performance

I watched some of the Vermont show myself to see what I thought of the performances. And guess what...there's not a bad one in the bunch! The 50's is always my favorite set. I watched secretlylovesclay's video of this and it is very close up. You can see every cute and crazy look that Clay gets on his face! Its worth a look! "I Can't Make You Love Me" was beautiful as always -- he puts all of himself into that song, and it was no different in Vermont.

Ricfan25 said, "I heard Clay rehearsing Back For More and Tears Run Dry. He sang the chorus of TRD twice. So beautiful!!" Oh yes, and "Back For More" was a big hit at the show...everyone was clapping along and Clay got in so into the song at one point that he grabbed the mic off the mic stand and threw the mic stand down! Whoa! Check out spotlightlover's video of this for a fun memory of Clay's Vermont show!

Juleahfaye said that "Quiana's "I Will Always Love You" was fabulous as always, and I talked with reporter guy about how he should be sure to keep an eye out for that song. He was impressed. "He also liked I Can't Make You Love Me" - but then, who doesn't?" Wow, its always great to hear that the news media love Clay's show!

The Fans

Prepare yourself...I have lots and lots of great fan stories for you. Peaked your interest? Well, read on...

Before the stories...I read several things that said the crowd was quieter than most, but did begin to get into the show as it progressed, clapping and dancing. The fact that there were 3,000 people in a 10,000 seat arena may have had something to do with that. Smaller filled venues tend to be louder because the sound fills up the place! However, Faraclay, who came all the way from Germany to see 3 of Clay's concerts, loved the audience, and said it was her favorite show because:

Well, I think it was a combination of the setting and the crowd. I know, the crowd wasn't nearly as enthusiastic as that in Boston, but what I loved about the crowd was that they were local people, seeing Clay for the first time. They didn't know the concert before they got there, and I liked that. My husband and I were sitting around mostly local people who fell in love with Clay on AI. After the first medley and opening banter section, I heard the lady behind me say 'Wow, he is really good! I didn't expect this'. That's what I like to hear. I talked at length with a woman who drove over from NY State to see Clay for the first time. She wasn't a big fan but was so impressed, she is going to join the fanclub now.

Faraclay has some other great stories about fans that I just can't leave out. You'll love all of these stories! She says:

One of my favorite stories was of a family sitting in front of my husband and I. It was a grandmother, mother and daughter. The daughter (a teenage girl, maybe 13) did NOT want to be there. In fact, she had met the lady sitting next to me before the concert and was complaining to her about being there. During the intermission, this young girl comes back from the souvenir stand with a 'I love Clay' license plate....showing it proudly to anyone who would look at it. Her mother sat down and talked to me a little while and said that her daughter was completely converted during the first half. I love that.

One of my other favorite stories of this concert was of a gentleman sitting in front of us. He was there with his wife. Because he was wearing a Nebraska Huskers baseball cap--and my husband used to live in Nebraska--he and my husband struck up a conversation about football (of all things) before the concert. This guy was obviously one of those who was dragged there by his wife. He sat through the entire first half. By the second half, he was on his feet. By BFM, he was moving along with the music. It was great. Even my husband commented on it after the concert.

And, finally, as we were walking out of the venue, there were a few young ladies walking behind us. They must have been University students, or maybe high school. But they were just gushing about the concert. And one said 'I don't know how I am going to sit through class tomorrow. I'll have a big grin on my face. But when people ask me what I'm thinking about, I'll just tell them I was at this concert'.

Madame President, made a sign, as we fans love to do, hoping Clay would read it. And he did and asked her to hold it back up. Seems she was dumped by her boyfriend and that's why she was at the concert. Clay then "asked where he was from, and I yelled out that I didn't want a bunch of rabid claymates after him. He pressed me, and I said the Midwest, to which he said, "no, we want an exact address." Then he asked if I had the guy's number memorized, and when I answered yes, he said that "we should call him." Clay can take a simple sign and make it so much fun for all the fans! His quick wit is one of the things the fans love about him and his concerts!

And finally, cookiedog8 tells a story that is one of my favorites. Read about this lucky girl who unexpectedly got great free tickets to the concert:

A cute story: one of the UVM students sitting in front of us was at her job at Starbucks in Williston yesterday when Clay's entourage came through and ordered a whole bunch of frappacinnos (sp?). She didn't know who they were for and was grouchily making one frapp after another when the woman ordering told her they were for Clay and his band. She apparently squealed in delight claiming to be "the biggest Clay Aiken fan ever", and was rewarded hours later when a Clay representative called Starbucks to tell her they had 2 4th row tickets waiting for her at the show. She and the friend she brought were so cute - neither had ever been to a Clay concert before, but they really got into it, and were so friendly. I told them to come to the Clayboard (which they didn't know about) to post their story, but evidently they haven't, so I've tried my best to recount it.

I think you can see from these awesome stories that the fans love them some Clay in Vermont!!

Classic Clay Moments

Every moment is a classic Clay moment, but some are just more classic than others. They stand out in our mind and make us laugh or cry and so glad to be a Clay fan.

Here's a great one from Madame President that we would not even have if not for her and a friend having great seats. Read on:

He was totally messing with Angela and Quiana tonight during Sugar, Sugar. From my vantage point, all I could see was Quiana giggling and swatting at her backside, which made me wonder just what Mr. Aiken was up to, but my friend on the side said that he was messing with her ear piece cord. When he went to Angela, I think he tried the same thing (ahh, so much for creativity), but I can't say that it worked. I did at one point think however that he was pulling at her hair the way that her head went all the way back. Kind of like a Barbie doll's right before it snaps off. Either way, you could tell that payback was imminent, and we didn't have to wait long. During So Happy Together the girls joined forces to rid Clay of his earpieces, though at first glance it appeared as though they were just giving him wet willies or ridding him of some trapped ear wax.

Probably half the stuff that happens on stage has a back story about it that we, the fans, we never know. Thanks, Madame President, for this one!

But we save the very best Classic Clay Moment from Vermont for last. And we will call it "Felix and the City of Vermont". And let me tell you, if the crowd was quiet during some of the concert, they sure came alive during When Doves Cry! Of course, everyone knows that Felix does his bit on stage before they come out to sing "When Doves Cry". Felix was all over the stage, doing his comedy routine, and then he ends it by saying, "And Vermont is a wonderful city...that is all." Now, Clay comes out on the stage in his robe, ready to start "When Doves Cry". Only problem is, Clay is totally cracking up at Felix's slip of the tongue! Clay is trying to stop laughing, but he can't, and then he says, "...or state." And the whole audience just dies laughing, and the backup singers are about to fall over on the stage. So, Clay then continues to try to get his act together and stop laughing, but he can't...its getting worse. Finally he says, "I think I'm gonna walk in again", and walks off the stage. The audience just howls, as do the backup singers. When he comes back on, you can tell he could lose it again any minute, but somehow he made it through the introduction until they started singing "When Doves Cry". This definitely will go down a one of the top Classic Clay Moments in history. I laugh everytime I watch it! What would we do without Clay and that great sense of humor of his! Check out spotlightlover's video of this for hysterical closeups of Clay!

Great Review

If you want to read a really great review, check out the Burlington Free Press review of the show. For example, the writer of the article says, "Contrary to everything in my musical past and my planned future purchases (the "La Dolce Vita" soundtrack, the new Franz Ferdinand album), I really, really like Clay Aiken." I love that "really, really" coming from a reporter! This is one of the more positive reviews, and you will love reading it.

As I close my part of writing "Reliving Jukebox 2005", I hope you have enjoyed reliving the memories as much as I have. Its been great reading what some of the fans who went to the various concerts had to say and seeing some of the fan pictures taken, and it was awesome sharing my memories of my favorite concert, Indianapolis, with you. You just haven't lived until you've been to a Clay concert...or 2 or 5 or 10! Looking forward to sharing the next tour with all of you!

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