Male Concertgoer: Columbus Show the "Coolest Concert I Have Ever Been To"

Who says men don't enjoy Clay's musical stylings? Danny Knepshield, a 38 year old male, attended Clay's show in Columbus last night and described it (through a post on his MySpace blog) as the "coolest concert" he's ever been to.

Clay was himself surprised by the large number of men who attended the show; he joked: "We have more gentlemen in the audience than we usually have. Either the women in Columbus are strong-willed, or the alcohol tab is very high for the men here."

First of all, I have been to many concerts in my day. I have seen Run DMC, Public Enemy, Big Daddy Kane, EPMD, the Beastie Boys, Technotronic, Tone Loc, Ice T, NWA, Biz Markie, Whodini, Tech N9ne and many others. On the rock side, I have seen Duran Duran, Tom Petty, Fleetwood Mac, Queensryche, Dream Theater and probably some others that I have forgotten.

I have pretty much enjoyed, to a greater or lesser degree, every concert that I have been to. The thing is...nothing exciting really happened at any of them. That changed last night.

Last night I took my wife to see Clay Aiken down in Columbus. I was looking forward to spending the night with my wife and seeing her happy at being able to see her idol (no pun intended). I must admit that I wasn't all that hyped at the thought of seeing the show. Now, don't get me wrong, it isn't that I didn't want to go, it's just that I wasn't enthusiastic about it. I actually think Clay is a great singer, but he isn't really my cup of tea. My wife, however, was very excited about going.

Clay came out to perform, right on time, at 8:15. He started to sing some of his regular fare and I was thinking it was sorta boring. After a couple of songs, he took a break from singing and started talking and making jokes. He joked with the crowd and made fun of the venue and I started to really get into it. He was very funny and extremely likable. No wonder my wife likes him. Anyway, I began to really get into the show at that point and I was very glad I went. Later, he made fun of himself for "not being cool enough" and playfully attempted to remedy it by singing covers of Baby Got Back, Bringing Sexy Back and, believe it or not...You Down with OPP! If you weren't there, it might sound corny, but it wasn't. It was done to be funny and it was very entertaining. He also has one hell of a voice.

After the show, Lynda and I went over to wait by the tour bus. We were simply hoping to catch a glimpse of him before he left. We had no idea what we were in for.

We found out that Clay actually likes to personally meet the fans that take the time to wait for him after his shows. What other major artist does that? The problem is that there were a lot of fans waiting for him. Apparently, a lot more than they are accustomed to dealing with. The security guards spent nearly thirty minutes discussing the logistics of the problem of how to arrange it to allow so many people to meet Clay in person. They finally had the entire crowd of remaining fans (about 2,500 people) line up single-file around the entire facility. We were lined up through the parking lots, sidewalks, lawn...everywhere! I had never seen anything like it before. All done just to make his fans happy. Wow! This alone was one of the coolest things I have ever witnessed. Please tell me one other artist to do such a thing for so many people?

Clay finally arrived, about an hour later, at the front of the line and proceeded to walk down the line of fans and shook every single person's hand. Lynda not only got to see and hear her favorite performer, but she got to shake his hand too. My wife was so happy you should have seen the look on her face. That was the coolest thing that ever happened at any concert I have been to!

Clayversity's laughnoutloud also posted this cute story from the concert:

At intermission I ran as fast as a gimp leg and big butt would allow to the line of porta potties...and believe me, there was a line!! But it moved fast. (those toilet guys know how to move a crowd, I'm telling ya!) Anyhow, while standing in line this complete stranger dude...late 20s-30 yr old- in front of me turns and says, 'Man, this is a great show isn't it?' I smile and say, 'yep.' He says, 'That guy is an entertainer! I always thought he had the best voice. My wife made me go to the American Idol show when it was here, but I haven't seen him since. This guy is great!!' He was just so excited and animated and he wanted to talk about the show. Hee. The man was Clay gushing right in front of me.