Syracuse Post Standard Gives Clay Concert A Decent Review

When first reading the Syracuse Post Standard review of Clay's Wednesday, July 18, concert in Syracuse, you might think its going to be a not-so-good review. But after reading further, it turns into a review with some nice comments.

"Decent Set With with SSO Thrills Claymates", by Chuck Klaus, begins by commenting about Clay, "And much like those fabled critics of yore, I simply don't get it. All of this large-scale Clayemotion confounds me, I fear." Uh-oh, is the worse yet to come? No, actually, the review gets better.

Some of the comments in this article are:

His voice is on-pitch, he treats most of his material in a fairly spacious manner, and his work is pleasant and fairly polished, in an extremely informal way.

He is the beloved singing teddy bear placed near a young girl's flouncy canopied bed.

Aiken, appearing with fellow American Idolers Quiana Parler and Angela Fisher, sang a wide range of music, from covers of Dolly Parton's "Here You Come Again" to his early hit "Measure of a Man" and material from his most recent release, "A Thousand Different Ways." He generously gave his "backup singers" - really more like co-singers - solo spots and lots of room for comic byplay, and gave a really nice pep talk on behalf of the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, encouraging the enthusiastic audience to become season subscribers of the SSO.

Aiken had the chance to perform a ballad for which he served as lyricist, which offered the SSO's cellist, Lindsay Groves, the chance to contribute a sonorous solo. Here was one instance where the Clayemotion of the audience paused long enough to allow Aiken to truly be heard, which turned out to be a source of further Clayelation.