Holiday On Ice Memories From a Fan Who Was There

I love reading the summary reports of fans who have been to concerts and TV shows to see Clay. Its the next best thing to being there myself. These memories are usually written when they are still riding high from excitement after seeing Clay. That is true of this summary written by Annie about her trip to Las Vegas to see Clay at the Holiday Celebration On Ice Show.

We had a wonderful time in Las Vegas. We walked all over the place, saw some crazy sights, ate some wonderful food, and spent time with lots of Clay fans. I was so excited about seeing the skating show - had never seen one before - and listening to and watching Clay sing Christmas songs was just fabulous. When he came out the place cheered and cheered. I heard a guy behind me somewhere say, "Sounds like the Claymates are here." And we were! I didn't know what Clay was going to sing so when I heard the first strains of DSIAFCD I just sighed. I LOVE that song! His voice was fairly raspy during it and I was really worried that the dry air and cold in the arena would affect his voice all night. It made me a little nervous for him. He went off stage after that song and I was hoping that he would have something to drink or a teaspoon of honey or something to soothe his throat. When he came out next they played the opening of All Is Well and I saw to my husband, "OMG, he's going to do AIW!!" We both think that is one of Clay's best songs and were in Waukegan last year when he missed the note and in Merrillville when he triumphantly hit it. Todd Eldridge was skating to it and I hardly saw any of his performance. I was sitting in the stands with my stomach starting to get upset - so anxious about Clay being able to sing it well. I saw the tape of it when I got home and saw Clay crossing his fingers for luck before he sang it. I didn't see that in person. My seat was more toward the center of the arena, not right next to the stage. All I could concentrate on was his voice while Todd was skating with my head kinda down just a-hoping and a-praying that all WOULD be well. Well, he sang the snot out of that song! When he hit that note at the end the whole place stood up and cheered! It was electrifying!! You could see Clay's happiness at the end of the song and he graciously pointed to Todd and Todd graciously pointed to Clay. That's another thing about the skating show which made me so happy - the interaction between Clay and the skaters. They always gave Clay his due after a song and Clay always supported them. There were hugs, handshakes, and nods between them all.

Another thing that pleased me so much was at the end when Sasha finished doing her retakes. She warmly thanked the crowd for coming, said it was one of their best, said Clay loved his fans, and that she had a wonderful time with Clay. She said he was a sweet man and this show would always be a wonderful memory for her. Aaaaaaaaaaaawww! She was one of several skaters who had to come back after the show was over and redo a section of their performance. There were a few falls and mistakes and the skaters were asked to redo their routines for about 20 seconds before and 20 seconds after their falls. The other redos were done to music other than Clay's, but Sasha's mistakes were during Clay songs - so she had to do them over with no music behind her. The announcer jokingly said something like, "We need Clay" and everyone cheered because, of course, we all need Clay! He didn't come back out though and she skated to silence - and did it wonderfully!! She is so graceful. The one jarring note of the show was the first routine that was done to a taped recording of someone else singing. After hearing Clay do the first several songs, I really didn't like it when someone else's voice was in the background. It just didn't seem right!!

Clay looked great and seemed to be in a very good mood. I will really have to watch the videos to see his expressions up close because I TRIED to be a good audience member and actually watch the skating! But it was hard!! When Sasha brought Clay the skates at the end of the show to put on, everyone cheered. And when he came out with a girl on each arm it was so cute. He skated around the rink so I got a chance to see him up close and he looked so happy. I can't wait to see this show on TV. I have no idea how often they'll focus on Clay or whether he'll redo DSIAFCD for the broadcast. Also want to see how seamlessly they put the skating edits into the program.

As usual, when I'm at a Clay event I feel rather out of body. It's so hard for me to believe I'm actually seeing Clay in person and I lose total track of time. It went by so fast!! We arrived on Sunday and it seemed like business as usual at the casino, but on Tuesday (the day of the show) there were suddenly Clay t-shirts and pins all over the place. And whenever a Clay fan saw a Clay t-shirt they felt comfortable saying hi to that person and starting a conversation. You know how that goes! Just lots of fun meeting and talking to Clay fans from all over the place!!