Review of Cleveland's Jingle Ball dealie.

[foxmonkey]

If you can call this a review, that is. Then again, judging by his blurbs for the rest of the acts, JC got off light.

And again, Clay Aiken. All I can do is shake my head because honestly, I do not get it.

Read it here, or here...

Female fans scream for Clay Aiken
Women, girls seem content with truncated set after 3 hours of opening acts
Malcolm X Abram can be reached at 330-996-3758 or mabram@thebeaconjournal.com


Today all over Ohio, there are schoolgirls with no voice.

There are also a few hundred moms, grandmothers and aunts who will spend the day nursing their vocal cords.

The cause of all the scratchy throats was Clay Aiken, who performed at the Palace Theater in Cleveland on Tuesday night as the headlining act on KISS (96.5-FM)'s annual Kissmas Koncert.

The American Idol runner-up-turned-pop phenomenon sang only four songs from his platinum debut, Measure of A Man, and he didn't bother with a live band. But the crowd, a mix dominated by old and young ``Claymates,'' seemed content with the truncated set.

KISS ran a mostly smooth show but put the older members of the Clay Nation through more than three hours of opening acts.

Brooklyn singer Eamon's single... It , a bitter diatribe aimed at an ex-lover, must hold some kind of record for the most curse words in the chorus of a pop song. Nevertheless, much of the very energetic crowd sang along. But when Eamon's producer, Milk D of '80s hip-hop pioneers Audio Two, performed his 1986 classic, Top Billin', blank stares were the response from a crowd whose members were either born around the time the song was released or several decades earlier.

Lazy-tongued rapper Baby Bash, followed by his sometime-collaborator, R&B singer Frankie J, made the most of a very long set, performing Suga Suga twice.

Rural Georgia rapper Bubba Sparxxx made little impression as he rapped over canned tracks from his album Deliverance, while Stacy Orrico and her band ran through a tight half-hour set of her lite R&B/pop-rock tunes.

Former 'N Sync brunet JC Chasez's set harkened back to the old days, with a troupe of eight dancers, costume changes and an extended dance break.

When Aiken casually entered stage left in a black shirt and blue jeans, the crowd was more than ready to hail their king. Aiken began with I Will Carry You, pacing slowly across the stage and hitting all the crescendos at the right time, sending the crowd into screaming fits. With no band, Aiken didn't stray too far from the recorded versions of the songs, but no one seemed to be looking for new interpretations. Between songs, the savvy Aiken, who knows his audience very well, thanked the fans profusely for supporting him and adroitly encouraged them to call radio stations to request his next single, The Way.

Comments

[myorangecrush.livejournal.com]

Clay Atkin looks like a badly dressed Geography teacher. I've not heard his music, he's not broken the UK at all. He just looks like the usual pop-idol clone though.

I mean - I like WIll Young's second album, he's broken out of the mould and heck, the guy announced his homosexuality the day after he won which is pretty brave of him, but Clay - ugghh

All that about Claymates too? HUH?

G

[lisachasez.livejournal.com]

I do not understand the Clay thing, except maybe...he's so sexually unthreatening that it makes him acceptable.

Like Lance used to be.

[brighton-girl.livejournal.com]

I will never get the Clay thing. Maybe he looks like he could be my brother (or sister for that matter). He can't move and he is just a decent singer. Barry Manilow is quoted as saying "see this face, this is what Clay will look like in 25 years". Yep, Clay is the Barry Manilow of the new millennium.

[tavellafic.livejournal.com]

And Barry Manilow has a *very* devoted fanbase, still. I don't know, it may be related to the whole sexually unthreatening theory about boybands and teen idols, but it seems a bit different. Usually the core that does the hysterical screaming is teens or younger, and I get the feeling the median 'claymate' is a lot older.

[xphile101.livejournal.com]

It's true, the average age of Claymates are slightly older than your usual fanbase that would be at this type of show. He just appeals to a large variety of people -- part of it is that his music is good (albeit slightly plain, but hey, he's only got one album out so far) but another part of it is that he's so squeaky clean. I'm fairly certain I wouldn't want to listen to JC's upcoming album with my parents, but I'd certainly encourage my parents to listen to Clay.

[swabian.livejournal.com]

I don't have a clue what people see in Clay Aiken. I find him extremely boring.

Also, the reviewer couldn't mention something about JC's music? Isn't that why people go to a concert?