The Independence Tour 2004 Experience
04/04/2004 12:13 AM

Clayton Holmes Aiken, I love you. I love you so much. I wanna snog you 'til the end of time.

Just got back from the concert. Gawd. What a time!! I'll start from the beginning.

My parents and I picked up Nicole (who likes to be called Anna, so I'll call her Anna from now on) some time after 3:00 and we headed down to Anaheim in our car with the CLAYMTE license plates and "AIKEN 4 ANAHEIM" on the back windows.

It's interesting 'cause on the way to Anaheim, on the freeway, I spotted a car, and I relized that in the car was a family I had met at the San Jose American Idol concert. Fun! :D

I don't know when we got to Anaheim. Rick said it was something like 4:00 or 4:30. I got my camcorder out and I was recording stuff, like the bald security guy and the orange cones.

My parents parked in the parking lot for the Arrowhead Pond, and Anna and I walked around filming various things. A group of people spotted my Gonzo shirt, but didn't say anything to me; but one girl with her family saw my shirt and said,"Oh my God, I love your shirt!!" and then she showed me her Bubel/Aiken Foundation shirt. Very cool. The same family, while walking by mine and my parent's car, spotted our license plates. They stopped and talked to my parents for a few minutes about all things Clay.

(I'm so unbelievably tired right now, and I'm having a big problem keeping myself awake. I'm trying to finish this entry quickly.)

At who-knows-when, we went over to the restaurant across the street from the Arrowhead Pond, but there was a forty-five minute wait. So we all walked down to the area where the Panda Express and Mexican restaurant are, and ate at the Mexican restaurant. Actually, my parents ate there -- Anna and I just had sodas 'cause we weren't hungry.

It was getting late, so Rick told me to take the extra pair of car keys, walk back to the parking lot, get mine and Anna's tickets and sign, and go to the concert. So Anna and I did. We were acting very silly; me especially. I was making a complete ass of myself. I was running around, skipping and poking things, and making jokes. Anna made me feel really good when she told me,"This is the best time I've ever had with anyone. You're just so funny."

When we were at the car, I got the first phone call of the evening. It was Kayla. In my hyped-up-ness, I explained the highlights of the evening so far. I was being completely silly.

After I hung up with her, I noticed I had a missed Jake's call, so I called him back. I was still being silly, but I toned it down as not to scare him. It was still enough to make him say,"You sound excited!" though.

Anna and I went through security (they don't check bags very well! I was able to sneak in my camcorder easily!!), got our tickets checked, and immediately bought a Clay concert program once inside the door. We found a booth set up with merchandise, and I'm surprised I only used half the money I had saved up. I bought a Clay keychain, photo, poster, and a red youth large shirt. (I wanted the dark green shirt, but they didn't have it in youth large, and I didn't want to pay ten dollars more for an adult size.)

Anna and I then found our seats. I feel embarrassed to admit this, but I must've looked at the wrong section when looking for my section on the venue seat map a couple of months ago. I thought my section was two sections from the side of the stage, but it was actually right across from the stage.

The people behind me were talking about how they had never had seats so close to the stage. I sighed and thought of the seats I had at the American Idol concert last August. They were to the side of the stage, and I could even see backstage. But my seats turned out to be not that bad.

The Beu Sisters were singing when Anna and I found our seats. After they finished, there was a short intermission, so Anna left her seat to put on her Clay shirt in the bathroom.

She came back, and the show started with Kelly Clarkson opening. After she sang four songs, I lost count on how many songs she had sang. Sorry, Kelly. I love you to death, but after a while I got really bored and resorted to playing Snake II on my cell phone.

Kelly's part of the concert was finally done, and there was another short intermission. Anna left to go to the bathroom (to pee this time, if you wanna know :P), but when she came back, she had a Clay teddy bear. "Ohmigosh, I've heard of those bears, but the booth we went to didn't have any! Where did you find it??" is what I said to her. She told me that they were being sold for twenty dollars at the booth by the entrance we came in through. I pulled twenty bucks out of my wallet, and she offered to get it for me. (Thank you again for that, Anna!!) My teddy bear was later named Waldo (if you don't know why, you need to know, so try asking any other Claymate or myself if needed), and Anna's was named Gonzo because Gonzo has become an inside Clay joke inbetween us.

(My mind is getting more and more fuzzy.)

Clay's part of the concert started, and the energy was totally flowing. He started the show at our end of the arena for the song "Kyrie," and worked his way to the stage. Most of the stuff that happened after that is all a blur. I called people like Kayla, Tiffany, and Kate at different songs. I tried to take pictures with my digital camera, but it wouldn't turn on. So Anna started recording with my camcorder. After a couple of minutes, one of the guys that worked there told her to put it away, and that if he saw it out again, it'd get taken away. Oops.

I was anxiously waiting for Clay to sing "When Doves Cry". My favorite song on tour. Towards the end of the night I heard the familiar first notes of the song and casually reached for my camcorder. I got nearly all of the song on tape. NICE BUTT SHOTS, WOO!!!

Soon after that the concert ended. Anna and I went back to the car, and we talked to Tiffany on my cell while stuck in the concert traffic. Tiffany told me about a radio contest that's happening tomorrow where you can get tickets and backstage passes to the LA concert, so I'm gonna try and win those. Imagine being in the front row!!

Just so I can get to bed quicker, here are some highlights of the night that people who were there will remember:

Clay talking to Kim the Texan on the cell phone, immatating her fangirliness and telling her to breath.

The "WOO HOO" toy Kelly got from the audience.

The Open Arms poster Kelly held up on stage.

Clay Aiken and Kimberley Locke's duet.

Clay whispering before the acoustic songs so that the audience would be quiet to hear him.

Clay ENTHUSIASTICALLY taking off his jacket at the beginning of "When Doves Cry". (OHMIGOSH!!! *Fangirl scream*)

Keanna (Keana?)'s motto "If you can't achieve it, weave it."

Clay pulling his shirt down during "When Doves Cry". Dunno if anyone else remembers it, but it did something to me. :P

Clay letting a girl from the audience sing a line of "When You Say You Love Me". That girl was wow!!

That's it for now. After some sleep I'll try and get my video onto my computer to get screencaps or something. The zoom is so unbelievably good it can't go unappreciated.

It's after 4AM so goodnight for now. Blah, Daylight Savings Time is going to steal a precious hour of sleep.

P.S. Do whatever you can to go to a concert during this tour, if only to get the AMAZINGLY HOT Clay program book they sell.

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