On Friday night, I was online checking a good topic for today’s blog. I quickly realized that today was the first anniversary of the opening of Joyful Noise 2012.

West Palm Beach FL/ Kravis Center of the Performing Arts!

The following is one of the first RED reports that I saw:

From Joy2talk2U

Thank you!!!

Back!!! The concert was stunning…stunning!!!!! He came out in front of the curtains to start…he acted like he was waiting for something…he stood there and stood there. Then he turned towards the curtain and waited some more. He finally got tired of waiting and went into the wings and came back out bringing a CD or tape player…he “turned it on”, placed a mic down on the floor with the player…the opening part of “All Is Well” started to play…and he proceeded to blow the entire audience away with the most powerful edition of “All Is Well” that I have ever heard. 

When he hit the 2nd chorus of the song, the curtains slowly opened and we could see the orchestra playing…the entire opening was magical…The final notes were spot on…perfect…

I will write a longer recap tomorrow, but I had to write about “All Is Well” before I forgot how amazing it was…He brought goose bumps and tears.

There was also a great review for this concert from The  South Florida Gay News:

Clay Aiken in West Palm Beach – Through Tears and Joy

American Idol Season 2 runner up Clay Aiken brought joy and tears to the Kravis Center of the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach recently with his Joyful Noise Tour. He returned to the holiday circuit after a five-year break.

A lot of former idols lose their appeal fairly quickly, but it was evident that Aiken still had his, with fans showing up all the way from Tokyo and Brazil.

The concert was filled with a mix of traditional religious Christmas songs like O Holy Night, Silent Night, Away in a Manger, Mary Did You Know and secular ones like My Grown up Christmas List, Don’t Save it All for Christmas Day and Jingle Bells.

While Aiken’s voice soared on every note it was his down home charm that made the concert memorable. He told stories, interacted with fans and was not only charming, but surprisingly funny.

After watching him on stage it’s easy to see why he’s garnered a loyal, almost fanatical following, over the years. When he asked how many of his fans had been to all of his holiday tours a surprising number of them screamed out.

While most of the concert was filled with laughter and smiles there was one part that was especially sad. Throughout the performance there were prerecorded fans speaking about holiday memories, including a woman who had lost her son close to Christmas, and she used the holiday spirit to help her grieve and move forward again.

The only criticism of the night would be at times the live orchestra seemed to overpower his voice. But that could have also been due to the fact that Aiken admitted he was battling the flu so perhaps his vocals weren’t at full power.

It was fun going through the pictures from WPB!

And –  a great You Tube from the concert!

This is so much fun…but a bit sad too.  I am missing Clay.

It just isn’t Christmas without seeing and hearing Clay sing a beautiful holiday song!

Thank goodness for lots of Clack!

Did you attend one of the concerts in the Joyful Noise 2012 Tour?