One of the traditions of summer in New York is the summer concerts that are sponsored by the morning news shows.  Both the Today Show and Good Morning America ask oustanding artists to be a part of their popular concert series.  The crowds are huge and the artists have the opportunity to perform both a live audience and a built- in TV audience.

Clay Aiken has participated in many of the Summer Concerts.  I think my favorite was on July 29th, 2005.  As part of the Summer Concert Series sponsored by Good Morning America, the concert was held in Bryant Park.  The crowd was very excited and huge!!  The night before, Clay had opened the JukeBox Tour in Tom’s River, New Jersey.  He claimed to have only about 2 hours of sleep before the his appearance at Bryant Park.

Clay performed three songs on the program; Invisible, Suspicious Minds, and Back For More.  The fans who were there in person said that he also sang Twisting The Night Away in the warm-up….and Clay actually did the TWIST!!  During the show, when Clay sang Invisible, the audience sang along.  It really looked like Clay enjoyed it and he smiled a lot!!

Besides the concert, Clay was interviewed by Diane Sawyer.  They talked about Clay trips for UNICEF and his move back to Raleigh. Diane asked, “What do you know about do-wop, anyway?” Answer: “Not much, but it’s good stuff.”

Clay had a lot of fun with the audience.   Someone in the audience asked about Clay’s shoe..”We want to see your shoe.” So…Clay took off his shoe and showed it to the audience.

The following review was posted at the ABC Website:

Aiken’s loyal fans got a real treat this morning when he debuted a new song called “Coming Back for More” and performed Elvis Presley’s “Suspicious Minds” at New York City’s Bryant Park as part of “Good Morning America’s” Summer Concert Series.

The 26-year-old began his Jukebox Summer Tour 2005 on Thursday in Tom’s River, N.J. Aiken will visit 25 cities and sing covers of more than 70 songs from five decades of rock ‘n’ roll on the tour, his fifth in the past two years. The tour will finish Sept. 1.

In addition to performing, his work as a UNICEF ambassador has been keeping him busy.

“It’s the closest thing I can do now to being in a classroom and teaching,” said Aiken, who studied special education at UNC-Charlotte. He recently returned from northern Uganda, where he visited “night commuters” — children who must leave their homes in the countryside every night to sleep in UNICEF shelters to avoid being abducted by a rebel group. In March, Aiken visited children living in camps for tsunami survivors in Aceh, Indonesia.

Aiken said he has decided to leave Los Angeles and return to his hometown of Raleigh, N.C. “I like L.A., I like California, but there’s a different energy there,” he said.

In June 2003, Aiken made history when his debut single, “This is the Night” went to No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, selling more than 392,000 copies in its first week and beating Elton John’s 1997 record for “Candle in the Wind.” In October 2003, he released his first album, “Measure of a Man.” His second, “Merry Christmas with Love,” came out last November.

Despite his success in the music industry, Aiken hasn’t forgotten his first passion: helping children with disabilities. Shortly after “American Idol” ended, he created the Bubel/Aiken Foundation, named after an autistic boy he took care of while he was at UNC-Charlotte. The foundation provides grants, services and inclusive programs for children with special needs and their typical peers.

Do you think we will see Clay perform on a Summer Concert Series again?  Did any of you get to see any of the concerts live?  Be sure and check out the great video that is at the bottom of this post.  what agreat performance!!