The Timeless Tour made a stop in Windsor, Ontario on August 5th. The concert was held at Caesars Windsor. This beautiful facility is located on Windsor’s riverfront and overlooks the Detroit skyline. The Colosseum at Caesars Windsor is a 5,000 seat venue and according to the box office, the show was almost a sold-out show.
Ted Shaw, from The Windsor Star, was a part of the audience and posted his review only a few hours after the show ended. Mr. Shaw seemed to like most of the show and called it smart and tasteful.
Ex-Idols entertain with smart, tasteful show
By Ted Shaw, The Windsor Star August 6, 2010 2:02 AM
While neither could be called an American idol, Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken showed Thursday at Caesars Windsor’s Colosseum how they won the hearts and votes of millions who watched them compete in 2003.
They were rivals back in the second season of American Idol, when Studdard took top spot and Aiken was right behind. Now they’re singing side-by-side on a 17-city North American tour called Timeless.
Taking a cue from 1960s TV variety shows, the two teased and joked with each other in a well-rehearsed revue that covered four decades of popular music.
Pretending to still hold grudges from the American Idol contest, they opened with hit singles they have each had since the show — Studdard’s Flying Without Wings and Aiken’s This is the Night.
There were winks about Aiken’s coming-out about his homosexuality in a People Magazine interview two years ago. The audience lapped it up. It was close to capacity, about 5,000, and surprisingly an older-than-you’d-expect audience.
But that made some of their musical choices smart and tasteful, particularly in the first half of the show.
Aiken was first out of the blocks with a cover of Elvis Presley’s Suspicious Minds, backed by terrific vocalists, Qiana Parler and Casey Thompson. Parler and Aiken go back to the earliest days of American Idol — they were performing together before signing up for the show in 2002.
Studdard was up next with Bring It On Home to Me, then they went into a 15-song medley of the 1960s, each taking leads. Studdard’s In the Midnight Hour was followed by Aiken’s Up On The Roof.
There were snippets of Motown, too, with the backup singers and Aiken slapping tambourines on their sides.
Clay’s Still The One, the Orleans song, was a little out of place during this segment, but he did a bang-up job of it.
The highlight was Studdard’s moving performances of two Marvin Gaye songs — Mercy Mercy Me and What’s Goin’ On. Three medleys from succeeding decades followed, each less interesting than the last. The ’90s medley near the show’s end was, unfortunately, a real downer.
Studdard and Aiken work seamlessly together — both have musical stage acting in their backgrounds, and it pays off during the banter between songs.
This is a concept that could easily be translated to the small screen — maybe it’s time to revive weekly variety television.
Be sure and click on the Windsor Star site. It is important for Mr. Shaw and the publication to know that we appreciate news about Clay. To visit, click on Windsor Star
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