Clay Aiken's "Tried & True Tour" in Sarasota, Florida

After 8 years of being a major fan girl of Clay Aiken, on Saturday, February 12^th, I saw Clay Aiken in Concert in Sarasota, Florida at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall for his "Tried and True tour." Seeing him perform live in concert is a totally different experience than watching him on TV or in a youtube video online. You can try and capture the "live performance" quality all you want but when it comes to live performance, it is always one of those things where "you had to be there" to get the full experience.

I went to the concert not expecting it to be very good at all because with all the technology available today, you never know how much of his talent was generated by audio equipment over the years but to my surprise as the lights went out, he started to sing and the curtain came up, I was simply amazed with his talent as the crowd gave a standing ovation even before Aiken finished the first line of the song.

Seven years after launching his career journey on American Idol Aiken never sounded more at home on this album (and live in concert) than he does singing the lushly arranged classics on his (fifth) studio album Tried and True. Aiken has said time and time again that this album is about getting back to himself after his career performing more pop-oriented music. Tried and True really shows off Aiken's powerfully beautiful tenor voice and interprets the music perfectly. This album is mainly compiled of music from the '50s and '60s, which Aiken says that he grew up listening to it as a child in Raleigh, North Carolina. Attending his concert, you can see Aiken's joy in presenting this music through his vocal delivery and also his body language really shows his connection to the music.

Opening the tour in Miami, Florida last Thursday (February 10^th, 2011) at the Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, he will be touring throughout the country until March 12^th. If you click here, you can see a full schedule of tour date.

The tried and True concert is worth seeing; you will get countless laughs and hear amazing and timeless love songs. You will hear a surprise song, picked by the band right before every concert, hear Aiken TALK the entire song with full blast auto-tune on while proving the point that you really do not need to be able to sing in order to be an "artist" as well as several personal stories. The concert is very intimate and laid back. Even at in a venue with 2,000 seats and sold out, you feel as if it is very personable and close. Aiken always makes fun of himself if he happens to screw up. He freely admits that he mixes up and/or forgets words at some point in the performance. In his concert at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall in Sarasota, Florida, he recognized a woman that had been to the Miami and Orlando concerts in the front row and was joking with her saying "I'm looking to you for approval and to see if I'm singing the right words."

You are going to have an incredible evening if you go see this concert but get your tickets fast because there are only 3 weeks left in the tour! For more information click here.