Kelly Clarkson @ Orpheum Theatre [Apr. 22, 2005 - 7:30pm]
Last Friday, April 22, 2005, Jason, Lilla and I ventured to Orpheum Theatre to witness Kelly Clarkson rock the house with her Breakaway Tour. With our 15th row [!] [thnx. Mike!] tickets, we were able to get the best out of the show. After the [pretty good] Graham Colton Band finished their set, around 8:30ish, the lights went out, and Kelly walked on stage. After [a lot] of screaming, the first note of Since You've Been Gone began to play, and everyone went crazy. She belted the hell out of the song and hearing [and seeing] that song being performed live is quite a sight. Kelly has a voice so powerful that the speakers in the theater were almost unable to handle it. She is that good. Once she sang the last verse of SYBG, the lights went out, and right then and there, I could have died a happy man.
But I survived as she followed up that spectacular opening with Walk Away, Gone, Low, and Just Missed the Train. Of course she was excellent with all these, but I didn't really know the last too so I was just hopping along. She then moved to her 'acoustic' set, where she sang What's Up Lonely, Thankful, and The Trouble with Love. My fav. of these was the last one. I enjoyed Love, Actually but really loved this song, and she sang it just right. Then she decided to sing a new song that she had recently written. It's called Don't and it was a really good song. You know when you hear a song for the first time and you immediately like it? This song was that good.
After the acoustic set came the Covers set. She did covers of Take a Little Piece of my Heart, which was risky after Melissa Etheridge and Joss Stone did it at the Grammys, but she rocked out to it just fine. Then she covered I'm The Only One and The Thrill Is Gone, which I didn't know at all. Once she was done, two violinists came out to help her with her rendition of Annie Lennox [and the Eurythmics] Sweet Dreams, which was awesome. He rocked it out a bit more than the original version, which was ok.
Then the violinists stayed on stage for one of the BEST moments of the night. Kelly Clarkson sang [an almost acapella] version of the slow Beautiful Disaster. This was possibly one of my favorite moments of the night because she sang it with just the violins accompanying here, an her voice was so clear and haunting to a point. During some moments there was complete silence from the audience just because people were in awe of her. Truly a beautiful song, and a great rendition. With this song she began a truly unstoppable block of amazing performances. She followed up with Addicted [possibly the most aurally amazing moment of the night, vocally and musically], Because of You [she cried!], Where is Your Heart?, and Behind These Hazel Eyes.
She finished the show with Miss Independent [she forgot the words], A Moment like This [rock version, and weakest part of the show], and then Breakaway, which was sung mostly by the audience as she sang in a few parts. Then she said her goodbyes, introduced her band, and Walked Away.
Overall it was an amazing concert. Kelly Clarkson knows how to work the crowd without being cold. She is unique, loves to rock out, and has an insanely powerful voice. She is also super cute, making fun of herself, her accent [Southern gal!], the fuzz in front of her, her stage, and the fact that she forgot words to her own song. I'd def. pay good money to see her again...if anything to hear Since You've Been Gone live one more time! ;-)
