Photo: Kempin/Getty
In the middle of Kelly Clarkson’s third long, endearing monologue last night, she faced the crowd of 3,000-plus jubilant fans at New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom and became one herself: “That song was ‘Lies’ from Attack & Release if you want to go get it,” she said of the Black Keys cover she had begun as a bruising a cappella. “I really love music — like, all kinds.”
Clarkson is as comfortable stomping her boots to garage-punk like the White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” as she is flexing her drawl on Patsy Cline’s “Walking After Midnight” and bouncing up and down to her own pop masterpieces like “My Life Would Suck Without You.” She did all three with remarkable skill on the third date of her new tour behind All I Ever Wanted, putting her mark on the oft-covered Stripes track with scorching, bluesy runs.
Check out photos of Kelly Clarkson onstage and off.
There were no dancers, no acrobatics, no moving set pieces and no special effects: the stars of Clarkson’s show are her emotive, powerful voice and her down-home charm. She made the rounds back and forth across the stage in front of her sharp 11-piece band, but gravitated to its center, right hand wrapped around the mic and her left resting on her chest as she effortlessly belted uptempos like “All I Ever Wanted” and “If I Can’t Have You” and ballads like “Breakaway” and “Cry.” She clearly required no pyrotechnics: the audience’s adoration of the Texas singer was so palpable, as she sang about being defeated by love again and again you could practically feel the room wonder en masse “Why can’t she just find a good guy?”
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Article Source: Rolling Stone : Rock and Roll Daily