As soon as I found out my favorite singer would be stopping at the Cambria County War Memorial on her Stronger Tour, I knew I had to be there. My cousin and I attended the show together because we both love her music and personality so much. The excitement of finally seeing her live after two months of waiting had arrived. We listened to her music for the twenty five minute drive to the show, which only made our anticipation grow more and more. When we arrived we walked into the Cambria County War Memorial, got our tickets scanned, and immediately stood in line for our Stronger Tour 2012 shirts. After about a half hour wait we received our shirts and went to find our seats, which were on the floor. Even though they were towards the back of the arena we lucked out and had aisle seats. As the lights went down the crowd grew very loud for the opening act, Matt Nathanson. I have never listened to more than one of his songs, but seeing him perform live definitely made me a fan. He gave a great forty minute performance, but I knew nothing would compare to what I was about to see when Kelly walked onstage. After his performance was over my eagerness was shooting out of me! I was very much ready to see my favorite singer, Kelly Clarkson, for the first time. Finally, after about a half an hour of waiting the time had come! The lights grew dim; the red spotlight focused on center stage, and behind a sheet that featured the Wall of Hate was my hero, Miss Kelly Brianne Clarkson. She included a twenty song set list, complete with covers of her favorite songs, a fan chosen song, as well as many of her most popular vocal sensations.
The opening song was Dark Side which is off her latest album, Stronger. Recently, the tabloids have found nothing else to bash Kelly for except her fluctuating weight (who cares), her relationship status of single(who cares), and leaked songs(who cares). All of these headlines are completely irrelevant to her musical career; but this is the best the tabloids can do to try and bring her down. The song starts out slowly with her incredible voice singing the first line of the song, “There’s a place that I know it’s not pretty there if you have ever gone.” As the song sped up, the sheet rose and Kelly came marching out fully engrossed in her opening song. It was the perfect way to start a night I know I will never forget.
The next three songs were all off of her sophomore album, Breakaway. The songs were Behind These Hazel Eyes, Since U Been Gone, and Gone, respectively. By no surprise to me every song was remarkably done.
Those three songs were followed up by my favorite song on her fifth studio album, You Love Me. Ironically, the song may be called You Love Me but the song is anything but that. The song features the lyrics, “You just made me cry while claiming that you love me.” The song is about that person who claims their love for you then turns everything around with a “but” at the end. The song was gorgeous in concert with Kelly of course leading the song, while her backup singers kept the pace of the song going with their stunning background vocals.
Those three songs were followed up by my favorite song on her fifth studio album, You Love Me. Ironically, the song may be called You Love Me but the song is anything but that. The song features the lyrics, “You just made me cry while claiming that you love me.” The song is about that person who claims their love for you then turns everything around with a “but” at the end. The song was gorgeous in concert with Kelly of course leading the song, while her backup singers kept the pace of the song going with their stunning background vocals.
Kelly’s next song was a personal favorite of hers, a cover of Florence + the Machine’s song Heavy in Your Arms. The lights went down, the stage was red with a pumping heart on the screen, and Kelly walked through the audience to sing from the side of the arena. She owned the song and truly made it her own with her spectacular voice that can make anybody believe that song she is singing was only meant for her voice. The song is very intense with a heavy bass drum, and Kelly carried the song perfectly. I’m very confident that the original band would have been very pleased to hear this version of their song.
The moment I was waiting for came next, the Fan Request song. Kelly decided to really show the love she has for her fans by letting us choose a song we would like her to sing at the show we would be attending. All the fans had to do was send her a message on Twitter with their chosen song and she would choose what she wanted to sing. The fan requested song for Johnstown, Pennsylvania was her ballad Sober. Although it was not the song I had requested I was thoroughly pleased with this song choice. The song is very slow and invokes such emotion especially when listening to it live. The stage was dark with a white spotlight on Kelly and her beautiful voice sounded faultless with raw emotion behind it. I am thankful for the fan who decided to request this song for a live show because it is my favorite song by her, and I'm glad that I got to hear it at a concert.
Kelly followed up the fan requested song with a four song medley of The Trouble With Love Is/Walk Away/How I Feel/I Want You. These four songs were an ode to her four previous albums. The songs transitioned very nicely together. The final song, I Want You, was a crowd participation song. Kelly split the audience in half using her Southern accent that comes out at the times when she gets the most excited. Each group had a different section to sing while she sang the main chorus. After the entire crowd got a hang of what was going on it sounded so amazing with the crowd and her singing each part perfectly.
The next couple of songs were I Know You Won’t (Carrie Underwood cover), Don’t You Wanna Stay (duet with Jason Aldean who was not there), Let Me Down, I Forgive You, Already Gone, and the song that everyone recognizes her for Breakaway.
She followed up these songs with a touching performance of You Still Won’t Know What It's Like. The song featured Kelly’s amazing vocals with a sheet behind her showing a video of children in Africa who she had helped on her own time. Watching this type of performance definitely makes you think about the way time is wasted and how our lives will never compare to what these children are going through on the daily basis.
The next two songs were major crowd pleasers. The title track from her fifth album and name for her 2012 tour was the next song. Stronger has unbelievable vocals, along with a catchy chorus full of empowering messages. “What doesn’t kill you makes a fighter” is just one of the messages that the song portrays all while being a fun song that can be danced to. (And it does have its own dance too, check out the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn676-fLq7I). My Life Would Suck Without You was the next song and of course a crowd favorite. Everyone sang along at the top of their lungs to this song while jumping in tandem the entire 3 ½ minutes.
Two of the three encore songs were Never Again and Because of You. These songs slowed the concert down just enough before going into the final heart pumping song. Never again, originally rock, was turned into a ballad recently and slowing down the song makes it seem much darker and makes her sound way more pissed off. With just the piano playing in the background the song was beautiful to listen to. Because of You, even though it is very emotional, made the entire crowd sing right along with Kelly. The song was written when she was around sixteen years old, but is still very relatable to anyone who has gone through a divorce or anything that causes trust issues of any kind.
The song, although setting a sad scene, was very much uplifted by the final song of the night which was a mash-up of her songs Mr. Know it All and Miss Independent. The two song medley shifted flawlessly from Mr. Know it All into Miss Independent. With a slight stop in the music Kelly belted out “MISS INDEPENDENT” with her powerful lungs. The songs meshed so beautifully together that it proved to be the perfect way to end her Stronger Tour 2012 concert. After the song was over she of course thanked everyone for coming out, and jogged off the stage. When the concert was over I was emotional. I waited for two months to see her in concert and now in two hours it was all over.
Looking around as the crowd dispersed from the arena, I noticed how many different types of people attended the concert. They were young and old, male and female, families, couples, and friends. Knowing that she has an appeal to every group of people truly makes her a class act. Seeing her live is a remarkable experience, and everyone who sees her will leave there knowing they saw a quality act who sings every song live.
From the moment she stepped onto the stage with her sparkly red microphone beside her lips, her dark outfit that fits her image so perfectly I knew I was going to have an amazing night. She never fails to give an outright amazing performance. Kelly Clarkson is a must see performer who will never disappoint in song choices, or the way the vocals are arranged. The beauty of her voice is truly a gift from God.
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