it was a good break from the monotony of rehearsals, this concert of kelly clarkson‘s at the sheffield hallam fm arena. the opening act was an all-girl trio who called themselves the faders. i suppose they were the female answer to bands like mcfly and busted. they were okay-ish, performance-wise, but i didn’t think much of their songs. in fact, i was struggling very hard not to look like a narcoleptic.

kelly got onstage at 9pm prompt and she rocked. actually. really. even miss independent from her debut, thankful, was a far cry from the poppish tones it exuded in the original recording. she was ably backed by a band which had a pop-rock sound was reminiscent to that of avril lavigne’s. all organic, no electronics!

she did sing exceptionally well. so, nads, i have to say that was one tasty cardboard i had last night! she did a wonderful acapella version of beautiful disaster. the mariah-esque and somewhat bluesy the trouble with love is was simply superb, the high notes all there and none was missed.

she didn’t sing long, much to our dismay, as the gig was just over an hour. she could’ve done a bit more especially with her having two albums under the proverbial belt. she sang two covers, a gorgeous rendition of annie lennox’s why and a cheesy cover of cheap trick’s i want you to want me (which is a cheesy number in the first place – bleurgh!).

kelly dressed in a rather simple fashion that night, saving the wardrobe theatrics for behind these hazel eyes. yeah, she wore a white wedding gown for that ‘un. she played all her hits, most of which from her sophomore effort. because of you was lovely and since u been gone got some of us in a pogo-ing mood (and i got proof). after a very brief intermission, she got back onstage to sing the avril lavigne-penned breakaway as an encore.

and it really got us in the mood for the upcoming week – the already sold-out GIG@sheffield.

Sheffield Arena 9.3.06 set: Walk Away / Miss Independent / I Hate Myself For Losing You / The Trouble With Love Is / Addicted / Because Of You / Why (Annie Lennox cover) /I Want You To Want Me (Cheap Trick cover) / Gone / Come Here / Behind These Hazel Eyes / Beautiful Disaster / Hear Me Play / Since U Been Gone / [Encore] Breakaway

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[some of the images above are clickable.]