First of all, I have to say that I missed all of you guys. Too many of you were in floor seats, while I was up in the back of section 204, which nevertheless was a pretty good seat. If Kelly ever plays a smaller venue or Madison Square Garden where we can schedule a pre-concert meet, that would be great. It is very difficult to do that at Nassau Coliseum, especially on a weeknight after work. Why am I titling this a "Brutally Honest" review? Because I am going to say some things that a few people will disagree with -- but don't worry, it's OK! Let's put it this way -- I'm going to give major props to Clay Aiken, because he really outdid himself tonight. Of course Kelly did too, but in a different way, which I will get to. Let's start with the CROWD: It was a nice mix of young and old, more young then old, many parents and kids, but some older couples too who enjoy good singing. Nassau Coliseum appeared to be virtually sold out -- the sections behind the stage were obviously not sold because of the sight lines, so maybe 100-200 seats went unsold. The crowd went wild for Kelly much of the time, but this was much more of a Clay crowd -- they were TOTALLY INSANE (Clown Posse) for Clay. OPENING ACT -- BEU SISTERS: Except for one song which was in a movie whose name escapes me, they were pretty bad. My wife used Simon Cowell's word, "Painful." Kelly and Clay really don't need an opening act, especially this one. Pure filler. KELLY CLARKSON AND CLAY AIKEN: Clay was the headliner at Nassau Coliseum, so Kelly went first. Now let me start by saying that one of my favorite things to do here on the Express is to tell jokes, and I really enjoy writing my allegedly funny recaps of American Idol 3. But tonight, there won't be many jokes. Why? Because I saw this little dynamo tonight do almost everything you could ask musically from a singer, and then some. I may not say it much, but some of the things Kelly Clarkson did tonight seriously reaffirmed my love for Kelly as a singer and a musician. She has such power in her voice, yet when she tones it down, she has such beauty in her voice. And she is learning guitar well. Kelly did most of her set wearing a baseball shirt with a little "K" logo that looked like a Superman patch. Her hair was mainly dirty blond, and she wore a ton of what looked like copper-colored eye shadow, possibly with some glitter. She was wearing ripped jeans, and Jumbo will have lots of bootay action to drool over. The set opened nicely, with snippets of a track of Kelly singing "Miss Independent" backed by about a 1-minute light show. The sound system at the Coliseum was good, but you could actually feel the reverb from the bass. Out of the three major arenas in the New York City area, the Continental Airlines Arena in New Jersey has by far the best sound system. The stage looked pretty small, and there was about a 10-foot extension of the stage into the first few rows of the audience. I would not call it a "catwalk" like Garth Brooks used to have at his concerts. Clay's stage setup, in my opinion, was better than Kelly's. Then the house lights went up, and there was Kelly with acoustic guitar in hand, singing her Nashville-like rendition of "Low." Normally, I don't like this arrangement, but she really converted me on it. Now I don't remember the order of her songs, so I will describe the songs as best as I remember them: "What's Up Lonely" and "Some Kind of Miracle" -- she sung them beautifully, but I think these two songs, frankly, for some reason, didn't translate that well to the arena last night. And I'm not a fan of that "Bounce" song from FJTK, but the crowd was lovin' it. It was about this time that my wife said she was bored and cold, and my wife, who is not the world's biggest fan of Kelly, is a good barometer. Kelly got to her later, though. I liked the way she did a sit-down version of "Thankful", but I think the crowd was scratching its head a little at the slide show, wondering "who are those people". We, of course know who they are, but we're slightly nuts (not nearly as nuts as the Claymaniacs, however). I'll discuss this more later, but Kelly is so much the musician and singer, and puts so much heart and concentration into it, that I think she forgot that she might have been better off making a costume change before doing an incredible job singing "Stuff Like That There." (Sounded just like American Idol or better, even though it's been well over a year since she sang it). I realize that they want the kids to get home early, but putting on the appropriate costume instead of singing SLTT in a baseball shirt would have been better, showmanship-wise. Kelly did a great job with "Anytime", even if she didn't sing the whole song, and I think it would have been better if she sang the beginning of the song just with the piano. Now that I've got that out the way, let's see. She was just wonderful on "Just Missed The Train", where she played electric guitar. Mind you, I was watching her hands, and Kelly was not playing Lead Guitar on either "Low" or "Just Missed The Train", she was pretty much playing simple chords. It's going to take years of practice for Kelly to be really nimble with the ax, a la Hendrix. Still, everyone has to appreciate Kelly's guitar playing, and I think she was supplying the rhythm very well on "Just Missed The Train." Kelly morphed into Gloria Gaynor and Alicia Bridges doing the dance version of "The Trouble With Love Is." And the vocal changeup on it was great. Kelly is so versatile that she could easily walk into a dance club and do a full set of classic disco tunes and have everyone going crazy. She could probably then go to a grunge club and front a rock band, and then fly to Nashville and do a country set. And in that vein, she sang the Reba McEntire song as well as Reba, maybe better. "Timeless" with the backup singer Jacob was excellent -- if that song had sounded like THAT in the movie, it would have done better box office. While I wish Kelly had sung more of "You Thought Wrong" instead of the backup singers, she did a wonderful job with it. Nice costume change, and she couldn't have been cuter when she kicked off her shoes afterward. "A Moment Like This" got the tears flowing from my wife. She sang this in a lower key than on the CD, and didn't go for the histrionics. This made her performance all the more haunting, and I really appreciated her not taxing her voice in going all-out on this. What can I say about her singing of "Beautiful Disaster" with just the piano? The tears are flowing as I write this, she was so good. No critic can hear her sing this song without telling me that Kelly Clarkson is one of the great singers of this decade. It was a brilliant, moving performance. It far surpassed, say, Amy Lee singing "My Immortal" on Letterman, as an example. Whoever has not seen this concert yet is just going to go insane from "Beautiful Disaster." Add to that that she is so in her zone when singing this. Her heart is aching from this beautiful fictitious man she is singing about, who she still loves, and her emotion is written on her face. The band and Kelly blended well in her final number, a rousing version of "Miss Independent", which he has down like clockwork. She sure knows how to rock it. As good as BD was, her best performance by far was at the end of the concert, singing the "Open Arms" duet with Clay. Kelly really was the lead singer on this, and I was really moved. Out walks this drop-dead gorgeous woman in a black dress, and then she opens her mouth and 16,000 mouths hit the floor. To say her rendition of this song was awesome doesn't do it justice. And she far outpaced Clay's singing on this song. Now, here's my mini-review of Clay and my unsolicited advice: My main critique and advice for Kelly is that her set needed a little more pizzazz at times. This may be our fault a little because we have so emphasized her brilliant singing and musicianship over stage elements, design and choreography. But the one thing Kelly might not be ready for now is doing a Celine Dion-type Vegas show. You see, Clay Aiken is a pure performer, he is not a songwriter or a musician, and his overall performance was very, very entertaining. His performing skills have improved exponentially over the past year, and if he keeps this up, Clay will have a very long career as a singer. His songs, which are horribly bland on his CD, are nevertheless easy to sing along with, and somehow translate well to the arena, especially when souped up by the hard-rocking band. I dare say that if Clay's album sounded like it did at Nassau tonight, it would have sold many more copies. In other words, while Kelly is a better singer than Clay, Clay definitely has the chops, and his show was more electrifying and exciting than Kelly's, overall. Disagree if you want to, it's just one opinion of one concert. The lighting, stage and backgrounds for Clay were extremely well set up and choreographed. Clay's dancing might not be great, but it does the job in enhancing his very good singing. His interaction with the backup singers was superb. While Kelly, the straight singer, was on the stage singing when the lights went up starting her set, Clay came out in the middle of the arena with an entourage, like he was Rocky Balboa fighting Apollo Creed. Clay went into the audience and sang. He told jokes and talked a lot more than Kelly. He talked to a girl on a cell phone, which was hilarious. Of course, Kelly had a great comment when she came out with her "Clay Rocks" t-shirt, saying that she made it herself. However, Kelly tends to repeat the same hand gestures over and over again. Of course, I would be perfectly happy with Kelly standing by a mike and singing with a guitar, a la Roseanne Cash. But it might be nice if Kelly took a real chance as the "Crowd-Surfing Anti-Diva"; I'd love to see her do something like sing "Miss Independent" while body surfing in the audience. Hell, at least Jumbo could get a real bootay grab. If I were Kelly, I'd get as many Joan Jett, Stevie Nicks, and Bruce Springsteen records and concert videos as I could find -- because she is going to need higher octane material which at the same time needs to be easier to sing along too. The songs on "Thankful" were clearly written for Kelly's incredible voice, with difficult arrangements. I found myself easily singing along with Clay, but I can't touch the Kelly's songs. An audience might get restless if Kelly is going to sing tripe like Diane Warren's SKOM (which sounds great on TV, however), which most people cannot sing in the shower because of the power it needs. Kelly also doesn't have to introduce "this next song" before each song -- most singers don't do that for every song at concerts. Kelly needs to do more than say "Woohoo" and "I Love You". Of course, Clay is 25 and Kelly is 21, so he has more life experience. She needs to joke with her audience more. She needs to talk about the message of her songs more. It's tough to do when you are so focused on the singing, but she is going to have to strike a balance. Still Kelly is such a fantastic singer that these are small quibbles. I heard Christina Aguilera at the Grammys, and Kelly singing "Beautiful Disaster" and Open Arms" in concert puts Christina to shame. Clay also had awesome acoustic set, well choreographed with the band and backup singers, where he did "Measure of A Man", a song by Sting whose name escapes me, Leo Sayer's "When I Need You", and James Taylor's "Carolina On My Mind." And I liked Clay's singing better with his sore throat -- it added a slight hard edge that usually isn't there. So there it is. I highly recommend this concert to anyone who loves music. And I really hope Kelly does a summer tour and plays the Jones Beach Theater solo, so that we can all be together for real this time and because I think Kelly would bring the house down completely at that venue. I wrote it up this way because these were my impressions. I want Kelly to have a great career, which is why I gave the unsolicited, amateur advice.
Clay's slow yet powerful set with it conversations, phone calls, teddy bears, winks, and yes panties! left the crowd feeling complete and satisfied. Kelly was a nice dinner, but Clay was a three course meal.
I didn't write the review. I copied it from Kelly Clarkson Express
