Kelly Clarkson Shines At Radio City Music Hall

It’s been more than a decade since Kelly Clarkson won American Idol, but at times, it seems like it was just yesterday.

 The singer performed to a sold out crowd at Radio City Music Hall on Thursday and Friday night mixing in new songs with old favorites and debuted a few surprises.

“I am so weird,” Clarkson proclaimed about halfway through. It’s telling because it’s clear she knows her audience, 20-something women who have followed her career since the beginning and identified with her.

After a warm up from a capella group Pentatonix (real life Pitch Perfect), Clarkson took the stage in a killer dress. And then began a straight hour of hit after hit and pure KC bliss. She started the night with “Dance With Me,” a song from her latest album Piece by Piece and followed it up with hit song “My Life Would Suck Without You.” Next came “Catch My Breath” and “Nostalgic” and then “Mr. Know It All,” which she dedicated to “all the guys you know too well.”

Throughout her tour, Clarkson is giving budding singers and songwriters a chance to also shine at her show. And this was no exception as she brought forward a singer whose first time it was performing in front of an audience. He performed Clean Bandit’s “Rather Be” as Clarkson tried her hand at small talk on stage.

Next up was Nick Jonas’ “Jealous,” which she performed so effortlessly, it took a few seconds to realize it wasn’t her song. “I love singing this song and whenever I’m in the car and it comes on, I just can’t help myself,” she told the crowd. Her cover has since gone viral, but it was easy to see why.

It was a few more songs from her latest album after that and then Clarkson became a hit machine belting out “Behind These Hazel Eyes,” “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)” and nostalgic number “The Trouble With Love Is” from the Love, Actually soundtrack.

Pentatonix returned for “Heartbeat Song” and Clarkson ended her set with an awesome rendition of Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk” mixed with her song “Walk Away,” which she invited her stepson to the stage for. Throughout the night Clarkson spoke to the audience as if we were all her best friends. “I got to see an early screening of Ricki and the Flash and it was SO GOOD,” she tells the audience. “Meryl Streep is a badass and can sing so well. I don’t even know what I’m talking about.”

And just when we thought the show was over, her backup singers performed “Bang Bang” and she launched into “Miss Independent” and “Since You Been Gone.” At this point, the crowd was elated, singing along to every word, and remembering where they were the first time they heard the songs roughly 11 years ago.