Music
Kelly Clarkson and The Fray go big at the Molson Amphitheatre
Kelly Clarkson and The Fray made their one and only Canadian stop on their 2012 Summer Tour last night at the Molson Canadian Amphitheatre: co-headlining the concert, the artists played a double bill's worth of hit songs, which left the audience happily satisfied.
First up was The Fray. Promoting their third studio album, Scars & Stories, the Colorado-based band humbly took to the stage with a set of old favourites peppered with their latest songs. Although some say The Fray's music risks mid-tempo and mid-volume mediocrity, when taken out from behind the scenes of shows like One Tree Hill and Grey's Anatomy, they pack an instrumental and lyrical punch during their live performances.
Lead singer Isaac Slade's melodic voice carried the set through lyrics both melancholy and uplifting. During "Happiness," he made his way off of the stage and joined the crowd in the 300-level section where a piano sat waiting.
After a solo rendition of "Be Still", Slade made his way back to the stage and finished the set off with back-to-back hits "How to Save a Life" and "Over My Head (Cable Car)", once again running through the audience, further ramping them up for Kelly Clarkson.
It's been a few years since American Idol alum Kelly Clarkson performed on a Toronto stage, and her arrival was much anticipated by the thousands of fans who attended last night's show, during which she promoted her newest studio album Stronger. Dubbed by Esquire as "the best voice in the history of pop music," Clarkson relies on her vocal talent and big-hearted lyrics to maintain relevancy in the modern pop game.
After performing her latest single "Dark Side," she covered fun.'s "We Are Young", which showcased both her range and bear-perfect pitch.
Like her co-headliner Isaac Slade, Clarkson took to the crowd with backup singers in tow. The fans who bought lawn tickets definitely got their money's worth and more as Clarkson stood within feet of them as she serenaded them with Already Gone.
Slade joined Clarkson on the stage and they performed Don't You Wanna Stay together, after which Clarkson took an audience request and covered Michael Bublé's Home. The encore brought even more crowd elation, with Clarkson playing more of her dance-inducing hits like Miss Independent and Mr. Know It All.
All in all, the big names made good on their reputations.
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I think the only complaint I had about the show, even though it was a double-headliner show, was that the openening act performed LONGER than the headliner. 73 minutes (for The Fray who have only 3 albums to their name) versus 65 minutes for Kelly Clarkson (who has 5 albums to her name). When an encore break (read: wardrobe change) comes at just over 45 minutes into a performance, you know you're in trouble.
The pics don't lie. Nor does her weight fluctuation over the years.
Shes hefty. This isn't rocket science.
I thought this blog was about local, alternative, creative, artistic culture...Not the manufactured, cookie-cutter, American Idol artists that are the furthest thing from "real music".
Are you blind, either your extremely shallow or just an idiot that's all i have to say about your, lack for a better words, "comments" so unnecessary! Grow up
P.S. - 'real music' is subjective - an elusive concept that society will never agree on. Since when is music not 'real' if someone else writes it/advises you to record it?!? I don't think an artist 'feels' music any less when someone else writes it for them. To the contrary, it's amazing when an artist can take someone else's lyrics (a.k.a that songwriter's thoughts and feelings and beliefs) and interpret the lyrics in such a way that makes the songwriter say "THAT's what I envisioned/heard when I wrote that song."
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Stir the pot!!
You're forced to listen to it every that stupid ford commercial comes on.
It's not just about the fact that she doesn't write her own music, it's also about the fact that it just plain sucks...
Like most pop music....Case in point:
http://www.funnywallphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/music-what-happened.jpg
Don't pity me, I'm glad to be a ding-a-ling, [a ding-a-ling], (ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling).
( ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling).
Ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, (ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling).
Ha ha ha, that's silly.(ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling).
Kelly clarkson writes plenty of her music; she has a terrific voice. You sound EXACTLY like parents did 50 years ago about rock and popular music. And to be clear: no one is saying Kelly Clarkson is like Elvis or Ella or Aretha. But YOU said "Without a doubt, music is more "real" when it's a creative expression of the artist himself/herself, with the purest expression being an artist who writes his/her own lyrics and music." and THEN YOU REFERENCE A FRANK SINATRA SONG THAT HE NEVER WROTE. Aretha and Elvis are often referred to as the best ever singers in popular music, and neither of them really wrote much of anything.
Aretha Franklin is a better singer than Kelly Clarkson. But Kelly Clarkson writes more of her own songs than Aretha ever did. And the songs Aretha is best known for weren't written by her at all. So by your logic, Kelly Clarkson makes better music than Aretha Franklin. Sorry, you don't make any sense.