Hammersmith Apollo
Thursday 23rd February 2006
reviewed by Cars
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Since Kelly has reinvented herself as a bit of a rock chick I was disheartened to see so many Chavs at the gig. It was white puffer jacket city in there. If it wasn't a Chav it was a teenager screaming like they were at a McFly concert.
No matter I thought, Kelly will educate the Chavs with her wonderful voice...& she did (when I could hear her over the hysterical teeny boppers).
The gig did start off a bit shakey when a woman arrived onstage to announce Kelly had "chosen tonight" as the night to film for her video for future single Breakaway. We were told she'd come on, sing it twice & they would film us & her from different angles. So not the big bang of a show opener I woulda liked but look out for the 2 non Chavs getting poked in the eyes with glow sticks by Shazza & Tracy up in the stalls!
Things did pick up dramtically from there though with the rocking Walk Away, followed by debut single Miss Independent. Thankfully that was only one of three songs she played from her debut album which was (rushed) released after her American Idol win. Another being the bearable The Trouble With Love Is. She did describe said album as eclectic which I can only assume means crap in America!
Her voice is amazing as proved during the 3rd song she did from Thankful - Beautiful Disaster which she performed a capella.
Another example was when she sang Annie Lennox's Why. Since hardly anybody knew the words it gave us a good chance to hear her properly. Very impressive. Even more impressive was that she told us Annie Lennox was "from this neck of the woods". So next time I'm in Hammersmith I shall pop around the corner to Scotland.
The stuff from the second album Breakaway was what we all really wanted though & she didn't let us down playing the whole album give or take a couple of tracks.
Song wise highlights were Behind These Hazel Eyes, Because Of You, Addicted, Miss independent, I Hate Myself For Losing You, new track Come Here (very rocking!) & of course the fantastic show finale Since U Been Gone(which incredibly actually sounds even better live).
Personal highlights for us though were how American she sounded (everything was awesome y'all). Also, how utterly hilarious it was when she randomly appeared onstage during Behind These Hazel Eyes wearing what resembled a meringue wedding dress. I was sure she was going to lift it up to reveal a toilet roll underneath. To be fair she wore it because that was what she wore in the video for that song. Still made us chuckle though (me more so since I was still laughing well into the next song. Maybe it was the mixture of coffee & glowsticks?!)
She played for an hour & 15 minutes which was a little short but rather that than her kill time with lesser quality tracks.
I think the next time she plays the UK it will be arenas she's filling, with that voice, that stage prescence & this better direction with music she will be huge!
7 out of 10
(2 off for the crowd, 1 off for the meringue!)
Setlist:
Breakaway (twice!)
Walk Away
Miss Independent
I Hate Myself For Losing You
Low
The Trouble With Love Is
Addicted
Because Of You
Why
Crimson & Clover
Gone
Come Here
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Behind These Hazel Eyes
Beautiful Disaster
Hear Me
Since U Been Gone
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