Kelly Clarkson boosted by nostalgia, heroes in Colosseum opening
Kelly Clarkson uses many personal items in her “Studio Sessions” set at the Colosseum. The lamps, wooden shelves and leather-upholstered chairs seem to have been plucked from a vintage shop in the Arts District.
Portraits of Stevie Nicks and Dolly Parton hang from the walls. You are there to see Clarkson, but you get some nostalgia from two of her heroes.
This is where Clarkson can feel at home, perform, even recover as she jumps into her first Caesars Palace residency. The “Studio Sessions” original premiere weekend did not go as planned, in the sense that it did not premiere. Clarkson announced 90 minutes before show time July 4 that she would drop that show and July 5, citing an overworked voice.
In her performance Saturday, the pop star and talk-show favorite didn’t ignore the two canceled shows, characteristically shooting from the hip and speaking from the heart.
“Man. I’m so sorry if some of y’all had tickets to last weekend’s shows. I’m so sorry,” she said late in the show. “We can’t help our bodies sometimes, and that happens. But thank you for showing up.”
By then, Clarkson had shared a few revelations to her adoring, but not totally sold out, audience. She reported that she wore pasties under her blinged-out, Willie Nelson T-shirt. The pasties, and their accompanying discomfort, were an ongoing topic.
Clarkson’s steaming beverage was a hot toddy (likely an on-stage treatment for her voice). She was “(messed)-up” in Friday’s rescheduled opener after a fan delivered her a tequila shot. Her kids were in the crowd and she was happy to embarrass them. She chatted throughout, often profanely, announcing, “My arms are cold! But the rest of my body is so hot!”
Clarkson wore snug, black, bell-bottom jeans with colorful flares. The jeans were so tight, she said, she would be doing “a lot of half-bows.” She said she is a jeans-and T-shirt girl, but likes to get all dolled up once in a while. She rocked green-sequined pantsuit, which she sported for her bounding encore of “Where Have You Been,” cover of Maneskin’s “Beggin’” and “Since U Been Gone.”
Clarkson’s voice sounded terrific, bringing chills as she fairly shouted “Since U Been Gone” while hopping as the crowd followed. Her backing band took the assignment seriously, fully engaged and smiling and nodding at Clarkson as if to reinforce support.
Horn and string sections joined the robust rhythm section, bringing a fierce, unvarnished sound that stood in stark contrast to the show I’d seen Friday, the Backstreet Boys at Sphere.
The unalike productions proved you can achieve a heightened concert experience with a dance show in the grandeur of Sphere, or a fiery live-music show in the beautifully intimate Colosseum.
Clarkson doesn’t care to be lifted 70 feet over the crowd, appear as a face frozen in a mountain or arrive to the production in a rocket ship. The 43-year-old headliner is a singer and a generational talent. She’s a fun hang, a funny conversationalist, and a cool chick. From the wings it seemed Dolly, coming into the venue for six shows in December, smiled the whole way. So did we.
Great vocals, personality, superb band too … @kellyclarkson closes her opening weekend @CaesarsPalace with a flourish … @neonlasvegas pic.twitter.com/nH45govaaM
— John Katsilometes (@johnnykats) July 13, 2025
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.
