Darren Zemanek/The Daily EvergreenGrammy Award winning artist Kelly Clarkson sings during her concert Saturday night at Beasley Coliseum.  Kelly Clarkson, season one winner of American Idol and two-time Grammy winning artist, took the stage at Beasley Coliseum Saturday night on the last leg of her “Stronger” tour with high energy.

Her Saturday show featured songs such as “Since U Been Gone,” “Miss Independent,” Mr. Know It All,” “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You),” and many others.

Clarkson also surprised the audience by singing covers to “Heavy in Your Heart,” by Florence and the Machine, “To Make You Feel My Love” by Bob Dylan, and “I Know You Won’t” by Carrie Underwood.

Clarkson took a moment toward the beginning of the show to talk about how much she loved the Northwest. She said the Northwest is really beautiful, however, she could never live in the Palouse because of all the hills.

“I couldn’t even go to the grocery store,” she said jokingly. “It would kill me.”
Clarkson paid tribute to the Houses of Hope Africa, an organization committed to providing homes for orphaned and abandoned children in Africa, during her song “You Still Won’t Know What It’s Like.”

She said she wrote the song after her experience helping the organization in South Africa. Helping others, she said, is an important thing to do as her family relied on donations from local churches for clothing and food when she was younger.

“When anybody needs a helping hand, put your pride aside,” she said.

Carolina Liar, an American alternative rock band, opened for Clarkson.

The band’s lead vocalist, Chad Wolf, said they have done two shows with Clarkson so far. He got the crowd excited in their two final songs of the night, “I’m Not Over” and “Show Me What I’m Looking For” where the crowd clapped and sang along.

Leo Udy, director of Beasley Coliseum, said by Thursday night more than 6,500 of about 6,800 tickets were sold for the concert and that leading up to the concert, the response seemed overwhelmingly
positive.

Tessa Rawie, a senior communication major, and her mom, Peg Houden, said they both thought the concert was really great.

“I love all her songs,” Rawie said. “I thought she was really funny.”

Teresa Kaelin, mother of freshman communications major Kohl Kaelin said her favorite part of the night was when Clarkson sang the stripped down version of her song “Never Again.”

“That girl sure can sing,” she said. “It was absolutely amazing. She has so much energy.”