Clay and Kelly, a study in contrasts

By: PAM KRAGEN - Staff Writer | Wednesday, March 31, 2004 12:47 PM PST ∞

SAN DIEGO ---- Perhaps it was fitting that Clay Aiken and Kelly Clarkson performed for a near-capacity crowd at Cox Arena on Tuesday, the same night Fox TV aired its latest installment of "American Idol."

Clay and Kelly got their start in the top-rated televised vocal competition, and the presence of so many fans (a mostly-white family audience, ranging in age from 8 to 80) proved that Clarkson (contest winner in Season 1) and Aiken (first runner-up in Season 2) remain a hit with fans, even as a new round of "Idol" contestants vie for the next slice of pop fame.

Their uneven concert sets, though, proved that "Idol" fame can be fickle when it's toyed with. Aiken's hourlong opening set was a smash with the audience, while Clarkson's follow-up left many concertgoers cold, with dozens streaming for the exits well before she wrapped up her one-hour program.

Why? It's not her singing. Clarkson is probably a better-trained vocalist than Aiken, but her physical appearance and the ear-splitting, generic rock concert set she delivered was so far removed from what "Idol" fans expect, that only her diehard fans were moved to stand and sway.

As "Idol" fans know, the TV show is all about the singing. The contestants perform live, without the benefit of studio tricks or backup singers (a set-up that would easily scrap the careers of many of today's top pop stars). Clarkson, Aiken and second season winner Ruben Studdard triumphed because they've got the goods and don't need fancy echo machines, digitizers or retakes to correct vocal flaws.

So the flaws apparent Tuesday were in style, not vocals. Aiken's intimate, personable dozen-song set was delivered in a simple, bare-bones way to his adoring audience. While Clarkson's concert buried her fine voice under layers of loud rock music, reverb, shouting backup singers and cheesy stage props. It was hard to hear and see Kelly under all that noise.

Adding to the contrast were their appearances, beamed with unforgiving video clarity from giant video screens on either side of the stage. The tousle-haired, freckled Aiken ---- dressed in a conservative midnight blue pinstripe Oxford shirt, tie and his ever-present "W.W.J.D." ("What Would Jesus Do") bracelet ---- looked like a matinee idol with his flawless pale skin, bright green eyes, pearly smile and no makeup. The once-wholesome-looking Clarkson had a funky rock chick vibe going on, with heavily applied dark makeup, tattoos, nose stud, tight black tank top with bra straps askew, torn jeans, bare feet and a few more pounds than "Idol" fans may remember.

Aiken entered the arena through the audience and continually conversed with fans, accepted love tokens, grabbed a raised cell phone from the crowd to chat with a stunned lady on the line in Louisiana, and entertained a marriage proposal from an 11-year-old girl in the audience ("Is that legal in California?"). His folksy, self-deprecating, geeky demeanor was the same engaging presence that has won him millions of fans (if not the official "Idol" title).

His set featured 10 songs from his debut album "Measure of a Man" (which recently went triple-platinum, nearly more than Clarkson and Studdard combined) which were delivered ably if not spectacularly in most cases. What worked the best, not surprisingly, were the quiet, unaccompanied solos of "Measure of a Man" and Sting's "Fields of Gold," along with an exceptional a capella rendition of Prince's "When Doves Cry" that brought down the house. He sang with power, near-perfect pitch and big closer notes throughout and his voice retains its bell-like clarity.

Clarkson, who often accompanied herself on guitar and sang with soulful beauty, talked about her Monday visit to Sea World and accented her performance of "Thankful" with slides of her friends, but the connection to the audience wasn't quite there. She too sang most of the songs from her album, "Thankful," including a much-improved acoustic version of "Beautiful Disaster" and a funky version of "Trouble With Love Is." The crowd roared for her hit song "Miss Independent" but the level of applause seemed to decline in direct comparison to the rising volume of her onstage band and backup singers.

The Aiken/Clarkson concert series is labeled "The Independent Tour," a nod both to Clarkson's hit song but also apparently to the duo's efforts to distance themselves from "American Idol." Neither of them sang any of the cover ballads they re-popularized on the TV program, disappointing many Aiken fans hoping who shouted frequently for "Solitaire" and "Bridge Over Troubled Waters."

Yet while Aiken openly embraced his connection to the TV show with frequent references to his fellow contestants and his auditions, Clarkson seems determined to prove she's nothing like the corn-fed, curly-haired sweetheart TV fans remember. That may work for her in the long run, but it disappointed some fans in the audience Tuesday.

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