Kelly Clarkson Kicks Off Las Vegas Residency

Kelly Clarkson finally kicked off her Las Vegas residency on Friday night, in an evening that was more than three years in the making.

“I haven’t done a show, I feel like, in 9,000 years,” the singer, 41, said before a sold-out crowd at Planet Hollywood’s Bakkt Theater.

Clarkson’s residency show — named Chemistry in conjunction with her latest album — was actually set to begin in 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic had other ideas.

Throughout the 95-minute show, the songstress flawlessly went through her vast catalog of songs, including “Because Of You,” “Since U Been Gone” and “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You).”

She also paid homage to her eponymous talk show through a Kellyoke session, where she sings someone else’s song. In this case, it was Harry Styles’ “As It Was.”

“We’re gonna go a little Kellyoke every night,” Clarkson said prior to Styles’ song. “We were supposed to sing this actually on The Kelly Clarkson Show, and then all the strikes happened and nobody has a job now, so we didn’t get to perform it on the show.”

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For the most part, Clarkson’s show went off without a hitch, of course, until the environment changed on her.

“Is it hard to breathe? Are we singing in a spa?” the affable talk show host joked about the room that was filled with nearly 7,000 fans. “I was afraid it was gonna be dry. Instead, we’re singing in the Amazon. I can’t breathe.” 

During the intimate concert event, Clarkson refrained from pyro that often comes with Vegas shows, and also eschewed from costume changes or over-the-top graphics.

The three-time Grammy winner even walked through the crowd during “Breakaway,” which gave some fans an up-close-and-personal view.

Clarkson talked about divorce, her upcoming move to New York City and her children often during her set, at one point indicating that daughter River Rose, 9, and son Remington “Remy” Alexander, 7, are impressed with “Broken & Beautiful,” her song for the UglyDolls movie.

“It’s like the one impressive thing for my kids,” she said. 

Clarkson is slated to perform 10 shows in Las Vegas, and she previously promised that all of them will be different. 

“There’s a lot of songs, and it’s going to be different every night. We’re trying to make it special for everybody,” she said in an Instagram video during a break from rehearsals. “We’re hitting all the new songs from the album in there somewhere. We’re hitting the ones you want to hear, and if we’re not, then you’re just being demanding because we’re singing a lot of songs.”

Chemistry will run on various dates through Aug. 19.