On Sunday, Aug. 23, 2015 the “Piece by Piece” tour made their stop at the Shoreline Amphitheatre and set the bar for future pop concerts.
As people slowly filled the seats, the opening act, Abi Ann, started singing her own music like “Future Ex-Boyfriend” as well as covers of songs like Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off.”
Eric Hutchinson was the second act to come on. He performed several lighthearted songs and had some audience interaction when he sang a song while walking through the aisles of seats.
Pentatonix performed afterward, and were the most anticipated act for some of the audience.
“I was looking forward to seeing Pentatonix the most because they have been an idol of mine ever since I saw them on ‘The Sing-Off’,” said junior Dana Wai.
The a cappella group performed some of their more famous songs including their newest cover of the song “Cheerleader.” They also performed a teaser from their next album, an original song titled “Can’t Sleep Love.”
Pentatonix also included an audience participation aspect in their song “On My Way Home,” in which they led a quick tutorial and encouraged the crowd to sing parts of the chorus with them.
“One of my favorite songs of the concert was ‘On My Way Home.’ I loved the crowd involvement,” said junior Chaelyn Arrastia.
After Pentatonix, the headliner of the concert came onstage: Kelly Clarkson.
Immediately after entering the stage, she was able to work the crowd and deliver a performance that had the entire audience on their feet, screaming and dancing to the music.
Clarkson’s set featured a segment called “Open Mic Night.” People who live in areas near the sites of her tour concerts have the chance to sing onstage in front of thousands of people. All they have to do to enter is submit a video by posting it online and filling out a form.
The winner for the Mountain View tour stop was Kamaria Ousley. Ousley was a contestant in season 12 of American Idol and a graduate from the Berklee College of Music.
For her performance she gave a spectacular performance of a Whitney Houston song.
“Kamaria was incredibly talented and amazing. She killed that Whitney song, which a feat because that song is an extremely hard song to sing well,” said Wai.
Clarkson’s set was a mixture of popular hits and songs from her newest album “Piece by Piece.”
While performing the track that gave the album its name, Clarkson brought the audience to tears with both the lyrics of the song and her unplanned pauses when she became too emotional to sing.
“Another one of my favorite songs from the concert was ‘Piece by Piece.’ It was so emotional and I was moved by the performance,” said Arrastia.
For the one of the final songs of the concert, Clarkson brought Pentatonix back onstage to sing with her on a single from “Piece by Piece,” “Heartbeat Song.” Pentatonix then started her next song, a mash-up of her song “Walk Away” and the popular song “Uptown Funk,” while they exited the stage for the last time.
To end the night, Clarkson performed two of her most popular singles, “Miss Independent” and “Since U Been Gone.”
Overall, the concert was a stellar example of how a pop concert should be executed. All groups delivered memorable performances with passion and excellent musicianship. The next time that these groups tour, it should be fantastic to see how they can top their previous performance.
5/5
