Clarkson - and fans - in strong voice at Tower

If 50,000,000 Elvis fans can't be wrong, what about a sold-out Tower filled with screeching young girls hollering for their Kelly Clarkson?

The American Idol may have gone bleakly bittersweet (you know, in a pop way) with her album My December. But Thursday's kid audience saw sunshine and lollipops.

Me too, mind you. Her voice was flawless, ringing, among modern pop's brightest and most supple. And that was clear from the first note, our version of the Texan charmer (short, blond wavy hair) commencing with the throbbing, electronic "One Minute," with its background vocals zig-zagging through the chipper techno-rock.

Then came the angry guitar tangle of "Don't Waste Your Time," and what she calls her "most bitter song," "Never Again." She dropped an octave through that ominous last one. There were more like-minded tracks to follow. That's good. But you wanted more lower-register stuff from her catalog's mix of grouchy fuzz tones and jangling rhythm guitars, if only because her high, powerful tone and the screams of her audience - ouch! - often seemed to hit the same note.

That's not to say she didn't hit some delicious heights, as with her revved-up raving on "Since U Been Gone" and the slower, more meandering, gospel-styled blues on Patty Griffin's "Up To the Mountain."

Clarkson again showed off her lustrous lower range, with subtlety and grace, on the swaying "Be Still." And on the sultry "Walk Away," she gave Annie Lennox a run for her money - especially when Clarkson chewed through the line "I wanna man by my side / Not a boy who runs and hides." Dag, girl - bring on more bottom.

The crowd gave it up for the opener, Jon McLaughlin, as well. The crooner got the audience to simmer down for his quiet, piano-laced "Indiana," and scream for his prickly Ben Folds-ish pop. Plus, McLaughlin, who looks like Dane Cook, took cell-phone photos with girls sitting in the crowd during Clarkson's set. That's heart.