Hey J-14ers,

One of my fave bands right now is Parachute -- my friends have been Facebooking about them for months, and I listen to "She Is Love" on repeat. Frequently. So I was psyched to check them out last night at NYC's Hammerstein Ballroom! It was Parachute's first show opening for Kelly Clarkson during her All I Ever Wanted Tour, and they rocked the house. If I wasn't obsessed with them before, hearing "She Is Love" live has made me love the band even more. I even got to hang out with the boys after the meet & greet, which is when they made the awesome video above!

The Parachute guys were tired after the big show, but all the boys were so nice and guitarist Nate McFarland was still psyched after the show. "My favorite part of tonight was being able to say, 'Are y'all ready for Kelly Clarkson?" Nate told me. "'Since You Been Gone,' 'I Do Not Hookup,' 'My Life Would Suck Without You,' 'Breakway' -- these are all anthems of my life." Plus Nate and his bandmates, lead singer Will Anderson, drummer Johnny Stubblefield, bassist Alex Hargrave, and saxophonist/keyboard player Kit French all signed an awesome prize just for a lucky J-14 reader -- but you'll have to wait and see what it is in an upcoming issue!

Then Kelly Clarkson came on and she was so good! Can you tell that's my theme for the night? I love music, so seeing someone with a truly natural, amazing voice live is a really cool thing. My jaw even dropped a few times when she hit really high notes! "I really love music," Kelly announced mid-show. "I like all kinds," and she proved it by covering Patsy Cline's "Walkin' After Midnight," The Black Keys' ", Alanis Morissette's
"That I Would Be Good," Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody," and The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army."

But that wasn't her only interaction with the audience -- she talked to her fans between almost every song, and every time she held the mic out for us to sing along with her, she had a huge grin on her face. She was so cute admitting things like how excited she was to do a duet of "Because of You" with Reba McEntire (who was in the audience!) and that she never likes to write happy songs but always winds up falling in love with them, like she did with her tune "I Want You."

She performed classics like the breathtaking "Because of You" and "Never Again" plus lots of songs off All I Ever Wanted, including "Impossible" and an acoustic take on "Already Gone." I completely rocked out to "Since U Been Gone" and loved that she closed her 20-song set with the most energetic version of "All I Ever Wanted" that I could've imagined.

This was the first time I got to see both Parachute and Kelly Clarkson live, and I certainly hope it's not the last -- both acts were amazing.

<3,
Emily, J-14 editor