IT'S common knowledge that Kelly Clarkson has an impressive voice, but to fully appreciate her astonishing vocal ability you have to see her live.

The original pop idol opened her set with the title track of her tour and latest album, All I Ever Wanted, before steaming into the single that launched her post-American Idol career all those years ago, Miss Independent.

Dressed all in black, Clarkson was joined on stage by an impressive eight-piece band and no expense had been spared on the production side with an impressive lighting display adding to every song.

I Do Not Hook Up got the crowd involved for the first time - a surprisingly eclectic mix of people, from early teens to the retired, belted out the chorus under orders from Kelly.

Impossible was the first taste of the new album before Clarkson mixed things up with a few excellent covers.

Her version of Kings Of Leon’s Use Somebody was spine-shiveringly good before she paid homage to one of her all-time idols, Alanis Morissette.

Breakaway was unsurprisingly a fan favourite and Clarkson even allowed the audience to sing a couple of choruses on their own as she conducted from the stage.

Very subtly the Eurythmics’ Sweet Dreams was seamlessly slipped into another track from the new album, If I Can’t Have You, by DJ Rick, who was far better than the name suggests.

Any doubts about Clarkson’s phenomenal vocal ability being in any way exaggerated were dismissed by a three-song acoustic set that stunned the BIC into near silence, as she flawlessly belted out two excellent covers followed by Behind These Hazel Eyes.

Following an emotionally charged Because Of You, the set was brought to a close by the hit that has filled dancefloors of student bars and sticky-floored nightclubs for years – Since U Been Gone.

Despite forgetting the words to her first song of the encore - “at least you know I’m singing live”, she laughed - the gig still ended on a rousing high with a barn-storming cover of White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army followed by her UK number one, My Life Would Suck Without You.