Kelly Clarkson on a tear

Kelly Clarkson is mad as hell and she's not going to take it anymore.

In fact, she's gonna use her songs and take it out on every stupid boy she's ever dated.

"It's not just the critics, even my friends (complain)," Clarkson told a screaming crowd of fans Wednesday night at the Memorial Auditorium. "They're like -'Seriously Kelly, why don't you write a song where you're not bashing a boy.'"

Sorry, but no can do.

"It's true, three-fourths of my songs are about boy-bashing - I've dated some really bad types."

With that the 25-year-old "American Idol" winner launched into "Never Again," a song that (yep, you guessed it) rips apart some poor ne'er do well.

Clarkson's hour-plus set really was approximately 75 percent boy bashing - which is fine because Clarkson's just that much more interesting when she's mad.

And we've seen Clarkson plenty angry this year thanks to a well-publicized tiff with her RCA Records boss Clive Davis. She just didn't care that Davis didn't like the harder sound of her third album, "My December," most of which Clarkson wrote herself. The two eventually made up but Clarkson made her point and proved that she's got enough attitude to set her apart.

Judging by her songs, it's a smart move she stuck to her guns; rock suits her throaty, twangy voice well.

Backed by a seven-piece band, Clarkson played to an enthusiastic two-thirds capacity audience. While much fuss was made after poor ticket sales forced Clarkson to postpone and then downsize a previously planned tour (including a proposed stop at Arco Arena), the Memorial is a better fit for the Texas native.

Here, she could get up close with fans, read adoring poster board signs ("Aw, you guys are so cute.") and let her powerhouse vocals win over the room's often-muddy acoustics on numbers such as "Walk Away" and "Behind These Hazel Eyes."

Clarkson showed her playful side, too. On "Chivas," which she claims to have penned "on a bunch of bar napkins," the singer took a giant swig from a tiny bottle of whiskey before launching into the plucky country-rock number.

The results were mediocre and tame, however, when Clarkson went for a softer touch on ballads. Songs such as "Be Still," "Maybe" and "Addiction" sounded treacly with a connect-the-dots sort of sentimentality. The exception: A gospel-infused take on Patty Griffin's "Up to the Mountain (MLK Song)."

(Singer-songwriter Jon McLaughlin, who opened the night with a short set of emo-sensitive pop, is like Clarkson - better when he rocks. His ballads, including a cover of Clarkson's "Beautiful Disaster," were pretty but bland.)

Even when Clarkson's voice sounded a wee bit rough and shouty on songs such as "Hole" and "Breakaway," her tenacity and emotion easily carried the night.

How else can you explain the way the floor literally shook beneath the weight of thousands of stomping feet during "Walk Away" and the encore rendition of "Since U Been Gone."?

Sometimes there's a very cheesy element about Clarkson. It's as if she's TV's idea of what a tough chick rocker should be: All eyeliner and spitfire grit and sexy posing. It's kind of fitting - she is the product of TV watchers' tastes, after all.

But, at her best, Clarkson coolly walks that line between what you expect and what she wants to be. In those moments - when she's chugging whiskey and then apologizing to all the parents of underage fans - she's just a down-home girl with a crazy temper but the good humor to keep it real. And the voice to make it work.

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