Reviews: Panic! At The Disco, Elton John, Kelly Clarkson, BTS & Dierks Bentley

This week, for your reading enjoyment, we have compiled critical reviews of live performances from Elton John in Fresno, Calif.; BTS in Singapore; Kelly Clarkson in Oakland, Calif.; Panic! At The Disco in Charlotte, N.C.; and Dierks Bentley in Ottawa, Canada. 

Michael Campanella / Redferns – Elton John
The first artist to use PEEX on tour

Elton John @ Save Mart Center in Fresno, Calif., Jan. 22 – “The whole show was played to maximum effect, thanks in good part to the tour’s video production team, which created a series of stunning visuals that at times seemed like films running across the entire stage (the surrealistic cartoon playing through ‘Someone Save My Life Tonight’ was a great example).” – Joshua Tehee / The Fresno Bee

BTS @ National Stadium in Singapore, Singapore, Jan. 19 – “Between the backbreaking dance moves, heart-pumping tracks and an audience that engulfed the National Stadium with screams and chants, the band showed why they are managing to rake in billions of dollars for the South Korean economy.” – Jan Lee / Straits Times 

Kelly Clarkson @ Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., Jan. 24 – “Part of what makes Clarkson so impactful onstage is her sincerity, which makes everything that comes out of her mouth sound so believable. She comes across as someone you can trust and, even more so, someone who you’d want to hang out with.” – Jim Harrington / Bay Area News Group

Phil Clarkin – Panic! At The Disco
plays BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla., Aug. 5.

Panic! At The Disco @ Spectrum Center in Charlotte, N.C., Jan. 22 – “What I’m saying is: Yes, in general, the 31-year-old singer’s [Brendon Urie] shtick — the swagger-rific dancing, the exaggerated facial expressions, the holy-(expletive)-wait-is-that-even-a-note?? vocal flourishes — seemed pretty excessive and pretty frivolous during P!ATD’s close-to-sold-out concert at Spectrum Center on Tuesday night. 

“Yet at the same time, that shtick also seemed critical to helping create an almost absurdly fun and flavorful concert-going experience, one that firmly secures Urie’s place among today’s most electrifying live performers.” – Théoden Janes / Charlotte Observer

Dierks Bentley @ Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, Ontario, Jan. 18 – “Ottawa marked the second show of 2019 for Bentley’s Burning Man tour, an excursion that started in Hamilton on Thursday, and the way he framed it, it could be a benchmark for the year: ‘This is the best night I’ve ever had in Canada,’ he declared. ‘Ever.’” – Lynn Saxberg / Ottawa Citizen