< back

LIVE DAILY
Live Review: Daughtry in Phoenix; October 15, 2007 by Christina Fuoco-Karasinsky

It would be so easy to rip apart rock singer Chris Daughtry [ tickets ], who helms the band Daughtry.

For one, of course, he was a contestant on pop-idol machine "American Idol." Then, during his 70-minute concert at Phoenix's Veterans Memorial Coliseum Sunday (10/14), he donned a T-shirt with the words "Corporate Retail Still Sucks." (If it wasn't for "corporate retail," Daughtry wouldn't have the fastest-selling debut rock record of all time.) And he flexes his biceps with every grip of the microphone.

But, truth be told, Daughtry and his band--bassist Josh Paul, drummer Joey Barnes, and guitarists Brian Craddock and Josh Steely--put on a damn fine show. As witnessed when Daughtry opened for sound-alike Nickelback a few months back, the brooding rocker knows how to capture an audience. However, during his Sunday show, Daughtry, wearing a Boston Red Sox baseball hat pulled low, started out on slow note, not really sharing his personality with the crowd. But the audience couldn't have cared less. They were more concerned with singing along to hits like "What I Want," "It's Not Over" and "Home." Daughtry, though, seemed like he was just going through the motions until he mentioned, about midway through the concert, that this night was the last date of his tour. After that, a newfound sense of energy came over him.

Daughtry kicked off its show with a long instrumental that led into "Crashed," during which the singer used a megaphone to distort his pristine vocals. After the tune from the "Spider-Man 3" soundtrack, he coyly asked the audience, "Do you know who we are?" The near-capacity crowd responded feverishly, screaming "Daughtry" in sync. The audience's noise level went sky high when he took off his baseball hat and tossed it aside.

Several times during the night, he encouraged fans to sing along to his lyrics. For "It's Not Over," he responded with "You guys sound beautiful." When he delivered the lyrics "Can we make this something good?" as spoken words, the audience answered as if Daughtry could do no wrong. During the introduction to his latest single, "Over You," he suggested to the crowd that if they didn't know the words, just to make them up and annoy the person sitting next to them; the audience didn't waste any time showing him they were familiar with the song.

With only one album to pull from, the concert was filled with songs from Daughtry's self-titled debut, save for a couple licks from Motley Crue's "Home Sweet Home" and Filter's "Hey Man Nice Shot," something he did during the Nickelback jaunt.

Daughtry clearly knows how to play the rock game, seductively rubbing his microphone stand and climbing on the speakers as the audience sang the words to "Crashed." For "Breakdown," he strapped on an acoustic guitar--something he was unable to showcase on "American Idol." He added a dramatic pause that ended with him grabbing the megaphone once again. He punched his bald head when he yelled the lyrics, "This love is killing me" during "It's Not Over."

Daughtry slowed it down a bit to perform "All These Lives" solo and "What About Now." Daughtry's band rejoined him halfway through the latter song.

Seemingly unimpressed with the crowd's enthusiasm, Chris Daughtry yelled "It's time to wake up" during "Feels Like Tonight." If the fans were any more vocal, they all would have been hoarse. It makes you wonder where all these fans were the night he was voted off of "American Idol" on season five.