REVIEW
An also-ran on 'American Idol,' but don't tell that to his fans
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
The lighting operator at Slim's really liked Daughtry, the hot new rock band fronted by "American Idol" also-ran Chris Daughtry.
"They've got that totally predictable thing down pat," the stage tech said.
With his first album already past the million sales mark after only 3 months, and a potential hit single lurking in the wings, Daughtry looks to be on the verge of exploding. Fans camped out in front of the club all day Sunday, Super Bowl or no Super Bowl. Actress Michelle Pfeiffer called to request tickets.
Full cell phone camera mania greeted the 28-year-old rock singer with the shaved head and pencil-line beard. The audience looked a little old to be shrieking like teenyboppers, but did anyway.
He may have finished only fourth on last season's "Idol" finals, but he has rapidly passed winner Taylor Hicks and his "Soul Patrol" following in the real world. Daughtry clearly connects with an audience and it would seem to be only the beginning for him.
Wearing a black muscle T-shirt and switching off between electric and acoustic guitars, Daughtry led his quartet through a brisk 50-minute performance. He was properly earnest and deferential. ("If it wasn't for each and every one of you, I wouldn't be standing here.")
Fortunately, he sings with more charisma. He has a tortured bel canto style ideally suited to the agonized songs like "What I Want." His fans -- "Can I call you friends?" he asked -- sang along with every word of "Over You" off the album. He tossed guitar picks into the sea of waving arms after every song.
The North Carolinian is a clean-cut, married man, father of two, who told the radio interviewer during the sound check performance that he left his young children at home on this tour because he didn't want them hanging out at the bars he was playing. Undoubtedly he will return this summer, packaged for the amphitheaters, where they can play backstage and not miss school.
The band came well armed; a bank of Marshall amplifiers, their own mixing board and sound engineer. Daughtry is handled by the management arm of the "American Idol" producers, who brought on as a specialist the man who discovered Hanson. The album was made by the producer of recent hits by Hoobastank, the All-American Rejects and other pop-punk cannon fodder.
One of the songs on the album he wrote without co-writers is "Home," a surefire tearjerker that sounds custom-made to raise goose bumps at the end of some sappy movie. The aptly titled "It's Not Over" is the album's first track currently at radio and it would appear to have an active half-life still remaining before the label pulls the pin on "Home."
The Slim's management estimated they could have sold four or five more shows, ticket demand was so great. But Daughtry chose to stir excitement in the fan base with a loss-leader club tour.
It was a great idea, a real soft landing of a first pass through town. But he probably should avoid the "Sunday Bloody Sunday" cover unless he likes sounding like a half-baked U2 tribute band.
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