Daughtry Review from The Venue
© 2013 Always Acoustic
Thank goodness Chris Daughtry never won American Idol. For whatever reason, approximately 99% of the winners fall off the face of the Earth within years. The two exceptions are Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson.
Most likely Chris Daughtry would have been categorized in their group, but the World will never know.
Daughtry had decided to ramp it up like GN’R by having a larger touring ensemble than four or five members. Daughtry’s ensemble is Chris Daughtry, Josh Steely, Josh Paul, Brian Craddock, Robin Diaz and Elvio Fernandes.
The ensemble opened their first time at The Venue in Hammond, Indiana with 3 Doors Down with “Outta My Head” and ended their eleven song set list with “There and Back Again.”
After Daughtry performed “Crawling Back to You,” they went old school the remainder of the night and performed their earlier hits.
Over the years Chris Daughtry has become more comfortable playing the guitar live, but he overplayed his poker hand too much at The Venue. Chris Daughtry hid behind the guitar on eight of the eleven songs on Daughtry’s set list. They were “Crawling Back to You,” “Over You,” “No Surprise,” “Life After You,” “In the Air Tonight,” It’s Not Over,” “September” and “Home.” What happened to the Chris Daughtry who would work the stage vocally and energetically without the guitar?
If Chris Daughtry would have performed a fraction of the songs on guitar and was as fearless as his superhero The Dark Night, the show may have ranked as one of Daughtry’s best performances.
© 2013 Always Acoustic
At one point Chris Daughtry humorously remarked, “I’m tired of singing” and the audience started singing the chorus on “Over You.” Towards the end of the song, Chris sat back and watched Josh Steely playing the guitar.
Intimacy was in the air during Daughtry’s performance. Midway through Daughtry’s set list, the show became intimate as Chris Daughtry played on a stepped down electric guitar while Elvio Fernandes struck a delicate balance on the keys on “Life After You.” The intimacy of that song was the perfect introduction into Daughtry performing and killing it with a cover of Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight.”
Anyone who has conducted a Google search or have been following the Twitter feed of Chris Daughtry, Brad Arnold and 3 Doors Down knows that Chris Daughtry and Brad Arnold sing a duet during Daughtry’s cover of “In the Air Tonight.”
As Chris Daughtry and Brad Arnold sang the duet, the audience got to bask in the sunlight and watch two talented vocalists sing a Phil Collins classic. Brad Arnold even watched Chris play the guitar before Brad eventually left the stage.
After the Phil Collins’ cover, Daughtry performed “It’s Not Over,” “September,” “Home” and “There and Back Again” and Chris Daughtry owned the stage with his presence. Chris remarked during “Home,” “You guys are going to be our light show,” and instantly the air was illuminated with the lights from the cell phones.
Chris Daughtry, near the end of “September,” showed just how talented that he is with his vociferous vocals as he belted them out as he left the stage.
Again, Chris Daughtry needs to be as fearless as his superhero The Dark Knight and shed the guitar for the microphone and become the ultimate frontman. If Chris can do that, Daughtry will put on their best shows every night! A majority of lead vocalists in rock bands will rarely play an entire show behind an instrument.
Chris Daughtry should have taken a cue from Brad Arnold who only played the drums once during “Citizen/Soldier.” Had Chris Daughtry performed with his guitar only twice, it would have been one of Daughtry’s best performances ever!
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