PAM WHISENHUNT | Go Venue Magazine
Halloween night at The Astro Theater in La Vista, Nebraska about 1,100 of us gathered for Daughtry’s 20 Years Unplugged tour. I don’t think the words “American Idol” were ever spoken, but we all know where this story started. And what a story it’s been.
Opener Ryan Perdz sounded great. The Buffalo-born singer-songwriter has an old school, raspy, grungy voice that fit right into the stripped-down format. Perdz played a set with 7 originals throwing in a cover of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity,” and the crowd loved him. I’d love to hear his set with full production.
Daughtry and his band took the stage adorned with candles, pink roses and a skull front and center. Chris Daughtry, sporting a little Halloween face paint, took his seat center stage on a white stool. He opened with “Crawling Back to You,” “Crashed” and “Feels Like Tonight,” pausing to tell us these songs aren’t theirs anymore. They belong to us now.
From there, Daughtry walked us through every era of the band with synced music videos and plenty of stories along the way. The first story was about “Life After You.” The song was supposed to go to Keith Urban. Daughtry said he didn’t want to like it although it was catchy. He thought it sounded like a beer commercial. They ended up taking the song and running with it anyway. Daughtry ended the song with a “Tough shit, Keith Urban.” Everyone laughed. I think Keith’s doing fine.
“As You Are,” written with his wife, was dedicated to anyone who has a hard time fitting in. The misfits. The black sheep. The weirder the better. His message was simple: love yourself as you are.
After “Start of Something Good,” he reflected on how hard it is to believe it’s been 20 years. Any artist with five, six, seven records is going to hit bumps in the road, with super highs and lows. Usually there’s one album where people scratch their heads. Daughtry said that was their fourth studio album, Baptized. The crowd cheered. “You cheer now,” he said. That wasn’t the case when it came out. If he could do it all over again, he’d add big drums and guitar riffs to make it more of a rock album. Still, he said his favorite thing to come out of that record was “Waiting for Superman.”
His favorite era of the band, even though it was dark and born of grief, loss and heartbreak, is Shock to the System (Part One). Those songs came out of a time of tragedy for the family. Referring to In November 2021, Daughtry lost his mother, Sandra, and just one week later lost his 25-year-old daughter, Hannah Price. He wanted us to know there’s always light on the other side of darkness. Then they played “Pieces.”
A few songs later, he told the crowd to wake up. And we did. The room got on its feet and perked right up, calling back the “whoa oh oh” hooks on “No Surprise.”
They kept rolling with “The Bottom,” a No. 1 at rock radio, a very different take on “Artificial,” and “Heavy Is the Crown.” The band left the stage to a standing ovation.
When they returned, Daughtry thanked us for spending Halloween with them and for 20 years of support. He also gave a shout out to a woman in the front row. This was her 300th Daughtry show. They closed the night with “It’s Not Over,” “Home” and “Over You.”
This was a crowd that loved Daughtry. Listening to the chatter around me, it was clear a lot of these fans have been following his journey since the very beginning. Twenty years later, they were still singing every word. Good vibes all night long, and a Halloween well spent.
Daughtry
Ryan Perdz
Follow our socials, only take a second and is free by finding us on:
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | BlueSky
