Break The Spell tour featuring Daughtry, with special guest SafetySuit and Mike Sanchez
On the second night of the second leg of the Break the Spell tour at the Genesee Theater in Waukegan, IL, Daughtry sold out the beautiful theater of 2,400. After days of rain in the Chicagoland area, tonight was just perfect with a light wind and warm weather to go along with some amazing music.
This being my first time going to the Genesee Theater, I was taken away with the beautiful work and detail done to restore this beautiful venue, with a massive chandler hanging inside the theater to give a soft glow inside. The staff was very friendly and polite and as I was escorted to the front row to view the show, I was thinking this is going to be a great, fun-filled night seeing all the fans in their seats waiting for their idol to come on. We were treated to the opening act, Mike Sanchez, doing a few acoustic songs with Daughtry’s new band mate, Elvio Fernandez on keyboard.
With a quick turn-around, Safetysuit came on next; based out of Nashville, TN, these guys come out with tons of energy. Opening with Believe from their new album, they got the crowd out of their seats real quick and did not let up on the energy till the end. After four years between albums, they have released their latest album, These Times, in January 2012 and have joined up with Daughtry on both the first and second leg of this tour.
Singer, Doug Brown has one of those unique voices in rock and he pours so much emotion into his singing that you can’t help but get caught up in the show, as well as lyrics that move you. They continued with Something I Said, Let Go, and Staring At It. Brown talked to the crowd about how these times we live in are not easy and can be easy to just give in, so he wrote this song about this. These Times is by far one of the best songs I have heard played live and lyrics that captured a snap shot of how we all have hard times in our lives but they do pass; just beautiful. Not to let off on the emotions, they went into the Leonard Cohen/Jeff Buckley Classic, Hallelujah, as Brown dropped on his knees, just pouring his lungs out. As simple as it sounds, it was a “wow” moment.
Not forgetting the rest of the band because they all rock and gave it their all as they jump around and poured as much emotions in their playing. They ended the night with The Moment and Stay. Brown jumped into the crowd and ran to as many people as he could in the crowd to take pics, hug them and sing along with them. Daughtry did well to bring these guys out on the road because they have been flying under the radar for too long. This is a band you need to check out because you will end up downloading their music the next day.
Now I will admit, Daughtry’s music for me was something I always heard but had never been a part of my music librar
y and I remember seeing him on American Idol and thinking, about damn time they got a guy who rocks on the show. Six years have passed and I am seeing Daughtry for the first time and right in the front row thinking, “How ironic is this.” But after seeing the opening acts, I was excited to see what Daughtry had in store for this sold out theatre.
Daughtry is:
Chris Daughtry – Vocals & Guitar
Josh Paul – Bass
Josh Steely – Guitar
Brian Craddock – Guitar
Robin Diaz – Drums
Elvio Fernandez – Keyboard & Guitar
Opening the 19 song set was Renegade from the new album, Break The Spell. Right off the bat I was blown away by the amazing light show. I have not seen such a well lit concert in a very long time like tonight. They followed up with Break the Spell, Feels Like Tonight and by this time I was hooked and just became a fan of amazing music being played in front of me.
Daughtry has a killer set of vocals to go along with showmanship, and even with the their setup being about 10 feet from the front of the stage he came right up to the edge to sing and interacted with the fans. Something about music that captures people is moments like this where you can reach out or to just look up and see your idol(s) right in your face. Some of the highlights of the show was when he played with just Fernandez , What About Now, with the music video in the background; this showcased the purity of his voice as he continued with Rescue me and the hit song, Home. It was nice to see a stripped down version of these songs. The background during the song, Spaceship was showing the galaxy before exploding in dots that reached out to the front as they played another new song, Louder Than Ever. They turned the songs, Over You and No Surprise into a seamless transition as the crowd sang along.
Paul, playing his Bass was fun to watch all night as he did little hip hop-like dancing as he played and seemed to be having so much fun. Steely and Craddock combined a killer guitar attack on the Tom Petty Cover of Runnin’ Down a Dream, to go along with Diaz pounding on the skins with a huge smile on his face.
The set ended with September – that had a video montage with all the guys in the band and sounded amazing and tugged at everyone’s heart. Daughtry came out for an encore of another cover, Rebel Yell by Billy Idol and finished the night with his first single and huge hit, It’s Not Over. While I came into this show wondering what it would be like, I left knowing I would be for sure be seeing Daughtry again when they come back to town.
A huge thank you goes to Genesee Theater for the great welcome to this hidden Gem in Waukegan, IL. I am looking forward to coming back and you can check out their website for upcoming events at, www.geneseetheatre.com
And check out Daughtry on tour www.daughtryofficial.com/us/events i can promise you this, if you check this tour out you will have a great night guarantee
All Photos by Peter Lizano
