Daughtry and Tremonti at the NOVO

Daughtry and Tremonti put on a real rock show Monday night (3/21) at the Novo in Downtown L.A. with Lyell. Tremonti is the solo band of Creed and Alter Bridge guitarist Mark Tremonti. Tremonti’s first album All I Was was released 10 years ago and consisted of Tremonti and Creed touring guitarist Eric Friedman with drummer Garrett Whitlock. The next two albums included all three along with Wolfgang Van Halen on bass. WVH left the group in 2016 and Whitlock in 2018. Tanner Keegan who filled in for WVH when Van Halen was touring became an official member last year and Ryan Bennett became the drummer following Whitlock’s departure. Creed and Alter Bridge bassist Brian Marshall also was a touring member for a short time. Tremonti’s fifth album Marching In Time was released last year and the first album with all four current members. The album received much praise including the number one spot on the Billboard UK Rock and Metal albums charts and the guitar riff for “Now and Forever,” was Guitar World’s best riff of 2021. Tremonti is definitely it’s own sound and I would consider it to be heavier than Alter Bridge and Creed. For nearly 30 years Tremonti has been a modern day guitar hero.

Tremonti played an eight song set starting with “Thrown Further,” and ended with “Wish You Well.” The day of the show it was announced Tremonti would be doing a Frank Sinatra covers album. From Marching in Time they performed “If Not For You,” “Let That Be Us,” and “Marching in Time.” Between Tremonti and Daughtry, it is easy to see Rock N’ Roll is alive and well.

Chris Daughtry proved you don’t have to win American Idol to be just as successful or more than a winner. Daughtry was a Season 5 (2006) contestant back when all three original judges were still there and hit the top four. Daughtry is the third most successful contestant to come from American Idol behind Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood, but is the biggest male contestant to come from the show. Daughtry (band) released their self-titled debut album just six months after Daughtry was on American Idol. The album received tremendous success going 6x Platinum and becoming the fastest selling debut album on the Nielsen Soundscan as well as hitting the number one spot on the Billboard 200. The album also included four Billboard Top 20 hits, two that made the top five. This was followed by Leave This Town which debuted at number one.

Daughtry consists of founding members Chris Daughtry (Lead Vocals/Guitar) and Josh Steely (Lead Guitar), guitarist Brian Craddock (Joined 07), keyboardist Elvio Fernandes (Joined 2012), drummer Brandon Maclin (2014 and 2016), and bassist Patrick Dahlheimer (Live) who replaced original bassist Josh Paul this year who left for the second time. Just two years after forming Daughtry opened for Bon Jovi (08) and has had seven total headlining tours including the current one Dearly Beloved, and has had a co-headline tour with Three Doors Down and another with the Goo Goo Dolls, as well as opening for Nickelback on two tours. The tour began in November of 2021, but was cut short due to the tragic and sudden loss of Daughtry’s step-daughter. The tour resumed in February.

Daughtry played 15 songs starting with “World On Fire,” from their 2021 release Dearly Beloved and the set included around half the songs of the new album. The final song “Asylum” also comes through the new album. Before the band walked out the beginning of Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy” played which was fitting as the album’s name comes from the first two words. The tour picks up again in May then Daughtry heads to Europe for three major festivals.