SAN JOSE — Rocker Chris Daughtry delivered on his promise of a hard-rock-heavy sixth album in Dearly Beloved, and that same energy translated to the stage at the San Jose Civic theater on Thursday. The band leaned heavily on material from its latest release, playing nearly the entire record over the course of 85 minutes.

Donning a black beanie, a thick black jacket and an all-white Gibson Explorer guitar, Daughtry and his four-member band took the darkly illuminated stage—other than a bright neon sign at the back that flashed the album title throughout the evening—for the dramatic opening verses of “Desperation.” The band then launched into hard rocker “World On Fire” as the bearded frontman barked the opening verse through a megaphone and into the mic.

Not only was Chris Daughtry in his element in the heavier sound, but the band fired on all cylinders as well. Drummer Brandon Maclin pounded away at his kit while adding a rhythmic flair. Longtime guitarists Josh Steely and Brian Craddock laid down the riffs while Elvio Fernandes added keyboards and strong backing vocals.

“As crazy as things are right now, I promise changes are coming,” Daughtry said before the band kicked into the song of the same name. The ample rigging of lights behind the stage matched the building momentum of the track until things crescendoed into the anthemic chorus.  Daughtry was in high spirits, engaging with the crowd throughout the night, and often taking a moment to introduce the upcoming song.

After a rumbling drum solo, the band rolled into the bluesy hard rock swagger of “Evil.” Most impressive about the performance was Daughtry’s strong vocals. The frontman is known for having strong pipes, but it really seemed like the new material allowed him to push his voice further than some of Daughtry the band’s more mainstream material.

Really, the only challenge faced by all three of the acts on the bill was engaging the sometimes passive San Jose Civic audience. While many in the large crowd clapped along, sang and cheered, others needed coaxing to get up from their seat even during the heaviest of tracks. One of the cardinal sins of rock and roll is sitting down during a show, but the band ultimately found success in getting the audience engaged one way or another.

Before leading the crowd in an acoustic rendition of “Home,” Chris Daughtry joked about the massive success of the song, saying that it’s the “one song” that self-proclaimed massive fans always claim to know and love.

“Sing along with this one, even if you don’t know the words,” Daughtry quipped. “I’ve heard just about every wrong lyric at this point.”

The lights dimmed and cellphones illuminated the stage for the anthemic sing-along track. Before moving into another solo acoustic performance, “Cry For Help,” Daughtry spoke about mental health during the pandemic.

“When we’re asked how we’re doing, we just say ‘good’ because we don’t want to talk about the bad stuff,” he said. “It’s OK to talk about it.”

After the band reprised its first big hit, “It’s Not Over,” the frontman took a moment to dedicate the song that followed.

“The song goes out to the people over in the Ukraine fighting for their lives,” he said.

The stage lighting shifted to the deep blue and yellow of Ukraine’s flag for dramatic and moody rocker “Heavy Is the Crown.” While obviously written long before any crisis overseas, the relevance of the lyrics was uncanny, which made for a powerful and poignant performance; one of the evening’s highlights.

“Never falter, never let them bleed you out/ I’ll be still standing when they try to bring my castle down,” Daughtry sang.

During “The Victim,” beams of light shot in all directions and enveloped the band. The band then concluded its main set with new track “Lioness” and hit “September.”

Returning for an encore, Daughtry thanked fans for coming out and supporting his band in a very Daughtry-esque way: “You could have gone to see Justin Bieber,” he deadpanned. “I don’t think he’s in town, but you could have.”

Daughtry again strapped on the acoustic guitar for an upbeat solo performance of “Waiting For Superman” before leading the crowd in a raucous singalong on “Over You.”

While rooted in melodic hard rock, Tremonti, which preceded the headliner, often delves into heavier influences like thrash and metal. Guitarist Mark Tremonti is one of the most skilled rock musicians on the circuit and watching him navigate the fretboard was truly an experience. Even beyond that, Tremonti surrounded himself with a stellar three-member band that played punishing hard rock with a near-orchestral precision.

The band’s eight-song set leaned most on recent release Marching In Time, but also pulled from prior records.

Opening with “Thrown Further,” Tremonti ripped through songs with a thunderous cohesiveness. For a guy who said two decades ago that he had no interest in becoming a vocalist, Mark Tremonti has grown into a really solid hard rock vocalist.

“It’s been more than two years since we’ve been here, so let’s go,” Tremonti yelled at the outset.

The band played songs like “Let That Be Us” and “Marching In Time” before closing out with the lightspeed riffing of “Wish You Well.”

New York rocker Lyell opened the show by demonstrating a dynamic range of influences and natural stage energy.

“It was a beautiful day here,” Lyell saide arly in her set. “I’m from Rochester. We don’t get many of those there.”

Flanked by a particularly impressive duo of musicians on drums and guitar, Lyell won over the crowd with tracks like “Potions.” Lyell was most excited for the release of her new single, “Eraser,” which she played live and said it would be available to download and stream later in the evening.

 

Follow writer Mike DeWald at Twitter.com/mike_dewald. Follow Chloe Catajan at Instagram.com/riannachloe.