It has been a decade since Daughtry last performed in Malaysia. The American rock band formed by Chris Daughtry rocked Kuala Lumpur on 13 July, bringing back all the memories from when we were first introduced to him 12 years ago.

You must remember him from American Idol Season 5 and his heartbreaking elimination towards the final round.

Since his first big break on television, Chris’ music career took off almost immediately. He landed a record deal, put together a band and became the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of Daughtry in no time.

Fast forward more than 10 years later, Malaysian fans finally got to see him live in person once again.


As part of the band’s 2018 Asia Tour, Daughtry played at the KL Live entertainment outlet and the night was well worth the wait.

Here are some of our favourite moments from the concert:

#1 The songs

Besides thrilling the crowd with all-time favourites like ‘Feels Like Tonight’, ‘It’s Not Over’ and ‘Home’, this tour was also an avenue to give the fans an exclusive sneak peek into a few songs from Daughtry’s upcoming album, Cage To Rattle, to be released on 27 July.

Some of the songs off of the fifth album performed that night include ‘Just Found Heaven’, ‘Deep End’, ‘Backbone’ and ‘Back In Time’.

Although Daughtry managed to stick to the most fundamental concert formula of performing both old and new songs at the showcase, they also surprised the fans with covers of two iconic pop songs – ‘With Or Without You’ by U2 and the late Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’.


Chris surely brought back a lot of American Idol feels when he sang those song covers while keeping his distinct performance style and flavour.

Here is the complete setlist from the concert:

1. Just Found Heaven
2. Feels Like Tonight
3. Battleships
4. Backbone
5. Deep End
6. Breakdown
7. Long Way
8. With or Without You (U2 cover)
9. Baptized
10. Back In Time
11. It's Not Over
12. Home
13. Waiting for Superman
14. Over You
15. September
16. Purple Rain (Prince cover)

This writer is still feeling slightly bummed because they didn’t perform ‘What About Now?’.

#2 The timing

Unlike many concerts we’ve attended in the past, Daughtry didn’t give in to the infamous ‘Malaysian timing’ this time around.

The organisers said it would start at 8.30pm and the band were already getting ready on stage by 8.20pm, we kid you not. In fact, there wasn’t even an opening act invited to help kill some time (opening acts, don't take it personally, okay?).

Then, at 8.30pm sharp, Chris walked on stage, the electric guitar blared through the speakers, the spotlights came on, and the rest of the night, as they say, was history.


Performing one song after another with little to no breaks in between, Daughtry wasted no time in entertaining the fans that night.

And this, we feel, is how all concerts should be.

#3 The crowd

You may not know this, but Malaysians have a reputation of being some of the best concert crowds in the world for one reason – we can’t stay silent, in a good way, of course.

What better way to enjoy a good concert than singing along to our favourite songs by our favourite artists, live! Right?

We always hear how performing artists feed off the crowd’s energy whenever they perform live. So just imagine, how it good it feels being on stage and hearing the fans echo to every tune you sing.

The crowd at Daughtry weren’t shy at all in this area and the band felt it as well.


“We feel your love and excitement and we are so happy to be here!” Chris shouted.

He took advantage of the crowd’s volume and energy that night and got us to help him sing along to ‘Over You’ towards the end of the show. And boy, were we loud!

It is also less embarrassing to sing and shout when the person next to you is just as loud as you. So, it was pretty much like a huge rock karaoke session that night!

#4 The charisma

Chris Daughtry is without a doubt a force to be reckoned with, especially when he is on stage.

Known as a vocal powerhouse since his days on the reality TV show, he never failed to charm the crowd simply with a mic (and sometimes a guitar) in hand.


Dressed in a basic grey tee and black leather pants, and armed with a tambourine at times, we were reminded once again why the fact that he didn’t win that fateful season didn’t matter.

The frontman even came comfortably close to the crowd several times throughout the concert just to tease the fans, inviting deafening screams across the hall.


If only the concert was five hours long…

Thank you, Daughtry, for a memorable night. Now, please don't wait another 10 years until you visit Malaysia again!