Chris Daughtry finished fourth on American Idol Season 5 in 2006 and immediately built one of post-grunge radio’s more durable catalogs anyway. Twenty years later, the band is taking that catalog acoustic for the “20 Years Unplugged Tour,” with a stop at the Aztec Theatre in San Antonio on Friday, November 13.
About the Show
The stripped-down format is the point. The 22-date tour runs from Troy, New York (October 12) through Dallas (November 14), with San Antonio as the second-to-last stop. The band draws from There and Back Again, their 20th-anniversary release featuring 11 of their biggest hits freshly re-recorded “note for note,” alongside material from Shock to the System (Deluxe Edition). The set promises “classics, current hits, and a few surprises,” per the band’s own framing. The setlist isn’t entirely fixed: Daughtry is letting fans in each city vote for songs from There and Back Again at vote.daughtryofficial.com, with Spotify streams from that region counting as votes â the San Antonio audience’s listening habits ahead of November 13 already have a say in what makes the set. Ryan Perdz opens.
Daughtry’s catalog runs six studio albums deep. Chris Daughtry has described his musical formation as grounded in early-’90s rock, with Soundgarden and Live as key touchstones. He’s recalled a 1997 Live concert on the Secret Samadhi tour as the moment that settled it: “that’s what I want to do with the rest of my life. I want to do what Ed Kowalczyk is doing.” He spent roughly 10 years working toward that before American Idol opened the door in 2006. Radio hits including “It’s Not Over,” “Home,” and “No Surprise” followed, and the band has since worked with Lzzy Hale of Halestorm, Sevendust, Santana, and Vince Gill. Their 2023 cover of Journey’s “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)” with Hale drew praise from Journey guitarist Neal Schon.
Venue & Logistics
The Aztec Theatre (104 N St. Mary’s St, San Antonio) is a 1,477-capacity theater. For an acoustic night, the seated format fits a stripped-down set better than most rooms. Show time is 7:00 p.m.
Tickets
No ticket price was available from sources at the time of publication. Tickets are on sale now through Ticketmaster. VIP upgrades include Club Access and Fast Lane options, along with packages that come with signed guitars, side stage access, meet-and-greets, and professional band photos. Buy tickets