LONDON, Ont. - Chris Daughtry was the grandstand idol last night.

A happy and loud crowd of 3,000 fans cheered and sang along with hit after hit with the U.S. rocker and the band that carries his name at the Western Fair grandstand.

"I don't want y'all thinking this is a one-man show," Daughtry told the crowd as he introduced his bandmates during the long encore, the best part of the 75-minute set.

Maybe Daughtry is not a one-man show, but it's close. Nobody else on stage was close to the "unsuccessful" Idol competitor from a few years back in charisma. So what if Daughtry finished up the track in the U.S. pop vocal competition.

Last night, there were thousands of fans -- many holding what must be a grandstand record number of cellphones aloft through the show -- who know Daughtry is a winner.

"Somebody always asks me to take my clothes off. What's that about?" the singer joked.

The fans loved the joke -- and the suggestion, it seemed. Those fans greeted Daughtry with huge cheers when the band opened with You Don't Belong. The main set closed only an hour later with Daughtry hits It's Not Over and Feels Like Tonight surrounding "some old school rock" -- the Beatles' Helter Skelter.

The fans cheered loudly as the impressive stage light show went dark. Then the band returned for the encore, which was like a powerhouse mini-set. A cover of Alice in Chains' Nutshell cleared the way for the band's pretty American Idol losers' anthem, Home -- which had a little bit of Guns N' Roses' Paradise City to keep the crowd rocking. Then, it was the finale, the band's own There and Back. By encore time, Daughtry had definitely lost his little boy shirt -- worn for the main set -- and was racing around in a black T-shirt. He raced right off the stage to slap hands with fans along the front rows and then nimbly hoisted himself back with the band, grabbed a drumstick and helped drummer Joey Barnes bash out the beat.

Joining the frontman and Barnes in Daughtry are bassist Josh Paul, and guitarists Brian Craddock and Josh Steely. This week, the "deluxe" edition of the band's self-titled debut CD came out. So Daughtry is touring to support a profit-taking revisit to an album that has been No. 1 at least twice.

The band will begin recording its new CD after just two more tour dates, the singer said. It will will include a song -- Long Way is in the title -- apparently written by Daughtry and Jason Mraz. Last night, it sounded lovely as a solo spot.

Before touring for that new CD, Daughtry needs to find a NASCAR pit crew in the singer's home state of North Carolina to help speed up slow stage transitions. Somebody needs to turn down Paul's bass, which was too loud in a "campfire" (or unplugged) sequence and stayed that way during the rockers. This American idol is still a work in progress.