EDMONTON - You have to say one thing about these American Idols -- at least they can carry a tune.

Not like these horrible old singers like Neil Young or Bob Dylan or Tom Waits or Leonard Cohen. Sure, they write swell songs, but wouldn't you rather hear someone else sing them?

Those guys would've been voted off American Idol in a heartbeat. Hell, they wouldn't have even won the gold ticket to Hollywood to begin with. Instead, they'd be on the mentally ill contestant reel used for the show's essential comic relief in the early episodes, before the long and unwatchable run-up to the grand finale.

Not so Chris Daughtry. The namesake of last night's headliner at Rexall Place is a champion singer. He never made the Idol finale in ought-six, but anyone who makes the top 10 is pretty much guaranteed to be a decent technical singer (and get a record deal).

He swoops, he soars, he whispers, he bellows, he gives it his all, and all the time.

A concert like this is the perfect place to explore the age-old question of what's more important: The singer or the song.

The answer in this case is clear. This guy could sing nothing but formulaic, cliched, predictable, vague, sentimental, radio-friendly mush and he'd be hailed as a hero. Well, he did, and he was. He even pulled out the ghost of Phil Collins and sang In the Air Tonight. So much for that experiment.

At least he can sing. Daughtry gave each of the songs culled from his two albums the full measure of his dramatic persona, all the highs and lows that could be stuffed into them.

The show began and ended with little blasts of uptempo material. In between was the meat of Daughtry's bread and butter, as it were, featuring one slow and powerful love song after another: Life After You, Ghost of Me, It's Not Over, What About Now, No Surprise, Over You, sensing a theme here.

The results went over like gangbusters. More than 6,000 fans were treated to an evening of power balladry at its most bombastic, to a display of hard rock for people who like to bang their heads gently, to a safe, irony-free zone for American Idol fans.

Nothing wrong with that, I guess, as long as it doesn't pretend to be anything else. The live American Idol experience is a thing -- a GENRE -- all its own, no matter what style of music it attempts to commodify.

Earlier, a band somehow called Cavo set a low-tempo tone to the evening with a set at least three-fifths power ballads and one entirely "pitchy" singer. Early round American Idol contestants ought to know what "pitchy" means. At least he tried hard. Songs were cut from the same mushy cloth as the headliner, featuring lyrics like this: "I can't let you go if you're already gone." Can't argue with that.

The second and rather more polished opening act, Lifehouse, has been accused of being a Christian rock band when it's really just a "clean" rock band. Subtle difference.

So nothing here to upset the soccer moms or their children. Instead we got sturdy rockers and more than a few sturdy power ballads oozing with positivity, brimming with good advice.

Quite a bit of the material dealt with heartbreak past and future, from Wrecking Ball --you just know the line "breaking down my wall" will appear sooner or later -- to Whatever It Takes, which follows the time-honoured format of "I'm sorry, baby, but I'll make it up to you."

While singer Jason Wade strayed into Hallmark card territory every now and then -- "there's no deadlines as long as you're alive" was a favourite slogan -- he really seems to believe these inspiring affirmations he's singing, and the band is tight.

They ought to be after 10 years. Good for them for staying clean all these years.