GREENSBORO — "It's good to be home."

Chris Daughtry opened his concert Friday night with those words, and he repeated them later in the show.

Daughtry's two-night stand at War Memorial Auditorium is a sort of victory lap after an amazing year that saw his self-titled debut album go triple platinum and net him four Grammy nominations.

He was an altogether more seasoned and confident performer than the last time he passed through these parts. Daughtry and his four-man band — which includes drummer Joey Barnes, another Triad homeboy — have gelled into a bonafide, take-no-prisoners rock band.

Daughtry projected both a diehard rocker's swagger and a hometown hero's likability. He came out at 10 p.m. wearing a black scarf and wool cap over a basic workingman's

T-shirt and jeans.

The group immediately delved into some of their hardest, heaviest rockers, including "What I Want," signaling what I hope is a direction they will pursue even more avidly on their next album. Barnes played energetically throughout the evening but was particularly impressive on this number.

Throughout the night, the spotlight was squarely on the homeboys — Daughtry and Barnes — while the rest of his bandmates genially played their parts with energetic aplomb.

At one point, a translucent scrim came down, and Daughtry, strumming an acoustic guitar, sang in front of it. This gave him the opportunity to banter with the crowd and play a few of his quieter numbers, including a promising new one titled "Back to Me."

He began one of his best-known songs, "It's Not Over"; then the curtain disappeared, and the band came crashing in for a full-on electric finale.

Being that he only has one album from which to draw material, Daughtry threw a cover song or two into the show, including a brief, blistering take on Guns N' Roses' "Paradise City" and a verse of Johnny Cash's "I Walk the Line," interpolated into "What About Now."

Daughtry's full, robust voice showed no ill effects from a lengthy bout of touring, which bodes well for his career. If his reception at his Friday night show is any indication — with no one sitting down for the entire performance and girls punctuating the air with Beatles-ish screams — he is in for one heck of a ride.

Daughtry was preceded by two opening acts, You Are I Am and Midway State. The former were agreeable enough but left little impression, while the latter were a tad earnest and overwrought.