BY MICHAEL HAMERSLY
mhamersly@MiamiHerald.com

If it galls you that an American Idol fourth-place finisher could go on to release the fastest-selling debut rock album of all time, you most likely have never heard Chris Daughtry sing.

From the beginning of Idol's fifth season, it was clear the singer from North Carolina was a man among boys.

Daughtry's voice -- powerful enough for almost any hard rock band, yet with the elegance necessary to handle melodically intricate classics -- is easily the most radio-friendly possessed by any male contestant on Idol so far, including season four favorite Bo Bice.

Tuesday night at a near-capacity Hard Rock Live Arena at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino near Hollywood, Daughtry more than proved he belongs in the big leagues with a lively hour-long set that showcased his ability to both lead a driving rock band authoritatively and transfix the crowd during more mellow, solo moments.

An American Idol favorite might be expected to attract mainly teenyboppers, but that wasn't the case for Daughtry: Couples in their 30s and 40s were as plentiful as screaming 15-year-old girls.

In front of a colorful, elaborately lit stage dominated by the Daughtry logo superimposed over a Victorian-style headboard, the singer and his five-piece band tore into Crashed, from the Spider-Man 3 soundtrack, with Daughtry using a megaphone for extra oomph.

There's only one album under Daughtry's belt, so the show was entirely predictable, with the charismatic singer pleasing the crowd with the new single, the Nickelback-like rock anthem Over You; the punchy What I Want (ex-Guns N' Roses axman Slash wasn't missed at all on guitar); and the tender, acoustic Breakdown, in which he asks an unstable lover to ``keep it together now.''

He also proved to be a crafty showman: When the music lulled during the midtempo snoozers Used To and Gone, Daughtry would give some sort of shout-out to win cheers and keep everyone alert. And when he warned, ''We're gonna get sappy on you now,'' the audience couldn't have predicted the next song would be one of the most moving performances of the night. What About Now, the final song on his album, captured all the drama of a top-notch Idol performance.

Naturally, Daughtry didn't forget his bread and butter -- the massive hits Home, whose chorus ''I'm going home'' evolved into a salve for exiting Idol contenders, and It's Not Over, a fitting answer to his early, some would say shocking, ouster from the show.