Phillip Phillips sends Santa Rosa crowd into party mood

More than 1,500 fans turned out Friday night to hear Phillip Phillips, the country boy who doesn’t play country music, perform his own style of music at the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts.

A Georgia native, Phillips blends his country charm with a rock beat and articulate, emotion-packed lyrics.

Phillips, season 11 winner of TV’s “American Idol” in 2012, is out touring in support of his second album, “Behind the Light,” which launched the hit single “Raging Fire.” He played that song early in the show, with the audience singing along, and saved “Home,” his breakout hit from “Idol,” for the end.

His set list for the night also included “Gone, Gone, Gone” from “Idol” and “Unpack Your Heart” from the new album.

For a performer who has confessed he’s “scared to death” when he goes onstage, Phillips looked pretty comfortable up there. (He also has said the stage is the only place where he can feel free.)

At 24, with comparatively short hair and a closely trimmed beard, he looks more like an affable grad student than a star, but that impression is deceptive. Backed by his five-man band, Phillips proved himself a showman, whipping the crowd into a party mood. The band’s strong lead guitar and trombone solos added power and flavor to the mix.

Because of his youth and his television exposure, Phillips appeals to a broad age range. Brock Albee and Robert Krist, both 17 and both from Petaluma, came to see the show, and so did Jeff Ames, 67, of Santa Rosa,

“I like the way he relates to the audience,” Ames said.

When the center remodeled its main theater last year, it installed removable seats on the main floor, and the seats were taken out for Phillips’ concert, making the event feel more like a dancehall jam or even an outdoor concert than a more formal auditorium show.

The balcony seating had sold out well in advance and those fans looked content Friday, but the rest of the crowd seemed perfectly happy standing and moving to the music downstairs.

Saints of Valory, an alternative rock band from Austin, Texas, opened the show, pounding out a beat while strobe lights flashed from the stage.

From California, Phillips’ tour will take him to Canada in January and South Africa in February.

You can reach staff writer Dan Taylor at 521-5243 or dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com.