Tue October 28, 2003 09:02 PM ET
Howie Day (Mon. )
By Darryl Morden

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - While certainly a talented singer-songwriter with a personable manner, Howie Day is pleasant rather than compelling.

Monday was originally the second date of a two-night stand at the Roxy for Day, but his Sunday show was moved to Tuesday when his flight into town was canceled, like many others, because of the raging wildfires throughout the Southland.

The crowd packing the floor in front of the stage certainly whooped it up for Day, who‘s already building a core following that began a few years ago with his coffeehouse performances in Bangor, Maine. Backed by a tight three-man band, which included a player on lead guitar and keyboards, the set featured songs from Day‘s new Epic album, "Stop All the World Now."

In such numbers as the emotional offering of "Brace Yourself" and the wistful ballad "Numbness for Sound," Day somewhat recalled Neil Finn and Crowded House, crafting tuneful pop-rock songs laced in the romantic but not starry-eyed.

Day was less reserved - sounding and more excitable than on record. The upbeat and winning single "Perfect Time of Day" was very U2-ish with an echo-drenched coda, while his semi-confessional style with a touch of wit also places him in the Jeff Buckley and Badly Drawn Boy camps.

Where Day came up short was when gimmicks took over. During a solo spot playing acoustic guitar and singing "Sorry So Sorry" and "Ghost" -- both from his debut album, "Australia" -- instantly recorded tracks of his vocals echoed back in overlapping reverb, along with his rhythmic banging on the guitar and its strings, a trick he repeated again later in the night.

Day‘s sonic shtick may well have gone over big when he used to play those coffeehouses, but it was a poor substitute for genuine passion and fire, which to his credit did surface in several other songs, including the brooding "Trouble in Here" and the emotional churning of "Collide."