Live: Chris Tomlin and Hillsong United in Indianapolis
Fans recently packed out Indy’s Gainbridge Fieldhouse to see CCM powerhouses Chris Tomlin and Hillsong United.
It hadn’t been long since Hillsong came through before at Winter Jam and a lot of fans weren’t impressed, feeling there was not enough original music played by them; just old hymns. Their expectations were not set high for them but were going to give them another shot.
The energy in the building and crowd was very high and positive and, as fans waited for Tomlin to start his set, a clock counted down the time until he took the stage, which was a good way to get the crowd going.
Even though he wasn’t headlining, Tomlin was able to fit in a lot of his classic fan favorites and threw in a couple old hymns. He absolutely covered the best version of \”Amazing Grace.” He had the crowd going the entire time he was on stage and had great interactions with the crowd. He was also very entertaining with a good stage presence and stage show, joking about how long he’s been singing and touring.
After a short intermission for the traditional “Feed the Children” campaign you find at most Christian concerts, it was time for Hillsong United to take the stage and they really needed to come out with a lot of energy since fans were drained by the campaign message they’d heard numerous times before.
Hillsong came out and did indeed wake them up. The energy was good for the first two songs and then they went slow and then picked the tempo back up. The stage presence of the band was good but the song choices could have been better.
The concert was not the best I attended nor the worst. Tomlin engaged the audience very well as Hillsong didn\’t do that much. I will give credit where credit is due, this performance by Hillsong United was better than the last one I saw them at in a sense of overall but was still not as good as I was hoping for.
Tomlin should have headlined this tour. He had all aspects and attributes that I expect him to have which a few of those were missing with Hillsong. Unless Hillsong was on a Winter Jam concert again or on tour with a good headlining band or artist, I probably won\’t see them again while I would see Tomlin again.
-Skip \”Rampage\” Raddison