Live: Tobymac Hits Deeper in Indy
March 20, 2023
While the Rock and Worship Roadshow may be no more, Winter Jam is still not the only annual Christian arena megatour. That’s right Tobymac’s Hits Deep continues to roll strong each year and it recently hit Indy’s Gainbridge Fieldhouse for an eclectic night of music and worship.
With Hits Deep, you get a lot of bang for your money with the first four artists playing for about 10 minutes each and hitting back-to-back and rapid fire sets, starting with Terrian, who hit the crowd with a hip hop-inspired set that was exciting all the way through.
Cochren & Co. was next up, letting the fans know it was a home state show for them, which got them over with the fans from the beginning and they played a set that took the crowd straight to Sunday night southern Church while Jon Reddick followed suit with some R&B mixed in.
Tasha Layton wrapped up the first half of the show with an inspiration-filled set that somehow found her time to fit in a conversation about the dark times she’s overcome and still play a lengthy set. She was one of the strong parts of the show before Crowder took over and completely amped the show up.
With a band that stretched across the entire stage, Crowder and company ripped into an electric rock bluegrass set that was intense from the very start. He talked about how he met his wife at a church lock-in when they were kids because of their mutual love of DC Talk and had a few other conversations throughout the night with the crowd.
If you watched Crowder’s set and didn’t get something fun out of it or smile at least once, you probably don’t have a pulse; There’s something for everyone with Crowder.
Finally, it was time for Tobymac to finish things up on the evening. He played a scorching 21-song set that was more like a headline tour for a new record than a Hits Deep Tour with the majority of the set being tracks from his new album- Life After Death- but the fans didn’t mind at all.
At times, Toby was joined on stage by the opening bands- including Crowder- and even switched up a few songs (“Speak Life” had a heavier, rock element to it).
It was a very open, very vulnerable Tobymac this time around, speaking candidly about standing in a field during his oldest son’s funeral and how he had told his family they had to rebuild. It was a moving, touching moment and there wasn’t a dry eye in the building- you could hear a pin drop with how intently those in the room were listening.
While things got dark and heavy at times, there was still a strong message of hope, love and faith and that was the theme of the entire tour.
Not one person left without feeling uplifted and everyone who left at the end of the night did so having had yet another memorable Tobymac experience.
-Reggie Edwards