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The popular Christian praise band, Hillsong United made their way to Greensboro last week. These guys are in a unique position where their songs are known and sung in local churches all across the world. Who needs radio airplay when you have millions of believers singing your songs every sunday, right? And because of this, Hillsong United attract arena-sized crowds wherever they go. They even managed to sell out the Staples Center in Los Angeles earlier this year. And after seeing them at the Greensboro Coliseum, I can tell you first hand that they know how to put on an arena-sized show.

It’s an interesting dynamic that the team has to balance, really. Singing praise songs to God is an intimate thing so how do you handle and respect that aspect of it when you perform in an enormous venue? I mean, it’s a tough enough job just to command the attention of 10,000 people for two and a half hours. But to do that PLUS bring people closer to God just adds to the complexity of it all. In any case, I have to say that Hillsong United did a tremendous job both as a live band and getting those in attendance pumped up for Christ.

Yes, they incorporated all the elements found in a typical concert including a synchronized light show, video screens and top-notched sound equipment. But thankfully they did things with humility and sincerity that helped transform the concrete arena feel more like church. Don’t get me wrong, this wasn’t your touchy-feely, wimpy campfire singalong that people usually think of in terms of church praise music. These guys rocked. the band was tight and played like a well-oiled seasoned arena-rock band. The guys out front (Joel Houston, JD Douglass, Matthew Crocker and Jad Gillies) were full of energy and were infectiously enthusiastic about sharing their love for Christ.

highlights included: “With Everything” (with the band pounding away and the arena shouting in one voice, it was absolutely phenomenal!!), “All I Need is You” (would have loved to have lingered in the sweet moment a while longer but the band had more songs to perform), “Shout Unto God”, “The Stand” and the one-two-three punch of the high-energy encore led by JD Douglass (“Your Name High”, “Take it All” and “Yours Forever”).

I also want to give props to the audio/visual team. They obviously spent a good amount of time/resource to create unique visuals/lighting design for each song. It definitely enhanced the experience. Also old venues like the Greensboro Coliseum weren’t originally built/designed with concerts in mind so it’s pretty difficult to get decent sound in places like these. But under the circumstances, I thought the sound crew did a spectacular job. I don’t think I’ve ever heard it sound as good at the Coliseum before.

RetroGrade: A

concert: Hillsong United
venue: Greensboro Coliseum
date: August 19, 2011

Greensboro set list:
Go
Break Free
You
Search My Heart
Mighty to Save
Hosanna
All I need is You
Bones
Nova
Aftermath
Freedom is Here
Shout unto God
Like an Avalanche
Rhythms of Grace
Oh You Bring
The Stand
From the Inside Out
With Everything

Take Heart

Hillsong United:
Joel Houston, Matthew Crocker, Hayley Law, JD Douglass, Jad Gillies, Dylan Thomas, Adam Crosariol, Simon Kobler, Timon Klein, Peter James

purchase Aftermath via CDUniverse

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I’m looking forward to seeing these guys in Greensboro on the 19th.

catch ‘em if you can. here are the few remaining dates left on their summer US tour:

Aug. 15, 2011 in Grand Rapids, MI
Aug. 16, 2011 in Columbus, OH
Aug. 18, 2011 in Nashville, TN
Aug. 19, 2011 in Greensboro, NC
Aug. 20, 2011 in Columbia, MD

purchase their latest CD Aftermath at CDUniverse.

look for a review of the concert in the coming weeks.

You were near though I was distant
Disillusioned I was lost and insecure
Still mercy fought for my intention
You were waiting at the door, then I let You in

Holy are You God, Holy is Your name
with everything I’ve got
My heart will sing how I love You

written by Joel Houston
From the CD: Hillsong – Beautiful Exchange

I’m so conditioned to expect mediocre releases from Hillsong that I was really taken aback while listening to their latest CD Faith + Hope + Love. This is by far the best Hillsong album in recent memory. I’m not sure what happened between the recording of this release and their previous effort, Across the Earth: Tear Down the Walls but the material is so much stronger this time around. Casual listeners may not notice a difference since the song arrangements and the overall sound mix are pretty typical for a Hillsongs recording. But the well crafted song structures and the depth of the lyrics take this Hillsong release to another level.
And for a change of pace, a Brooke Fraser Ligertwood song isn’t the major highlight of the album. It’s a song by Jill McCloghry titled “We the Redeemed”. The powerful worship anthem will most likely be a congregation favorite for years to come. And there’s plenty more on the album for worship leaders to use with their respective teams. Be sure to check out: “The First and The Last”, “For Your Name”, “Yahweh” and “The Wonder of Your Love”
It’s also great to hear Darlene Zschech’s lovely voice again on “The Wonder of Your Love”. No longer the main worship pastor at Hillsong Church, Zschech has taken a lesser role on recent Hillsong recordings. Even so, there’s no replacing that remarkable voice of hers which will be forever linked as part of that classic “hillsong sound”.

RetroGrade: A

—
Hillsong Live – Faith + Hope + Love
released: August 2009
recorded during the month of March 2009
label: Hillsong Music/Integrity

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It was hard for me NOT to just CUT and PASTE my last Hillsong review for this review of a_CROSS//the_EARTH: Tear Down the Walls, especially since the majority of their releases are *SO* cookie-cutter like. I know, I know, praise & worship music inherently limits the songwriters to basic chord progressions in order for congregations the world over to be able to sing-along during services. But even so, I expect a little more from Hillsong United, who are touted as the most popular youth worship band in the world. The new live recording just feels like they’re filling an obligation. The songs don’t feel inspired and are pretty much by-the-book. All the elements of a Hillsong recording are here: upbeat rockers (check!), introspective contributions from Brooke (Fraser) Ligertwood (check!), bland mid-tempo strum-alongs (check!, check!), and futile attempts at another “Shout to the Lord” mega-smash (check!). Two songs from last year’s This is Our God needlessly appear here in this collection – “Desert Song” and “Your Name High”. Both songs were performed better on the previous CD. Brooke Ligertwood as always delivers the standout cut, this time called “Soon”, arranged in a low-key manner which is pretty unusual relative to Hillsong’s bombastic tendancies. Other songs that have potential to catch on with congregations hungry for new material include: “Freedom is Here”, “Tear Down the Walls”, “More Than Anything”, “You Hold Me Now”

retroGrade: C+

a_CROSS//the_EARTH: Tear Down the Walls
Hillsong United
released: May 2009
label: Hillsong/Integrity

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It’s unfortunate that the latest Hillsong Live release, This Is Our God has been stained by Michael Guglielmucci deceiving people into believing he had cancer. The CD turned out to be one of their stronger efforts in recent years. OK, admittedly, that’s not saying all that much since the last few Hillsong Live albums have been pretty lackluster. But with long time leader Darlene Zschech taking a less prominent role in the worship team, the line between “Hillsong Live” and “Hillsong United” has been blurred. What you hear now as “Hillsong Live” is pretty much what we’ve been hearing on “Hillsong United” albums – a straight-ahead, no-nonsense alt-rock approach to worship music. And there-in lies the problem. I’m not sure if it’s simply the limitations of the musicians in the band but the instrumental arrangements to every track are blandly similar. I can see that the songwriters have written some great material this time around but frustratingly, the band interprets the songs in the same fashion every single time. Frankly, they desperately need to find better musicians because the guitar player can’t play a decent lead to save his life. And the piano is relatively non-existent in the mix. So, what we end up here on the album is a wall of sound created by a whole bunch of guitars strumming basic chords for 70-plus minutes which is pretty tedious listening. And that’s a shame because some of these songs deserve better treatment. Once you get past the run-of-the-mill playing, you can find some mega-church filling anthems like “He is Lord”, “Your Name High”, “Stronger” and “You Are Here (the Same Power)”.

retroGrade : C+

This is Our God
Artist: Hillsong Live
Featured worship leaders: Darlene Zschech, Brooke Fraser, Joel Houston, Matt Crocker, Mike Guglielmucci, Sam Knock, Jad Gillies and Reuben Morgan
label: Hillsong/Integrity
released: August 2008
Official site: Hillsong Music Australia

TrackListing:
1 Your Name High (Houston) 3:54
2 Run (Houston) 3:20
3 Desert Song (Fraser) 4:10
4 This Is Our God (Morgan) 5:48
5 He Is Lord (Fielding) 4:54
6 High and Lifted Up (Guglielmucci, Zschech) 4:36
7 Stronger (Fielding, Morgan) 4:26
8 Healer (Guglielmucci) 7:04
9 You Are Here (The Same Power) (George, Pankratz) 2:50
10 You Deserve (Crocker, Dunlop) 4:36
11 Across the Earth (Crocker, Guglielmucci, Morgan) 4:28
12 Where We Belong (Davies, Morgan) 5:31
13 Sing to the Lord (Crocker, Guglielmucci) 6:43
14 You’ll Come (Fraser) 5:03
15 Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus (Lemel, Traditional) 1:45
16 With Everything (Houston) 7:54

While doing some prep work for my upcoming review of This Is Our God by Hillsong Live, I came across this news item from Christian Music Today that was posted back in September. Apparently, Pastor Michael Guglielmucci, who wrote and performed “Healer” on the album, deceived thousands of Hillsong church members about his battle with cancer. He flat out lied to his family, friends and followers about having the disease. In reality, Pastor Guglielmucci was dealing with 16 year porn addiction. What a tragic fall from grace. and it’s truly sad to think about how this selfish act negatively affects the faith of thousands of believers who sincerely prayed for, put their trust in and contributed their hard earned money to this man. Hillsong reacted swiftly by pulling the song off of their website and plans to remove the song off of future pressings of This is Our God. That’s too bad since the song was one of the featured highlights on the album. Look for my review of the album in the next few days.

read more about the Guglielmucci controversy on AdelaideNow

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