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In what seems to be a trend-at least based on extrapolation from the Casting Crowns concert I reviewed here recently-some acts with broad enough appeal to cover Christian adult contemporary, inspirational and contemporary hit radio feel comfortable enough to rock harder on stage. In the same manner that the Irish band named for a missile from whom Tomlin's team derives much of their inspiration* have eased from being considered "new wave" or "alternative" to being a cozy fit on adult top 40 stations, it's easy to think of Tomlin's anthemic praise pop as both grown-up and youthful in its attraction. The chronological breadth of ticket holders (pre-teen to 60s, at least) filling the the 2,000+ padded pew seats in a Milwaukee suburb church bore out that assessment, too.

The respectfully aggressive arrangements given to standards such as "O Come All Ye Faithful" and  "The First Noel" were matched in intensity and devotional fervor by originals such as "Jesus Messiah" and semi-public domain piece "Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)." That Christmas longplayer, Glory In the Highest, includes a couple of other such number on which he puts his own recontextualizing that garners him something extra in his royalty checks, including "Joy To The World (Unspeakable Joy)." A shout-out to Catholics in the crowd might have one wondering about Tomlin's understanding of the Council of Trent's denial of justification by faith alone vis a vis the solas of the Reformation; but it's tough to beat the doctrinal solidity of the carols he and his band tackled and the fresh way in which his best material more economically articulates biblical truth, too. 

As on previous tours, Tomlin's label owner and Paul to his Timothy, Louie Gigloio, preached. Considering the interpolation of autobiographical details and other life concepts into exposition of scriptural concepts, preaching might not be the right verb. In any event, contrasting with his prior presentations of evidence about how the human cell and cosmology witness to Christ, Giglio's talk tonight used a more modest metaphor. Picking out a young boy from one of the first few rows, he gave a gift of a camouflage-covered Bible, a couple of Tomlin CD's and backstage passes for him and his mom. This prefaced an encouraging talk regarding how the Incarnation and Gospel are God's gifts to us. Regardless of a slight citation of __The Message__ (and not even what could be one of Eugene Peterson's more poetic paraphrases of a verse in John), Giglio enlivened the scandal and wonder in Luke's account of the circumstances surrounding the Lord's birth.  

And just as on Glory, Tomlin introduced a guest for a song he didn't believe he could do justice. Bespectacled Audrey Assad sat at the piano for "Winter Snow," but either her annunciation or the house mix blurred a good deal of the vocals on what is a lovely number.

Tomlin and Giglio gave a pitch for support of the One Million Can ministry as an outgrowth of their involvement with Passion collegiate worship events, then a few more songs. And so ended a fulsome night of modern, accessible communing with the Almighty.

-Jamie Rake        

*there's only so many times I want to mention U2 in a Christian concert review