Newsboys United, Michael W. Smith turn Sears Centre into spiritual sanctuary

Photos by Andy Argyrakis

Getting all six of the current and classic era Newsboys together was enough of a reason to steer fans towards the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, but add in a co-headlining appearance by Michael W. Smith, and it suddenly turned into a serious slice of Christian music history. But believe it or not, up until this “Surrounded & United” Tour, the Australian-bred pop/rockers with 33 chart-toppers and more than ten million albums sold had never ever joined forces with the triple Grammy-winning singer/songwriter with 32 number one singles (including a cluster of crossovers) and sales that eclipsed 15 million.

And that’s not even taking into account a concluding set that found Smitty and Newsboys United collectively taking the arena to church with a string of vertical themes (“Reckless Love,” “We Believe,” “Surrounded,” “God’s Not Dead,” “Agnus Dei”) that had every last hand raised in praise of the evening’s higher purpose.

Newsboys United kicked off the three-hour evening with a member-spanning set list where Peter Furler and Michael Tait took turns stepping up to the microphone, while guitarist Jody Davis, keyboardist Jeff Frankenstein, bassist Phil Joel and drummer Duncan Phillips fired like a well-oiled machine that could’ve passed for having always played together. It’s actually been a decade since Furler was in the fold and at least a couple additional years for Joel, which made their emergence during “He Reigns” through ‘90s essentials “Shine,” “Breakfast” and “Entertaining Angels” all the more exhilarating.

Tait also towered over “Born Again” and “Live With Abandon” (amongst others), cementing his ten-year tenure in the group, which of course came after some solo dabblings and an unstoppable streak with DC Talk. In terms of collaborations, Newsboys United debuted a few tunes from an upcoming collection of the same name, suggesting the line-up could stretch beyond a single season, or at the very least, become a periodically recurring reunion whenever everyone’s schedules allow.

Speaking of new music, Smitty brought a double batch released a week apart in the form of the regular studio record “A Million Lights,” along with the worship-minded “Surrounded.” Though everyone enthusiastically sung along to samples such as “Crashing Waves” when the words flashed on the screen, his hour was at its liveliest when mining the vaults from the ‘80s and ‘90s (as far back as “Friends”), even if portions of the audience weren’t even alive when they were recorded.

The ageless “Secret Ambition” seemed tailor-made for an arena, “Love One Another,” “Picture Perfect” and “Cross Of Gold” (all off his mainstream breakthrough project “Change Your World”) were splashy piano pop at its finest, while the power ballad “Place In This World” was recast as a touching duet with Tait. And that’s not even taking into account a concluding set that found Smitty and Newsboys United collectively taking the former Poplar Creek campus to church with a string of vertical themes (“Reckless Love,” “We Believe,” “Surrounded,” “God’s Not Dead,” “Agnus Dei”) that had every last hand raised in praise of the evening’s higher purpose.