The Hello Love Tour

The Hello Love Tour
Chris Tomlin and Israel & New Breed
1st Mariner Arena
Baltimore, Maryland
Saturday, January 24, 2009


In an article in 2006, Time Magazine referred to Chris Tomlin as the "the most often sung artist anywhere." I was in Wal-Mart a few weeks back and while waiting in line heard the woman behind me humming "How Great Is Our God". Chris Tomlin truly is everywhere! Chris has 10 Top 100 CCLI songs, 6 of them are in the Top 25, and he has sold over 1.5 million albums. Chris is one the most humble, quiet men you will ever meet. You would never know that he is one of Christian music's sought after and influential artists. He doesn't look or sound like a man who has reinvented the sound of Christian praise music. He's just Chris. We've been working for the better part of 2 years to have Chris come back to Baltimore and his schedule finally lined up. We were even more excited to hear that Israel & New Breed would be joining him on tour. Israel Houghton is a two time Grammy Award winning worship leader of Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church in Texas. Israel & New Breed accompanied Alicia Keys at the 2007 MTV VMA's for a performance of George Michael's "Freedom '90." Israel was also invited by the Grammys to perform alongside Bebe and CeCe Winans and Aretha Franklin in a segment saluting Gospel music on the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. When I heard that Israel was on the ticket, I practically happy danced the whole day long at work. I was so excited that two unique and diverse styles of praise and worship were going to be represented in one night, because it's such a representation of Baltimore. We are a very diverse city, and I can't tell you how awesome it felt to see 8,000 people - African American, Asian, Caucasian, Hispanic, Indian - packing out 1st Mariner Arena. So many different and diverse backgrounds all united together under one roof for a common purpose. It will definitely go down as a concert to remember.

By the way, I must give a shout out Tasha Schalk of Redwall Photo. Tasha is an INCREDIBLE and creative concert photographer who graciously shares her photography knowledge with others. I used her Photoshop actions on a few of these photos. I want to be her when I grow up.