Hillsong UNITED Readies AFTERMATH For Feb. 15 Release
Traversing six continents of the world into 42 nations just since 2006 in a cross-cultural journey, best-selling modern worship band Hillsong UNITED returns to North America February/March 2011 for the 12-city major market “Aftermath” tour. The tour follows the Feb. 15, 2011 release of the band’s highly anticipated, 11th full-length album and second ever studio recording, AFTERMATH, on Sparrow Records. This is the first new recording from the band in the alliance announced last year with EMI Christian Music Group.
The Aftermath tour extends coast-to-gulf-to-coast, hitting Los Angeles (Staples Center), Houston (Berry Center), New York City (Hammerstein Ballroom) and more. Already selling thousands of tickets, the momentum has driven a second event to be added in Boston at the Orpheum Theatre. Last year’s tour opened in Boston with a capacity crowd at The Wang Theatre. The full Hillsong UNITED Aftermath tour itinerary can be found on the band’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/hillsongunited, which has more than 1.4 million friends. (All tour dates are also listed below.)
The band’s 2011 tour builds on recent tours that saw major venues sell out coast-to-coast, from the Nokia Theatre (Los Angeles) to Roseland Ballroom (New York City) to Bank United Centre (Miami) to the largest event ever held as of last April in the Sears Centre Arena (Chicago, IL), which outdrew recent concerts there by such legendary performers as Billy Joel, Elton John and the Eagles.
With more than a decade’s worth of worship favorites, Hillsong UNITED will also play new music from AFTERMATH while on tour, including the first radio single from the album, “Search My Heart.” The song goes to radio Jan. 21 and is a pulsing, urgent cry to be used by God for His – not simply our own – purposes.
Having its pulse consistently in tune with the heart cry of congregations across the globe and a fresh, forward-thinking soundtrack to match, Hillsong UNITED has been the veritable gold standard of modern worship music for the past decade and counting. As Hillsong UNITED’s team of songwriters penned and recorded the tracks for AFTERMATH, the theme of genuine, paradoxical hope in the wake of apparent tragedy emerged in track after track.
“Normally ‘aftermath’ has a negative, even traumatic, connotation,” Hillsong UNITED’s Joel Houston says. “At the same time, when I look at the Crucifixion as an event, it paints an extraordinarily negative and horrific picture. But the aftermath of the Cross is hope for all mankind. It’s grace, freedom, peace, life and everything that is good about God. I absolutely love that picture.”
“Ultimately, through these songs, our upcoming tour – even the album’s packaging – we want to take people on a journey that leaves them feeling empowered to be about what God’s calling us to be about – not out of this sense of burden,” continues Joel.
Fronted by worship leaders Joel Houston, Jad Gillies and Jonathon "JD" Douglass, the UNITED team is also an evolving collaboration of pastors, worship leaders, musicians and songwriters - all intentional about giving voice to a generation passionate about God. Having led worship in churches, stadiums and open fields in Australia, Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas, the full Hillsong UNITED 2011 Aftermath North American tour itinerary follows:
Wed, Feb 23, 2011 Vancouver, BC Abbotsford Entertainment & Sports CentreThu, Feb 24,2011 Seattle, WA ShoWare Center KentSat, Feb 26, 2011 San Francisco, CA The Warfield TheatreSun, Feb 27, 2011 Sacramento, CA Memorial AuditoriumTue, Mar 1, 2011 Los Angeles, CA Staples CenterWed, Mar 2, 2011 Phoenix, AZ US Airways CenterFri, Mar 4, 2011 Houston, TX Berry CenterSat, Mar 5, 2011 Dallas, TX Music HallMon, Mar 7, 2011 Atlanta, GA Gwinnett CenterTue, Mar 8, 2011 Birmingham, AL BJCCThu, Mar 10, 2011 New York, NY Hammerstein BallroomFri, Mar 11, 2011 Boston, MA, 7 PM Orpheum TheatreFri, Mar 11, 2011 Boston, MA, 10 PM Orpheum Theatre, Part II
Hillsong UNITED was born out of the Youth Movement of Hillsong Church, where the Youth group meets weekly and now has over 3,000 attendees. Young people are encouraged and empowered to use their creativity in music, arts and film to serve in ministry. In 1999, UNITED recorded its first album Everyday, which featured original songs written by the young people, and has since sold over 1,000,000 albums in the U.S. alone and built a very large brand image and following all around the world. Its 2007 album, All Of The Above, and 2009 album, A Cross the Earth: Tear Down The Walls, launched to No.1 on U.S. Billboard Christian charts, and the latter and most recent album also grabbed the No. 2 position on the iTunes mainstream chart, just behind Eminem.
Based in Sydney, Australia, Hillsong Church is one of the world’s fastest-growing ministries, with a 25,000-plus strong congregation in Australia, as well as one of the largest evangelical churches in London, Cape Town and Kiev. Hillsong also has churches in Stockholm and Paris, and recently announced plans to establish a new church in New York City. Hillsong Music has sold over 11 million albums to date and has earned 30 Gold and Platinum awards around the world.
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