Die-hard Faith Hill fans finally got their wish on Tuesday night when Faith Hill finally made it down under for her first ever Australian tour.
Tim McGraw and Faith Hill
Karen McLellan was at the show and filed this review for Noise11.com:
One couldn’t ask for a better pairing with Faith’s very own husband- Tim McGraw on the bill. Not only are Faith and Tim considered one of country music’s biggest “power couples” – they also really know how to entertain.
Texas’ own Eli Young Band who topped the US country charts last year with their hit “Crazy Girl” opened the show and were very well received by the Melbourne crowd. Then it was all about Faith.
Dawned in black – a svelte Faith Hill took the stage to a packed house at Rod Laver Arena where she opened up with a most appropriate early career hit- “Mississippi Girl”. She soon followed with some of her other well-known hits such as “This Kiss” and “The Way You Love Me”. Then she gave the crowd a special treat where she performed two new songs (one called “Flower”) from her forthcoming release which is scheduled for later this year.
One of the highlights was most definitely her strong vocal performance on one of her biggest crossover hits to date “Breathe”. Faith performed an additional new track titled “American Heart” which was an up-tempo number that was also well received by the crowd. Near the end of her set, she performed one of her early hits that helped break her onto the scene in the early 1990s- which is a country rendition of Janis Joplin’s classic “Piece of My Heart”. This brought the arena to its feet.
Faith then ended her set with a beautiful ballad during which- her husband Tim McGraw- conveniently worked his way onto to the stage to join her before take it over. That’s when Rod Laver really started rockin’.
Tim and his band took full advantage of the T-shaped walkway that protruded from the main stage and used every inch of it. Tim and his band were shaking fans’ hands and hi-fiving everyone they could reach- all during his set. Tim performed most of his big hits including “Where the Green Grass Grows” and “Something like That” in addition to his breakthrough early hits such as “Indian Outlaw” and “Don’t Take the Girl” – which the crowd practically sang for him. Tim was so engaging with the audience that he literally came down off the stage and wandered through the crowd on both sides of the floor while singing another one of his big hits “I Like it, I Love it”.
The multi-platinum country singing actor also performed his latest hit “Better than I Used to be” from his #1 charting release “Emotional Traffic”. One of his top tracks “Live like You Were Dying” was another song the Rod Laver arena crowd sang practically every word to.
As expected, Tim’s beautiful partner Faith joined him on stage near the end of his performance for a couple of duets including their big hit “It’s Your Love”. Their final encore was the intimate “I Need You” which they performed sitting and facing each other like the video.
After performing in Adelaide and two nights at Rod Laver, the super duo will perform three shows in Brisbane followed by Sydney.
Brisbane: Entertainment Centre -March 23rd, 24th & 25th
Sydney: Entertainment Centre -March 27th
Review by Karen McLellan
