By Justin RouillonMonday 3 Jun 2024MusicReading Time: 4 minutes
Main Image: A crowd of almost 10,000 filled the Entertainment Centre, as for King + Country took to the stage in Brisbane for the first time in five years (Josh Woning).
“It was venues like these that we were thinking about when we dreamt up this tour,” Luke Smallbone tells me backstage at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre.
It’s the last show of for King + Country’s Homecoming Tour, which has seen the band visit ten cities across Australia and New Zealand.
And while the tour can’t be seen as anything other than an overwhelming success, Luke also mentions that they were warned about not dreaming too big in the early planning stages.
“We were reminded that not filling this size of venue was what got Dad into trouble” says Luke, referring to his father David Smallbone, who was the Australian promoter for Amy Grant’s 1988 ‘Lead Me On’ Tour.
That tour lost David half a million dollars, and saw a relocation from Sydney to Brisbane, and then in the early nineties to Nashville in the USA.
The film ‘Unsung Hero’, released in Australian cinemas last week to coincide with the tour, tells the story of the family’s relocation, the trials and struggles faced as a family of eight (and soon to be nine) move halfway across the world in search of a new beginning.
for King + Country perform ‘Unsung Hero’ – a song penned for their parents (Josh Woning).
And once for King + Country take the stage, in front of almost 10,000 Brisbane fans, it becomes obvious that this isn’t just another show for Joel and Luke.
Like the name suggests, it’s clearly a homecoming that’s not just sentiment, with over 120 extended family members in the audience.
But the Brisbane show also a full circle moment, with Joel telling a packed Brisbane Entertainment Centre, that this was the very room that Amy Grant played, that subsequently turned the Smallbone’s world upside down.
Beginning the show with an amped up version of their 2021 hit ‘Relate’, the boys then powered through ‘Fix My Eyes’ and ‘Fight On, Fighter’.
The production values are epic and the band is tight, a testament to the current standing of for King + Country in the US Christian music scene.
Australian Christian music fans have not seen a show on a scale like this since Easterfest pulled up stumps almost a decade ago.
for King + Country played to an almost 10,000 strong crowd in Brisbane (Josh Woning).
In the five years since the boys were last in Brisbane, for King + Country have cemented themselves as heavy hitters in the Christian music industry, but for all that success Joel and Luke have remained as down to earth as ever.
There was a real air of gratitude and thankfulness on display with Joel telling fans at a Q & A ahead of the show, that they are so appreciative of the love and support they have received from Brisbane.
“Coming to Brisbane has been the best part of this tour. We still very much see ourselves as Australians, and as Australian artists. We see ourselves as representing this great land.
“Coming home, when you haven’t been here in five years, and you’re so excited to see everyone, and you’re bringing your family, and you’re celebrating your 40th birthday down here, and you’re releasing a movie about your parents and your family’s story in one of the most pivotal moments of our family history; there’s just so much happening.”
“You might have just a weepy mess of a for King + Country tonight. This could be one of the most defining nights of our time as musicians.”
As the band worked their way through their extensive catalog, highlights included ‘Unsung Hero’, sung for their parents in the audience, an acoustic bracket featuring ‘Shoulders’ and the Michael W Smith classic ‘Place in This World’, as well as a 10,000 strong singalong to ‘God Only Knows’.
Not even a technical glitch halfway through the show could put a damper on the band’s spirit, or the crowd’s energy.
As the final strains of John Farnham’s anthemic ‘You’re the Voice’ and for King + Country’s version of Little Drummer Boy faded away, the packed Entertainment Centre were sent into the cool of the Brisbane night knowing they’d seen a couple of Aussie lads at the peak of their musical powers, and at the top of their game.
Let’s just hope we don’t have to wait long for another homecoming.