By Olivia Turner | Arts & Life Editor
Golden hour set in as hundreds filed into the Foster Pavilion on Tuesday evening. Speckled among the crowd in the pit and the decks of the arena were t-shirts, sweatshirts and jerseys bearing the capitalized words “Child of God” and “Forrest Frank.”
One of the members of the crowd donning such a shirt, Inver Grove, Minn. sophomore Liam Laddusaw, said he has been a Forrest Frank fan since middle school. He said he enjoys listening thanks to the uplifting and positive energy Frank’s music brings.
“There’s no reason not to [listen], in my opinion,” Laddusaw said. “He has his own style that he developed and I just fell in love with it. It’s hard to find anywhere else.”
The Waco show, an added stop on Frank’s Child of God Tour Part II, commenced at 7:30 p.m. with opener Claire Leslie.
Pink and purple spotlights flooded the stage as Leslie ran on, blonde hair whipping behind her. The bubbly singer jumped and danced, singing fan favorites “Point of View,” “24/7” and “Now What?” As she ran back and forth on the stage, she waved to all sides of the audience and asked everyone to scream their names on the count of three as an introduction. Then, she introduced her band.
“Y’all, say hi to Felipe, Jonathan and David,” Leslie said. “We came all the way from San Antonio, Texas so we’re local Texans as well. Thank you so much. We’re so honored to be here.”
Orange stage lights cast a glow on faces in the pit as she transitioned into her next song, “Twenty Something,” from her recent EP. Then, Leslie teased an unreleased song, “Thank God I’m Not Alone,” which is coming out next week. The song was inspired by a journal entry written back in college, she said.
“I just felt like I was supposed to read it to you guys,” Leslie said. “It’s very vulnerable … I don’t know if you’ve ever [walked] into a room full of people and it just feels like everyone around you has their life together. They know what they’re going to study and major in, and you’re just like, ‘I don’t know what I want to do.’ That was me three years ago.”
Now, three years later, Leslie encouraged the crowd not to “believe the lie” of loneliness as the band played soft, instrumental music. Leslie then led the audience in lines from the popular Christian worship song, “Build My Life” by Pat Barrett.
To finish out her set, Leslie blasted her single, “Original,” to strobing magenta lights before she dashed off stage.
After a brief intermission, an introductory video featuring a Billy Graham speech was played as the stage was converted into the green, grassy hill portrayed on Frank’s Child of God Tour poster. Atop the hill, the band struck up the first song, “No Longer Bound,” as Frank, clad in a plaid button-up t-shirt and jorts, emerged running up the astroturf.
Fog crept down the slope and blasted from machines on stage as his setlist rolled, continuing with his hit “Up!” The crowd belted the lyrics back at Frank, waving phone flashlights too and fro.
“It’s going to be an awesome night,” Frank said after the song’s conclusion. “I’m super stoked to be here, but I just need to set the tone. There’s a lot of action, a lot of noise, a lot of sounds, a lot of visuals. But make no mistake — tonight is all about Jesus.”
Frank then led the crowd in an opening prayer, dedicating the night to praising him and requesting that his spirit be present throughout the show.
In a blur of flashing lights and bright piano riffs, guitar solos and colorful graphics backing the screen behind the band, Frank sang along to “PRAISES (remix),” “YOUR WAY’S BETTER” and “UPS & DOWNS.” The audience bobbed, waved their arms back and forth and roared their applause as Frank brought a member from the pit onstage to help him with Caleb Gordon’s part in his next song, “GOD IS GOOD.” With his arm around her, they belted out the song together, orange and purple lights illuminating the crowd.
Frank teased the reasoning behind the name of his next song, a recent release, “NO L’S.”
“We serve a victorious God, amen,” Frank said, to which cheers flooded the pavilion. “Jesus did the final work on the cross. And as God’s children, we get to be a part of that victory, and therefore, we ain’t taking no L’s.
“NOTHING ELSE,” “LOWKEY” and the recently released “CELEBRATION” were up next. After plucky strings and gospel keyboard chords reverberated through the space, Frank ran through the crowd to a platform in the center of the room on which a piano and mic sat. Taking a break from the music, Frank shared the story of his move back to Waco and his transition from secular music as if he were chatting with an old friend, somehow making the crowd of thousands feel intimate. Here, he sang “SAFE AND SOUND” with the accompaniment of the piano.
Frank then whipped out his laptop and screenshared his Logic Pro to the jumbotron on stage. After some tinkering and explaining how the software worked, he led into the next song, in which he invited a mother and daughter back to the big stage to sing with him.
Up front, Frank finished out the night with “GOOD DAY,” “ALWAYS,” “HALLELUJAH” and “LIFT MY HANDS,” using ethereal, transcendent vocals to meld into commonly-known worship anthems like “Nothing But The Blood of Jesus” and “Hosanna.”
As Frank sang softly, he fell to his knees, tears streaming down his face and eyes closed as if in prayer. Blue light from the screen backlit the scene as Frank shared his testimony and story of realizing true belief with the crowd.
“I led myself into the lowest point in my entire life,” Frank said, recounting his sophomore year of college. “I was like, ‘What am I doing here? I’m so depressed. I don’t want to get out of bed. I don’t know who my friends are. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do in this life. I don’t know up and down. I’m just I’m just nothing.’”
Soothing instrumental tunes played as Frank explained how he turned his life around with his first visit to Antioch Waco. As he walked into the church, everything changed, he said.
“I started to feel this baggage as if something was attached to me and it wasn’t allowed in that space,” Frank said. “I made my way into the back of the congregation, and I just collapsed on my face, and I encountered Jesus, I encountered the Holy Spirit. I remember that day like it was yesterday. That was probably like seven or eight years ago, and I vividly remember it because it was my favorite moment of my life.”
Frank then announced the night’s final song, “Altar.” Spotlights beamed down on the singer before he disappeared offstage at the song’s ending. However, chants of “one more song!” brought him back, leading the crowd in a Sic’ em before performing “DROP!” and “NEVER GET USED TO THIS” as the last songs of the night.
Green lights emitted from the stage, and confetti erupted from machines, sending off the audience with one final enthusiastic applause.
