Concert Review: The Dills

Last night we had The Dills at my home church.  The crowd was decent, but a bit disappointing, with my guess being about 150-175.  The people that were there were very enthusiastic, however, and a lot of that credit goes to Tim Dill, who has improved as an MC by leaps and bounds from when they were at the church last year.

Here is the setlist (again, I had to guess at one or two song titles):

• Enjoy Your Day
• Lord I Lift Your Name On High
• Days Of Elijah
• Sheltered In The Arms Of God
• Thank You Lord, For Your Blessings On Me
• Who Am I
• The Prayer
• Lord I Only Want To Worship You
• Holy Of Holies
• Amazing You
• Oh What A Beautiful City

Intermission

• UFO
• End Of The Beginning
• I’m On Tour
• The Cross
• Uncommon
• Jesus Never Fails
• Walk Right Outta This Valley

Being the unofficial assistant music director has its perks, as I was able to sit in on their sound check, and they took the opportunity to run through some songs from their new CD, which will be coming out in about 3 weeks.  Be looking for it, as the songs I heard them sing were very strong.

While I enjoyed their concert last year very much, they have really grown tighter as a group over the past year, and Tim Dill is really coming into his own as an MC.  Their performances were wonderful, varied in style and they connected very well with the audience.  Especially impressive was their versatility to go from a worship style with “Lord I Lift” and “Days of Elijah” into a classic SG mode with a medley of “Sheltered” and “Thank You Lord”.  Tim then did a commendable job on “Who Am I.”  To juxtapose two diametrically opposite styles in such close proximity, yet retain a deliberate flow to the service is extremely impressive.  They did perform two songs from the new CD: “Holy of Holies”, which is a big-time ballad that was previously recorded by Truth, and “I Want To Live”, though I’m not 100% sure on that song title.  “Holy of Holies” is a tremendous song, and should become a signature song for the group.  Shawn and Bridget once again nailed “The Prayer”, and Shawn brought the audience to their feet with his great rendition of David Phelps’ hit “End of the Beginning.”  Not to be outdone, Tim also got the audience on their feet and clapping along with “I’m On Tour.”  (Tim, make the check payable to….)  Leeann did her typical solid job, especially with “Lord I Only Want.”  Their vocals were precise, and the blend was magnificent.  These four are very talented vocalists, and take their craft very seriously.  That dedication shows in their performances.

The group actually has several videos that play along with their singing, but they use an especially moving video with “Uncommon”, which allows them to move quickly into “Jesus Never Fails”, which creates a very fitting mood to extend their invitation.  This is one of the best selection of songs to move a service towards an invitation that I’ve seen.  They ended with a break-neck tempo rendition of  “Walk Right Outta This Valley” that left the audience wanting more.

The Dills have really matured in their sound and presentation over the last year.  When you see them in concert, expect a wide variety of styles, smooth vocals, and arrangements that highlight the strengths of each of the vocalists.  From what I heard during soundcheck and in the concert, their new CD is going to be extremely strong.  Go see them when they are in your area, you will really enjoy hearing them.

Since I now have the super duper digital camera, I’m going to start posting a couple of pictures with my concert review, so enjoy these.  Oh, and the last picture is of your friendly neighborhood blogger with the group.

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