Festival of Praise rings out at the Memorial Auditorium on Tuesday
Fall is an occasion for festivals, where people plan special feasts to celebrate something significant. On Nov. 3, eight of the world’s most celebrated gospel artists will gather at the Memorial Auditorium for a special musical feast called “Festival of Praise.” It is the concert performance of a lifetime.
What makes it so significant? The “Festival of Praise” fall tour features Israel, Fred Hammond and Donnie McClurkin. All are multiple Grammy, Dove and Stellar Award-winning recording artists, along with Kim Burrell, Isaac Carree, Jessica Reedy, Zacardi Cortez and host comedian Marcus Wiley of the “Yolanda Adams Morning Show.”
The “family-style tour,” a phrase coined by Fred Hammond and Donnie McClurkin, is a platform to uplift, motivate, encourage, inspire and entertain.The Festival of Praise tour was designed to bring together people from various denominations, nationalities and socio-economic backgrounds. “It’s going to be the most amazing, dynamic, down-home, foot-stomping, hand-clapping praise party ever,” said Hammond.
The tour will feature some of gospel’s biggest and brightest on the same stage with ensemble performances, with music by each artist highlighting their classic hits and most memorable anthems. In conjunction with this year’s theme, Hammond produced “Trying to Make It Home,” a song which features vocal performances by Hammond, McClurkin, Burrell, Walker, Carree, Reedy and Cortez.
“The concept of ‘Trying to Make It Home’ is a collaborative effort by the artists on this tour and ties in perfectly with our purpose,” says McClurkin.
Hammond added, “With all the discourse, upheaval and negativity happening around the world, we all agreed that there’s one common thread that people are searching to find. People are trying to reach a safe place and home represents that for many people. Many of us are trying to make it home to family, trying to make it home from college, trying to make it home to a better marriage, trying to make it home from sickness and disease, and ultimately, all of us are trying to make it home to heaven.”
The Festival of Praise Tour 2014 was overwhelmingly successful, “We were blessed,” Hammond said, “but we are back bigger and better. It will be an awesome evening of inspiration filled with a message of hope and restoration.”
Area pastors, praise teams, choirs, churches and musicians, are invited to the first ever city-wide “praise party” of its kind, with some of the most well-known names in gospel all under one roof, performing together for one night only, Nov. 3 at 7 p.m.
If you love gospel music, don’t miss the “Festival of Praise.” Tickets are on sale for $30 at the Memorial Auditorium box office, at etix.com, at Giorgio’s, or by calling (800) 514-3849.