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Seen any good concerts lately? Our latest round-up of the newest DVD releases in Christian music include three CD/DVD projects from best-selling bands, three companion videos to recent worship albums, a tween-oriented concert video, and a live performance from one of the best in Christian Latin music.

Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir Casting Crowns
David Crowder Band Gateway Worship Hillsong Live
Newsboys pureNRG Jesús Adrián Romero

I'll Say Yes (Integrity Music)

The Good: As with The Miracle of Hope, I'll Say Yes isn't merely a musical performance from the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir. It's a docu-concert that intersperses live selections with testimonials from church and choir members. The feature takes a little while to fully take off, but it's never boring—think of it as watching an episode of VH1's Behind the Music, Brooklyn Tab style. Multiple camera angles provide ample opportunity to join the choir and sway along to the music, which is easily some of their most congregational to date. Churchgoers aren't just sitting back and enjoying a presentation from the multicultural, cross-generational singers; they're engaged in the sing-along … for the most part.

The Bad: Choirmaster Carol Cymbala has said that the songs on I'll Say Yes are meant for corporate singing, but not all the songs deliver on that. Some are too intricate or performance-oriented, and as such, the congregants aren't always fully engaged—on more than one occasion, this concert feels like a concert spectacle rather than a worship experience. You'd hope a supercharged romp like "We Fill the Sanctuary" would be met with more enthusiasm, but the crowd seems more content to just sit in their seats and listen.

The Bottom Line: Despite the unresponsive audience/congregation, this DVD companion to I'll Say Yes is still an excellent primer to what it's like to worship alongside the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, and the next best thing to actually having church there.
—Andree Farias

The Altar and the Door Live (Beach Street/Provident)

The Good: As Casting Crowns gains popularity with each album, their live shows have grown accordingly from large church (2004's Live from Atlanta) to mega-church (2006's Lifesong Live) and now their headlining arena tour. Recorded in Florida, February 2008, this is the band's biggest production yet, with top-notch staging, lighting, and video production. Beyond the eight-song CD, frontman Mark Hall gives a good homily about living our faith from Sunday into Monday (and the rest of the week). He's also featured in four brief teaching videos built around four songs—sort of like Rob Bell's Nooma videos, and he's pretty good at it. Fans will also find a music video for "Slow Fade," plus 13 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage that downplays Hall to focus on the lives and views of the other band members.

The Bad: As big as Casting Crowns has become—each album a best-selling milestone—do we really need a concert recording for each tour? It's not as if this is a band that varies their live performances much from the studio albums. Also, how disappointing that these projects focus only on the new material rather than offering a complete live show—I'd kind of like to see "Praise You in This Storm" and "Who Am I" in the bigger venue with the better production and the huge, enthusiastic audience. Instead, this 50-minute set is one of the dullest I've seen on video, offering 6 tepid AC ballads bookended by 2 upbeat songs—again, varying little from the album other than a forced fiddle-guitar duet and a brief drum solo. The audience seems equally unenthused since most of them are seated during this video. For every passionate fan in the crowd with upraised hands, there's a tired-looking parent with an even more tired-looking child.

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