The hype machine was firing on all cylinders shortly before Forrest Frank took the stage June 5 at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.
A live camera feed projected on the circular screen above the stage showed Frank and his band getting ready to make their entrance. The Alan Parsons Project’s “Sirius” blasted through the speakers. Micah Yoder of the band the Figs came out and did his best Michael Buffer (aka the “Let’s get ready to rumble” guy).
But Yoder wasn’t getting the crowd amped up for Frank. Instead he used his booming announcer voice to celebrate “the GOAT from Galilee,” calling on fans to “make some noise for Jesus Christ!”
Frank, 31, is one of the most popular new stars in Christian music, at a time when Christian music is seemingly more popular than ever.
No genre had a bigger leap in streaming in the United States last year than Christian music: listens were up 18.5%, amounting to about 30 billion streams, according to music and entertainment data firm Luminate, with Frank and fellow emerging Christian star Brandon Lake leading the way.
And Christian music’s ascent has been particularly clear in Milwaukee. Three new Christian music radio stations entered the market last year. And every year since at least 2015, there has been at most two Christian music concerts in a Milwaukee arena. Not even halfway through 2026, there have already been four.
It’s likely Frank had the biggest crowd of them all. The fourth stop of his blockbuster-in-the-making “The Jesus Generation” tour drew about 15,000 people to the Milwaukee Bucks arena, Yoder said; the largest gathering of “believers” in America June 5, Frank suggested.
He rose to the occasion with the kind of slick stage show that’s a prerequisite for any arena-filling pop star. In lieu of a standard stage, Frank and his four backing musicians performed on what looked like a grassy hill in the center of the arena, the setup supplemented by rolling fog, an arsenal of lights and blasts of smoke. The top of the hill, where the musicians were stationed, occasionally rotated, but Frank spent the bulk of the show trekking around to connect with fans surrounding him, doing a fairer job of appeasing fans all over than, say, Zach Bryan did when he had his own in-the-round setup in this building in 2024. That included coming down into the pit so a young fan could rap along to Caleb Gordon’s part for “God Is Good,” and running through fans on the floor and charging up the stairs by section 117 for finale “Never Get Used To This,” with Frank collapsing at the end on that hill as confetti erupted around him.
The centerpiece of Frank’s stage, though, was a massive, suspended LED cross that hovered over the hill and towered over Frank and the band, reinforcing who the real star of the show was. The music did as well. With praise his primary focus, Frank performed songs live that didn’t feature lyrics drastically different from Christian stars who came before him. One exception was “Your Way’s Better,” a highlight in Milwaukee, which briefly offered the kind of self-doubt that’s become standard for secular pop hits, and is adding depth to a new wave of Christian songs.
Sonically, though, “Your Way’s Better” represents the majority of the 18 songs Frank sang in Milwaukee, with a blend of Gospel uplift, pop polish and hip-hop swagger. Sure, it’s a fresh and fun approach to worship music, catchy and smooth enough to get you singing along on the first listen, and to stick with you after it’s over. But it’s not exactly cutting edge – Chance The Rapper was doing this sound a decade ago on “Coloring Book” – and another crowd-pleaser in Milwaukee, “Up!,” has a Latin pop beat that closely resembles Camila Cabello’s hit “Havana” from back in 2018.
All that said, Frank has clearly found a winning formula, inspiring jubilation all over Fiserv Forum. And he’s clearly a talented musician, displaying live on the video screens in Milwaukee how he constructs a song in Logic Pro on his laptop – swiftly layering piano parts, 808s and more before singing “Thankful” live from the grass-covered B-stage. It was the most fascinating part of the show, offering insight into his musical mind, and showing he has a clear sense of his sound, which he aptly described as “sweet,” before accurately suggesting those 808s make his music “more digestible.”
If Frank wants to surprise his fans and shake things up, he clearly has what it takes to do so. One unreleased song performed in Milwaukee suggests he may just go there, with Frank getting choked up on stage talking about his recently passed grandparents before performing a song inspired by them, “Somebody Prayed,” perhaps the most vulnerable song he’s made so far.
It’s too soon to say if Frank could become the “GOAT of Christian music.” But as Christian music enters a new era, Frank proved in Milwaukee he’s one of its biggest stars.
Five takeaways from Forrest Frank’s Milwaukee concert, including opener Tori Kelly
Forrest Frank’s Fiserv Forum setlist
Contact Piet Levy at (414) 223-5162 or plevy@journalsentinel.com. Follow him at facebook.com/PietLevyMJS.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Forrest Frank brings new Christian music era to packed Milwaukee show
Reporting by Piet Levy, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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By Piet Levy, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
