|PIC1|Touring together for the first time ever, Contemporary Christian music superstars Michael W Smith and GMA Artist of the Year Steven Curtis Chapman returned home to perform at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium Tuesday evening.

The United Tour, launched last fall, finished Wednesday with its final performance in Chapman’s hometown of Paducah, Kentucky.

The historic Ryman Auditorium, built in 1892, originally opened as the Union Gospel Tabernacle by Thomas Ryman. After his death, the building was renamed in his honour and later housed Trevecca Nazarene University and hosted the Grand Ole Opry for over 30 years.

The Ryman Auditorium proved the perfect venue for a night of worship with its packed, yet intimate pews. As the last of the daylight filtered through the stained glass windows, Smith and Chapman began the night by leading the audience in the worship songs “Blessed Be Your Name” and “How Great is Our God”. Smith played the keyboard and Chapman strummed the acoustic guitar. For Chapman’s song “All Things New”, the artists skillfully traded instruments.

Emotions overflowed during Chapman’s individual set, as he paused the song “Yours” to discuss the verse changes he made following the tragic passing of daughter, Maria Sue, nearly a year ago. Since her passing, many of his songs have “taken on a whole new meaning”, he explained, making them difficult to continue performing with the integrity he once had.

"The only way I could do this is to drive the stake deeper into the ground," which he achieved by adding a final verse: "I’ve walked the valley of death’s shadow / So deep and dark that I could barely breathe / I’ve had to let go of more than I could bear / And questioned everything that I believe / But still even here / in this great darkness / A comfort and hope come breaking through / As I can say in life or death / God we belong to you."

Dove Award-nominated song "Cinderella", inspired by Chapman's daughters, also proved a difficult song for him in the aftermath of his personal tragedy. He shared the story that inspired the song and his resistance to continue performing it, finally realising on stage last July that he needed to keep singing it. He added the line: “But I know, the truth is – the dance will go on,” which brought tears and a standing ovation from the audience.

Chapman then turned things up with the upbeat “Live Out Loud” and “Dive”. Smith returned to the keyboard for the latter. The two playfully ribbed one another, performing segments of each other's songs. Smith and Chapman showed great chemistry as they performed and joked around together.

After an intermission, Smith took the stage and performed a "blast through the past" medley of some of his most famous songs finishing with Amy Grant's "Thy Word". He then indulged the audience with the instrumental piece he dubbed his favourite song to write, entitled "The Given", from his instrumental album, Freedom. Though meant to be performed with an orchestra, it worked beautifully as an intricate piano solo, and his passion and talent shined through.

Chapman briefly joined in on “Friends are Friends Forever”, hugging Smith when it finished. Smith took that moment to present Chapman with an award he said he had held on to for about three months, waiting for the right opportunity. Smith presented Chapman with the President’s Service Award on behalf of former President Bush for Smith's continued devotion to Show Hope and Maria's Big House of Hope.

Smith finished his set with the title track from his latest album, "A New Hallelujah", and crowd favourite, “Above All”. Chapman joined back in during the bridge of “Healing Rain”. They finished up together with two worship songs- “Hallelujah, the Lord God Almighty Reigns” and finally returned to “How Great is Our God” for their finale.

Each artist will embark on his own tour soon. Chapman will be performing at Women of Faith conferences, while Smith will be launching his “A New Hallelujah” world tour to promote his new album.