For the last 17 years, Martin Smith and co have been at the forefront of contemporary Christian music that has taken them all over the world. Having penned worship songs like “Thank You for Saving Me” and “Men of Faith” that are sung in many churches, through to the more anthemic tunes like “Deeper”, “Paint the Town Red” and “Solid Rock”.
I’ve seen Delirious live many times, but last Sunday was the end of an era as the boys called it a day, with a farewell concert at Hammersmith Apollo. The support act was the Cutting Edge Band (Delirious before they attempted to conquer the charts), and the evening kicked off with the evangelist’s anthem “I’m Not Ashamed of the Gospel”. This set took me back to my teenage years, and I certainly remember belting out many of these songs at a school in Littlehampton, and at football stadia across the country in the late 90′s when the Christian thing was to hold worship events in various sporting arenas. Martin gave a bit of a testimony to introduce the first song he’d written at the age of 19 – Thank You for Saving Me. We were even treated to one of the “spontaneous sections” from the Live and In the Can album. Yes, I still have the Can!
After a short break, the boys came back to the stage, this time with all the pedals, lights and other flashy stuff you can expect from Delirious. All the usual songs were played: Deeper, History Maker, Majesty, Solid Rock, Paint the Town Red, See the Star, Kingdom of Comfort, and their latest hit, My Soul Sings. It was a fantastic greatest hits gig. Stew Smee made a return as drummer for a couple of items, playing alongside newest band member, Paul Evans. Having two drummers playing in unison demonstrates the musicality of these guys.
Martin jumped into the crowd on more than one occasion to stand on the shoulders of those in the audience, as has become his typical style. One guy who attempted to copy this move was rewarded later in the evening by Martin giving him the megaphone used in the song “Solid Rock”.
Other guests on stage included the Delirious Kids (I think I counted about 16 altogether, probably ranging in age from 2 – 16) who acted as backing vocalists/dancers for a few numbers. Their wives also came on at the end, and it was an emotional farewell, but what I loved was the reality from the band. They were obviously sad to be leaving all this behind, but having their families present, showed what was important to them. There was an amazing atmosphere of worship throughout the evening, and these guys have been so obedient in using their musical talent to take the message of Jesus to the nations of the world.
The catchphrase from the night was Fabula est vestri… the story is yours. Just because Delirious are no more, the world still needs its History Makers. If you missed the gig, fear not. GodTV will be having a Delirious night on Sunday 27 December, and I’m pretty sure a DVD will be out before too long.
