WHOOOO - Random Concert Review

I went to my first delirious concert a month ago at a theme park and wrote the following *random* review. Not polished, just in its raw turbulent excitement. It was quite an experience. Thought you might want to hear about it.

If delirious is ever in town, go see them. The music and the message, with these boys, is equally important. And they both will rock your world.

Wow. Yes, riding the Batman and the Jester @ Six Flags New Orleans Theme Park was fun but couldn’t compare to the evening of worship we experienced under the open starry skies of the marshlands of southern Louisiana. It was truly a night to remember. It was my first time seeing delirious live, and I must say it was much more than I expected. There’s really no way to describe it.

From the moment I saw Stu G walking on stage with his confident smile till shaking hands with him after the concert, it was definitely a special evening I will never forget.

I don’t know why I was so impressed…but for some reason I didn’t expect them to be in such a … worshipful … mood. It, I repeat, was MUCH more than I expected. How can they be so awesome and manage to point you to God at the same time? Kudos.

And pardon me for being blunt, but how is it that a bunch of people left after Kutless was done? Like ½ the peeps!! I mean, Kutless sounded like music at least but some of the other bands with their head-banging antics just tapped into my testosterone without ever tapping into my soul or spirit. Once again, kudos…to delirious, that is, for actually displaying MUSICAL talent. I never thought I’d enjoy a live version of a song more than the studio…but Stu G just has that way of reinventing songs like God in Heaven and Investigate…and dare I say that Inside Outside sounded MUCH MUCH better tonight than listening to it as Track 5 on World Service?

Okay, okay let me gather my thoughts.

First of all, I got Jon (76)’s setlist. I had to ask some dude cleaning up to give it to me cos the band had left and the police wouldn’t let us on stage…I got it and had all the band sign it…so cool! [:D]

Hey guess what! They opened with FEEL IT COMING ON!! It so totally was awesome!! I was like the only one that knew the words though!! Tut, tut. Okay, I’d post the setlist on the web but I don’t have a scanner so you’ll have to take my word for it, but to try and prove it at the top it says, “ ic productions” in a box and in small type underneath says “D Set List New Orleans 10th April 2004” and here’s the list:

Feel It Coming On
Rain Down
Mountains (short) (d.i.t. River)
Glorious
I Could Sing
Inside Outside
Majesty
Deeper
Happy Song
God in Heaven
History Maker

Investigate/Grace ??
There is a Light

(also there were many other spontaneous bits I can’t remember.)
(also they didn’t actually do GLAR)

And it says “76” in the top right corner. Jon was so friendly when I talked to him afterwards…cool dude. But I asked Martin about his Billy Graham shirt and was like “you all need to come back to New Orleans we need your anointing” and everything, he was SOO humble!! He just smiled politely, like “Okay, it’s alright, crazed fan.” I felt convicted that I needed to chill out a bit. [:p] And if Tim’s smile as he’s signing doesn’t get ya to smilin’ nothing will!! And I told Jon I was expecting them to open with Grace, he just said, “Uh yeah we usually do open with that but we tried Feel It Coming On this time.” That’s about all the chat I had with them. But it was so awesome meeting them and shaking their hands…but that’s at the end of gig…

Okay, so they rocked the house with FICO, then went into Rain Down which everybody knew…and by the time Dance in the River came, the wives and kids were dancing onstage!! That was so cool! Those little kids are a TRIP!! Glorious wasn’t as heavy as I expected but good, I Could Sing was all acoustic, Inside Outside was AWESOME…

Let’s skip to the Happy Song…not cause it’s my favorite, but cause Martin ventured out on top of the crowd and I was one of the guys holding him up as he came to a stand still!! Actually that was at the end of Deeper and after concluding, he tried to get down and said in his little dignified accent “Alright guys could ya help me down?” We basically said, “No you’re staying up there!” I know we were bad weren’t we? But we were having so much fun!! And for all you people who hate the happy song…this was a good time here. So he just stayed up there the whole time!! [8D] And people were handing him hats to wear while he sung…he was wearing 3 hats lol!! And we just went wild. I must admit he has a good sense of balance…staying up there the whole time with us just holding his legs up!! He appeared to not really mind being “forced” to be up there for so long!! Hehe. Eventually at the end we capitulated and helped push him back to the stage.

And oh did I mention I was quite vocal as I was 10 feet from the stage? [:o)] I was always yelling stuff and I was probably the aggravating voice I’ve come to disdain a bit on Access:d yelling out that lone “Amen”…[:p]. And it was great, actually, Deeper started off slow and acoustic and I yelled, “Come on take it all the way!” right before they rocketed into the full version. [:D] And on God in Heaven I thought I recognized some light guitar chords from it during a quiet worshipful moment so I shouted out “do God in Heaven!!” twice…and when Mart started slowly singing the chorus I shouted “YEAH!!!” Stu kind of smiled and turned his head like “whoa!, okaaaay…”

I sweated so much and yelled so much I was soaked and had no voice at the end. I haven’t jumped ever in 1.5 hrs. so much in my life. Oh yea and after HM, Mart prophesied to this one guy in the crowd about “don’t run from God, He’s got a ministry for you, just not what you think, etc.” and he led us prayer that this young man would be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.

This band is so led by the Spirit it’s not funny.

And when they left, I got worried!! So I instinctively started yelling “encore encore encore” and other people joined and thank goodness they came back and delivered the best version of Investigate I’ve ever heard!! And as if to sum up their message, Martin lit a candle and held it up to sing There is a Light…and then they left us as the Lord’s Prayer recording played.

Oh yeah and they did “my heart burns for you” after history maker…and Martin sang some lines from something like “we’re getting stronger in every way” or something. It was worship and it was fun, too. And it was special. I’d go on but it’s so late and I’m a bit stressed cos…I won’t go that way…but I’ll say it was refreshing to say the least and it was my first d:gig so what can you expect but such a long review!!

I just wish they would’ve played Touch for some reason.

Oh yeah and Martin must have forgotten the 1st verse when he did Deeper cause he sang the 2nd verse twice!! And for the second verse of Majesty, he sang “knowing that I’m your desire sanctified by glory and fire” twice in a row. Special..unique!

It was so cool getting to actually see them and meet them afterwards after waiting for so long!! All I can say is that if you like their albums you’ll like their live performance that much better so see ‘em if they’re in town!! And don’t ride the Inverter ride if you’ve just eaten. [;)] does not promote digestion.

And more thing: for those of you who remember my missed gig in December…it was worth the wait for this. Thank You Jesus. [:)]

Oh and my favorite part?...easy. God in Heaven, definitely! That is soo awesome live, everyone learned the words quick and it was so passionate. Oh and the introduction was so cool too…it was random stuff like “delirious…world service…broadcasting” in the background on a recording…and then the band BURST into Feel it Coming On.

Blessings and more discussion on this unbelievable experience later,

History Maker