Anyone for Tea?

d: came, d: saw, d: conquered....

North London was swamped yesterday evening with a large number - OK, I didn't try and count them - of young people, both christian and non-christian off to the Soul-in-the-city event at Alexandra Palace. Hosts David and Carrie Grant kept everyone entertained (although their "stalling" skills need some work!) and the musical undercard of Green Jade (hip-hop, cool), New Inspirational Choir (pretty good) and "Witness" (OK, for rap(!)) battled with such amusements as "Palace Academy" where Mike Pilivachi beat off all comers with his rendition of what I think might have been "Bridge over troubled waters"... although not many were sure. After he'd recovered his voice, he preached up a storm then introduced the guys who were the reasons we'd come over from West London - "my friends, Delirious".

Lights down, the boys walk onto the stage. Stew sporting his "Jesus" t-shirt and - since the day before - blonde hair, Jon replete in a brown Oasis-esque duffle coat and big shades. Martin in his ripped suit and Stu looking cool but a bit too far away on the far side for an asessment of his fashion sense . True to form, Stew sits down behind drums and the beats of "Grace Like a River" pound out across the West Palm Court, a few seconds later whoever was on sound gets the mixer sounding a whole lot nicer than it had for any of the other bands and the whole place erupts into praise. No sooner has the last note stopped from that, Martin - looking like a man on a mission - swings straight into a acapella intro into an energetic rendition of "Rain Down".

The lights flash on and off and pick out colourscapes of sound and vision, the guys are on a roll - although they are spending quite a lot of time gesturing to the monitor desk, I presume it's not Colin on there this evening... However, back to the music - any preconceptions that we're in for a straight play through of 'World Service' are dispelled as the band then rock into an extended version of 'My Glorious' - reprising 'Glory, Glory send your glory'. From here Martin makes his way back to the keyboard and treats us to a solo 1st verse of 'Every Little Thing'- introducing it as "here's a song that you can maybe sing in church, or - if you're like me - down the pub too!", ending off with a chorus of 'I Could sing of your love forever'. It's a quiet moment as everyone in the place comes to praise God and Martin comments on how it's sometimes really easy to be a band going around playing gigs, but it's so much harder to do what the guys out in the auditorium are doing on the streets - and they give us a clap.... very nice.

With imaculate timing, Stu leads the band back into 'Inside Outside' where - (for possibly the first time ever!) - his vocals come singing out loud and clear, very very nice! From there, we segue into 'Majesty' and every hand is lifted in praise, in the quiet following Martin starts singing "And the wonder of it all....". The place erupts into Deeper, and - as we thought 'that's our lot' they top it off with an absolutely rocking, crowd bouncing, guitar screaming rendition of 'God In Heaven'. The place resounds with - as Martin puts it - "shouting out some things that are really true" - "To God in heaven be the glory".

They finish loud and proud, the lights dim and Mike P returns to the stage and several people give their lives to Christ - it's a special moment and the boys don't disappoint, rounding off the evening with the call they've been singing loud and proud for years now - "this is for all you History Makers". They play their socks off, Stew is streaming sweat everywhere, Jon is looking a little bit warm - still in his duffle coat, Stu lets rip with cutting overdriven solos, Tim leans back and shouts to the heavens and Martin wanders around the stage looking 'phew!' - the big ending and we're all done, a gig of much magnificence and inspiration that's hopefully changed many lives - "Thank you, Goodnight"

posted by RichB @ Friday, August 06, 2004