Delirious?'s First South Africa Tour Impacts Thousands of Fans
Last modified: 22 Nov 2002
Artist: Delirious?
Label: Furious Records USA
Date: 22 Nov 2002
Band Touches AIDS Orphans, Visits HopeHIV Home
(Nashville, Tenn.) November 22, 2002 - Multi-million selling and modern worship's founding band Delirious? recently performed concerts in the South African cities of Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town. Impacting the nation already through its music and its work with HopeHIV, the band was greeted by nearly 11,000 fans attending the band's first-ever tour to South Africa.
Although they have never performed before in the South African nation, the band's music has been distributed in over 100 countries around the world and has been in South Africa for over five years.
Delirious? manager Tony Patoto gives a first-hand account of the enthusiasm for the band: "Personal reaction to the band was overwhelming, amazing! The band's South African fans confided with Delirious? that their music has been life-changing for them. Numerous fans told us of how Delirious? has been their greatest artist influence, and many people became Christians at the concerts."
After the concert in Johannesburg, one fan, Nicky Van Rensburg, commented, "Breaking all boundaries and conformities that Christian music is monotonous, boring, dull or antiquated, this bunch of guys from Littlehampton, England clearly convey the gospel and reach the new generation with a ministry that goes beyond just making music."
Delirious? first aspired to tour South Africa in 1999 after learning about the country's tremendous need through its partnership with HopeHIV. Taking the message of HopeHIV to the streets first in the UK, band members Stu Garrard, Stewart Smith, and Jon Thatcher ran the Flora London Marathon in 2000 to raise money for the organization. Band members later visited the AIDS-torn nation in Feb. 2001. The joys and pains of some of the now 13 million children orphaned by AIDS made a profound impact on the group. Determined to return to the country, this time with instruments in hand, Delirious? took time between concerts to again visit with the orphaned children in the city of Soweto.
"It is unbelievable, the need is so great!" says Delirious? member Tim Jupp. "The number of children orphaned by AIDS in South Africa equals the total number of children in the UK. Many are living in communities where up to 90% of the adult population has contracted HIV/AIDS and many of these children have themselves contracted the AIDS virus. As bleak as this sounds, it is quite remarkable the love and the hope these children have when we talk to them."
HopeHIV is a UK-based organization that works with partners in Africa that provide care for children orphaned by AIDS. All of the partners facilitate care for the children within their own communities. Education, skills training, recreational camps, residential facilities, counseling and advice to community workers are just some of the things that these projects provide in their communities. Through the projects it supports, HopeHIV seeks to give these children the chance of a fulfilling and significant future. To find out more about the organization, go to www.hopehiv.org.
In addition to the South African tour, Delirious? launched this week its critically acclaimed and fifth US studio project, Touch. Produced by Chuck Zwicky (Semisonic, Prince), Touch is all about finding and hanging onto that touch from the eternal, the one without which we cannot survive.
From leading worship in its local church to being featured on tour with internationally-renown artists such as Bon Jovi, Matchbox 20 or Bryan Adams, Delirious? continues to be one of the most significant catalysts leading the modern worship movement. The band erases the line between rock and praise music, re-enforcing the emerging concept that worship should be part of every facet of life.