Concert Reviews

Venue: Alton Towers
Author: Dave Wood
Date: 15 May 2004

The Ultimate Event is an annual youth event held at the UK's largest amusement park, Alton Towers. On this sunny day in mid-May, a sell-out crowd of 12,000 people had turned up to spend the day on rollercoasters and the evening being entertained by Delirious? The event had taken over a carpark for the day, and erected a large stage at one end. As Delirious? arrived on stage there was still pleanty of daylight, making it easier for the huge crowd to see the famous five.

With just a one-hour slot in which to cram their music, Delirious? kicked off straight away with the heart thumping sequence of Grace Like A River, Rain Down, and Feel It Comin' On. Perhaps wanting to make sure that the crowd were still on their feet after a day on the gravity defying rides, Martin ventured into the crowd, silhouetted against the ever decreasing evening light.

Clearly wanting to extract every last ounce of energy from the fans, the band continued the adrenaline filled opening sequence with yet another pulsating track. My Glorious rocketed its way off the stage, like a firework exploding out of Stew's drums. The bass line pounding out from Jon's amplifier threatening to knock him off the stage.

Finally deciding to slow proceedings down a little, Martin ended Glorious with a few choruses of 'My Heart burns for you', readying the excitable fans for a more intimate moment. As he took a seat behind the piano, he dedicated the next song to the late John Thatcher Senior. Every Little Thing has the ability to soften the hardest soul, and a hush fell across the evening sky as Martin cried out the words "I will carry you, if you carry me...", causing goose bumps to thousands of arms. Despite suffering a slightly croaky throat at times, the unmistakable emotion from Martin's voice combined sublimely when the rest of the band joined in with full force.

Inside Outside came next, with Stu's softly sung vocals interspersed with Martin's. On the album World Service, Majesty starts with a beautiful string section. Performed live tonight, and in the absence of a full orchestra, Stu gave the song an acoustic sounding opening with his guitar instead. The crowd sung along loudly, leaving Martin to stand back and admire their vocal performance with a smile.

By now the darkness of the night enabled the stage lights to take on a more prominent role, and as the stage was bathed in blue and green light, a heavy guitar based introduction announced the start of the crowd pleaser Deeper. A crazed section of people 'moshed' their way through the entire song as if their lives depended on it.

Amongst a purple glare of bright light came the next song, God In Heaven. Delirious? showed that they are feeling more than confident in their latest album World Service, with all but two of the songs tonight originating from the album. As the evening came to a close, Martin raised a candle towards the sky and sung "There is a light that shines in the darkness". The band made their way off stage without fuss, leaving the applause from the crowd to head heavenward.