Delirious?: Farewell Show, Live in London Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Delirious?: Farewell Show, Live in London Blu-ray Movie Review

One of the UK's biggest Contemporary Christian acts closes up shop after 17 years.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 14, 2010

Church music has changed pretty radically over the past 50 years or so. Before the second half of the twentieth century, going to church usually meant listening to "moldy oldie" hymns on a sometimes decrepit organ. When the Second Vatican Council modernized Catholic worship in the early 1960’s, it also helped to usher in a more family friendly music style, with “folk masses” springing up to lure all those Peter, Paul and Mary (not the ecclesiastical ones) fans back to Mass. It suddenly became de rigeur to have a Priest strumming a guitar rather than swinging a censer as services got underway. The folk music phenomenon lasted a good deal longer in the church world than it did in the fickle universe of pop music, where it had pretty much died out by the late 1960’s.

But folk masses slowly penetrated to Episcopal services and then ultimately to Protestant congregations throughout the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Even Jewish services weren’t immune to the movement, as Jewish Renewal groups sprang up worldwide which often featured Rabbis strumming and singing their own compositions set to ancient Hebrew texts. Folk-pop singer songwriters like Debbie Friedman also saw their handiwork incorporated into even mainstream Jewish services, where songs like Friedman’s “Mishebeyrach” became a fixture of prayers for healing. In the Christian faith, the nascent folk-rock proclivities of the early to mid-1960’s slowly gave way to a more ecumenical (for wont of a better word) approach as the 1970’s and 1980’s progressed. Suddenly power ballads, punk rock and a host of other idioms were at least tolerated, if not actually encouraged, at a variety of services. (I once did have a traditionally minded Episcopal Priest tell me at a parish I Music Directed for that she refused to have any contemporary music in the service because the lyrics invariably were all about "me, me, me.")

This new, broader embrace of disparate musical styles was often categorized under the rather amorphous soubriquet of Contemporary Christian Music. By the 1980’s it was already a multi-million dollar enterprise, and that success has only grown in the subsequent decades. It’s the rule rather than the exception nowadays in most Protestant congregations at least to have a “praise band” raising the rafters with rock beats and pop oriented grooves from a variety of worldwide songwriters and bands. Certainly one of the most “covered” troupes in this regard is Martin Smith’s aggregation which is rather insouciantly called Delirious? (The question mark is part of the band’s name, in case you were wondering).

It's hard to see your favorite band when they're playing behind a curtain.

American church going audiences are probably already familiar with Smith and Delirious?’ accomplishments, if not necessarily by name. But even non-church goers could very well have heard Smith’s most popular stateside song, “I Could Sing of Your Love Forever,” which has been covered by numerous Contemporary Christian artists. Smith’s “Shout to the North” has also been a perennial favorite. If you remember the Scottish band Simple Minds, which charted with such tunes as “Don’t You Forget About Me” (from John Hughes’ The Breakfast Club), you have some idea of Delirious?’ approach. In fact there is an amazing similarity in the voices of Delirious?’ Smith and Simple Minds’ Jim Kerr, a sort of plaintive tenor that may not be overwhelming in technique, but which communicates solid musical values nonetheless. (It's a little funny to realize that Smith looks like another UK artist with a generic last name, multi-keyboardist Howard Jones). Delirious? likes to set up thumping grooves over which Smith professes his faith, and the result is often (no pun intended) rapturous. After close to two decades on the road building their fan base (not to mention their musical ministry), Delirious? here plays to an enthralled audience which eagerly laps up every last note.

Delirious? began its musical life as The Cutting Edge Band, playing once a month at a school hall that had been converted into a worship site (something that obviously would never have happened in a public school in the United States). As the band states in brief comments included on the insert with this Blu-ray, “There was nothing particularly special about us or the music we tried our best to play, but even then there was always an electricity generated when we cried out for God to meet us. There was always something in the air.” That same unpretentious quality still infuses the band’s approach some 17 years later, as even superstardom (even in the somewhat cloistered halls of the Contemporary Christian movement) has done little to alter (altar?) their bare boned approach to their music. There’s nothing overtly flashy about Delirious’ music, despite an amped up “farewell concert” lightshow ambience, just solid hooks and grooves built around a confession of faith.

The band is obviously having a great time performing this last concert. Smith especially seems to savor this final opportunity to work with his mates and to communicate directly with the audience. He’s front and center for the entire concert and rarely lets his energy flag. Delirious? sounds crisp and in the pocket, able to easily segue from headbanging rock energy to more subdued ballads. Smith has gone on to work with another Smith, America’s leading Contemporary Christian songwriter Michael W. Smith, as the other bandmates have gone on to a variety of other activities. Delirious? may only be a cherished memory, but the impact of their music on the Contemporary Christian movement is amply documented in this exciting and moving last performance.

The band’s set list (split into two programs) includes:

All This Time
Bliss
Solid Rock
Sanctify
Obsession
Rain Down
Deeper
Paint the Town Red
Inside Outside
Jesus Blood/King or Cripple/True Colours
Majesty
Our God Reigns
Investigate
History Maker
My Soul Sings
I’m Not Ashamed
Happy Song
Shout to the North
Thank You For Saving Me/White Ribbon Day
I Could Sing of Your Love Forever
Find Me in the River
Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble/Dance in the River

Delirious?: Farewell Show, Live in London Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Delirious? The Farewell Show arrives on Blu-ray with a nice looking AVC encoded 1080i "live" transfer in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio. I think this is the first Blu-ray I've reviewed that contains a warning label on the back putting viewers on notice that strobe lighting is utlized throughout the concert. Those bright flashes of light are robustly rendered on this Blu-ray and indeed I could well understand someone prone to seizures not wanting to glare at the quick succession of blacks and whites. There are a variety of projections the band uses, all of which look great here, though there are widely disparate source elements, from old home movies to all digital lightshows. Colors are suitably lifelike and there's a wide palette array here which makes this concert as much fun to watch as it is to listen to. Detail on band members is sharp for the most part, though some of the concert is intentionally post-processed with a grainy black and white effect. Black levels are deep and rich and contrast is excellent throughout the piece, which exploits large and quick changes in color values.

Delirious?: Farewell Show, Live in London Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Three audio options are offered on this Blu-ray, though strangely the one most appealing to audiophiles, the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix, is listed last on the options, after a standard Dolby Digital 5.1 mix and an uncompressed stereo LPCM 2.0 mix. I opted for the DTS offering, and was not disappointed, especially with a blistering low end that provided an at times astonishing recreation of what being in the audience must have sounded like. Audience reaction spills into the surround channels, but for the most part the music itself is anchored in the front three channels. The music itself sounds crisp and clear, with superb fidelity across all frequencies. Delirious? doesn't really build a Spector-ish wall of sound as much as it assembles grooves and riffs and then judiciously forms larger structures out of them, and the DTS mix provides a lot of space and clarity which allows the listener to "enter" the soundfield and really hear individual lines. The DD 5.1 mix is notably less vibrant on the extreme highs and lows, and the LPCM 2.0 mix is crystal clear, but much narrower in focus.

Delirious?: Farewell Show, Live in London Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Three above average supplements are included on the Blu-ray. A second, shorter concert, the Cutting Edge Show (HD 1080i; 34:00) is much lower-tech than the main concert, but features the band doing some of their best known material (in the songlist in the main review above, this program begins with "I'm Not Ashamed"). On the Road (HD 1080i; 25:59) documents life with the band on this final tour. Making History--The Final Interview (SD 480p; 54:40) offers Smith and bandmates in a in-depth piece discussing their 17 years with various iterations of the group and what this final tour means to them.

Delirious?: Farewell Show, Live in London Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Delirious? serves up a filling last supper of concert fare on this well produced and extremely well recorded Blu-ray. Even if you're not a big fan of Contemporary Christian music, chances are you'll like at least some of Smith and Company's musical stylings, if not their God-centric lyrics. Fans of the band are most certainly going to want this Blu-ray in their collection to help preserve the memory of one of the leaders of the Contemporary Christian movement in the UK and worldwide.