Because of the nature of any final show it is hard to find a single song that stands out from the rest. However, Jesus Blood had me in my living room with my arms stretched out crying out to God. Personally, for me, my favourite Delirious? song has always been History Maker and in The Farewell Show the boys do it exceptionally well one last time, at the end of the song Martin Smith does a little bit of preaching and in a change from his recent shows instead of reading Ezekiel 37 he read Psalm 23, before charging the audience to go out into the world and preach.

As a bonus feature the DVD also includes the “Cutting Edge Show” which appears to have been performed before the main show. In this 30 minute gig the Delirious? boys perform seven songs from their days as Cutting Edge (1992 – 1996), Thank You For Saving Me / White Ribbon Day is the stand out song here. And if you do get the DVD watch the Cutting Edge Show first – particularly if you have followed the band over the last 15+ years.

It is sad to see the end of Delirious? for me they have been a band that I have grown up with, for Christmas 1997 (or 1998) I was given their Cutting Edge 3&4 CD and since then I have owned every album except Glo, King of Fools, and Metamorphosis, I have also seen them perform live at Parachute Music Festival in 2006. Through my teenage years I made History Maker the soundtrack for what I wanted to do with my life, and it still remains my favourite song, hearing all the older Delirious? songs on this DVD brings back memories of 10 years of doing sound, lighting and AV at church.

Delirious? may no longer be performing or releasing new music but their impact on the Christian music scene will last for a long time, bands like David Crowder Band, Chris Tomlin, Casting Crowns, and many more are now carrying the torch that Delirious? carried for so many years. This DVD will be their lasting legacy of their impact on Christian music and it is a legacy that is well worth remembering and owning.

Outside the church the doors were closed, and while they were glass faced so you could see in there appeared to be no one in the foyer welcoming people or anything, this was 5 minutes before the service was due to start, and no people coming or going from the building. Thinking this was odd I walked past and quickly thought of my next plan of action for something to do. It was at this moment that I heard very loud crowd sounds coming from the nearby Hide Park.

I then wandered up to the park where as part of the St Patricks Day Celebrations a U2 Cover’s band was playing. And this is where things get weird. There were probably 20,000 people at this park listening to the band, possibly more. And you know what the songs of the lyrics were talking about everything that is wrong with the world, and people were singing along, they had their hands raised and were jumping up and down as well. It was at this moment cynically I thought to myself that this was a lot like church. Only the people weren’t filled with the Holy Spirit they were filled with too much Alcoholic Spirits. And later there were people who appeared to be overcome by the spirit but it was the spirit of alcohol that had caused them to collapse.

And the cynic in me goes why do we have magnificent church buildings where the doors are closed and you are just expected to somehow know how to get in, when you can get a much larger crowd by setting up a stage in a park, that is open and exposed to the world. What are we missing? I am sure the alcohol component has something to do with it, but if people are able to have a fun time on alcohol and desire it so much, then why isn’t it the same which church? Sure you have some people who are completely on fire for God but what about the rest. What are we missing?

And reading over this the cynic inside the cynic tells me that it is because there is too much arguing amongst church denominations and the like. Sure that is partly true. But that can’t be that much different than the difference between hip hop, classical, and alternative rock can it? I mean all of those genres all attract massive crowds and people long to attend live music gigs, but there is something about Sunday and church that just puts people off including myself. Just saying.

This is so awesome for a Funk covers band from Hamilton to be beating out all those other “big” names in music. New Zealanders must still have some taste!

And people should definately buy the album it is awesome.

The one bit that really got me from a Christian perspective was towards the end of the book where Welch describes some songs he wrote after coming to Christ:

After I’d been writing for a bit, God gave me another song called “It’s Time To See Religion Die.” To me, this song has a few different meanings. For one, it’s a song that encourages people to get out of this whole “Sunday Christian” mentality and into the world so God can use them to change the world, to help people understand that God does not live in buildings made by men (Acts 7:48). We are God’s building, because he dwells in us (1 Corinthians 3:16).

Upon reading this I grabbed my bible to check the verses mentioned in context. The full context of Acts 7:48 is from verse 48 through to verse 50, from the NIV:

However, the Most High does not live in houses made by men. As the prophet says: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord. Or where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things?”

The full context of 1 Corinthians 3:16 extends into verse 17 as well:

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.

This commentary was something that I had always known but had forgotten about. It seems too often that we get caught up in thinking that God is at Church. When God is actually right with us, right now. And church is something made by man to come together as a body of believers to worship God. Church is not God and does not create God, but we can meet God at church, in exactly the same way we can on our owns anywhere else at any other time.

Welch then continues:

That’s not the only meaning to this song though. Also, this song is for all the people that have been hurt by religion. All of the man-made religion crap in this world has to die. Whenever it’s Christian man-made religion crap or some other man-made religion crap, it all has to die. It must grieve God’s heart when he sees Christians fighting about whose doctrine is right; he doesn’t see denominations, he sees one big glorious bride. When Christians argue about doctrinal issues, all he sees is carnal people acting like children. All that prideful, controlling religious crap is what drives young people away from churches, and it has to go. Much of the world’s population is under the age of eighteen, and we have to bring the love of Christ to them without all this controlling crap going on. Because, where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

I found this point quite interesting as well. I think it is important to be able to freely and frankly discuss your differences of points of view on doctrine but many times church groups take it way too far (catholic vs protestant for instance). And it does put people off. If we put as much effort into working with young people as we did discussing the finer points of some minor piece of doctrine how many more people would we save?

You can buy the book on Mighty Ape

And U2′s Kite is stuck in my head.

Some of the lyrics:

Something is about to give
I can feel it coming
I think I know what it means

Who’s to say where the wind will take you?
Who’s to say what it is will break you?
I don’t know which way the wind will blow
Who’s to know when the time has come around?
Don’t wanna see you cry
I know that this is not goodbye

In summer, I can taste the salty sea
There’s a kite blowing out of control on a breeze
I wonder what’s gonna happen to you
You wonder what has happened to me

I’m a man
I’m not a child
A man who sees
The shadow behind your eyes

Who’s to say where the wind will take you?
Who’s to say what it is will break you?
I don’t know where the wind will blow
Who’s to know when the time has come around?
I don’t wanna see you cry
I know that this is not goodbye

Did I waste it?
Not so much I couldn’t taste it
Life should be fragrant
Rooftop to the basement

One of the post catchy songs on it is Shadow of the Day. In particular it is catchy drum and bass line. Well a few days ago I read that it was nearly identical to U2′s With or Without you. And If you listen to the beginning of both songs it is clear they have the same bass track.

Now I am not going to point the finger at Linkin Park and say they stole U2′s song. In fact both songs are quite different in lyrics and other pieces of music. But hearing them over the top of each other is quite cool.

The follow three videos are all mash ups of the two songs. The first alters the U2 track to make it fit Linkin Park, while the second does the opposite. The third is an almost straight overlay of the two songs and the video explains how it was done.

Cool aye.

What a contrast between the two albums.

Skillet’s album is fantastic. I mean more then fantastic. The DVD of the film is just amazing, lots of postproduction effects and a really good selection of songs accross their past few albums, and a one hour 20 minute show.

Rapture on the other hand is a 40 minute, 10 song show which is interrupted every second song by Parachute Music putting in a mini promo or message about something, I didn’t buy a live DVD to get advertising breaks. However the show itself is awesome.

Both albums also come with an audio cd version of the respective concerts which is good for the MP3 Player.

It is pretty cool, check it out here: http://www.jesusfreakhideout.com/features/favorites/top15_2008/default.asp

Which made me think. If I could only have 15 albums from my collection what would they be?

So in no particular order, and I limited myself to only one album per band my list is:

Audio Adrenaline – Until My Heart Caves In

This was Audio A’s last original studio release. And it rocks. Opening up with Clap Your Hands, and featuring King, Starting Over, Are You Ready For Love, Undefeated and Losing Control it rocked from start to finish. Easily one of my favourite albums.

Delirious? – Access:D

Access:D was a great live album from the D boys. Featuring all the hits from the Cutting Edge era and more recent Touch material it was a great two disc live collection that really defined what it means to be a fan of Delirious.

Eight – Unfinished

Eight are a local Kiwi band, or were. Unfinished was released after the band went their seperate ways. Openning up with Build a 7 minute instrumental really does Build the album. Featuring Depends and Fall Apart the album really shows the beauty of Eight a very well polished band and album.

Jeff Deyo – Surrender

I really coundn’t leave this album of the list. I was front row at Parachute 2005 where it was recorded live. Other then the personal connection to the album it is a great collection of modern worship songs such as Let It Flow, Be Lifted Up, More Love More Power, Nothing Less Than All Of Me and Bless The Lord.

Kutless – Hearts of the Innocent

The highlight of this album is Winds of Change a beautiful rock song. But like almost all the other albums on this list it the entire album rocks. Million Dollar Man is a great description of our modern lust for greed.

The Lads – Lost at Sea

We all said it was okay to live our own way without God. The Lad’s late 1990s album Lost at Sea is powerful because it successfuly blends punk/pop rock with songs about God and life. The highlight of this album is the ballard Ode To Joy. A must have.

Lifehouse – No Name Face

Your all I want, your all I need, your everything. Lifehouse’s No Name Face album is fantastic. It contains a large amount of spiritual metaphors mixed into a mainstream rock album. Hanging by a Moment was the most requested radio single of 2001 in the United States and propelled the band to stardom.

Newsboys – Adoration

The Newsboys’ worship project is one of their best albums. Opening with He Reigns and containing a live version of It is You the album is exactly what it says it is, A worship album.

OneRepublic – Dreaming Out Loud

OneRepublic are a lot like Lifehouse sucessful at mixing God and the mainstream. My favourite song is Dreaming Out Loud which at first listen is a very confussed song, but on more indepth thought it contains many powerful metaphors about God and Church.

Paul Colman Trio – New Map of the World

The Paul Colman Trio was one of the best bands that never quite made it. Turn featured heavily on World Vision ads and helped the band get airplay on Christian Radio. The best song on the album is Killing Tree closely followed by Selfish Song.

Rapture Ruckus – I Believe

The third homegrown artist on my list. Rapture Ruckus has been very successful in proving you can have rap without having the negative images that go with it. A nice album with a powerful message.

Skillet – Alien Youth

Choosing what Skillet album to add to this list was hard. In the end Alien Youth was settled on because of the dynamic songs on the album such as Alien Youth, The Thirst is Taking Over and Will You Be There.

Thousand Foot Krutch – The Art of Breaking.

If you haven’t heard the song Hurt go and listen to it now. This album is brilliant at showing the success of christian rock, being well polished, clean and simply great!

TobyMac – Alive and Transported

Probably the best live album I own. Alive and Transported features all of the best songs from TobyMac and DC Talk, the lead in for Jesus Freak is fantastic.

Tree63 – Tree63

Tree63′s debut album is their best. Features: Joy, Look What You’ve Done, 1*0*1. Brilliant, just Brilliant.

And now Kutless!!! Yeah!!!

Parachute 09 is coming, and the line up has been announced…

Family Force Five, The David Crowder Band, Kutless, Casting Crowns and Dave Dobbyn are confirmed as headline acts! Also Some of your favorite kiwis; Parachute Band, Rapture Ruckus, Mumsdollar, Nathan King, Kingston, All Left Out, Magnify, Late 80′s Mercedes, Juliagrace, Shooting Stars, The Ember Days, Zero T, Primal Band and heaps more…

Get ready for the summer of peace, justice and rock ’n roll. Celebrating its 19th year, Parachute 09 is set to be the hottest spot on the summer calendar. From 23-26 January, Hamilton’s Mystery Creek’s Events Centre will resound with hits of home and abroad as 150 artists grace 6 stages over the long weekend.