Petőfi Csarnok, Városliget,
19th December, 3490Ft
Pest, XIV, Széchenyi Fürdő, (M1) 5 min
Oh my Lord! Look who've cropped up in Budapest: Deliriou5? Yes. (It wasn't a question.)
A long time ago, in a town far away - Bedford, England, to be specific - I found myself at a Deliriou5? gig. It was held in a small church hall. There was a guy we knew called Sam whose family were members of a small, groovy kind of church that may or may not have been a cult. (I don't know where the distinction is drawn.) His mum argued with us about how the eye evolved.
When Sam invited us to the gig, I was a little suspicious. "They're not going to be really Goddy, are they? I'm not coming if they're Goddy." "No, they're not Goddy," he lied. My friend Stephen was angling for Sam's sister, so I think I had some kind of fluffer duty, especially as I was the one with the car.
The little hall was packed, and Sam went over to Deliriou5? (I can't help saying it like that), who hugged him, patted him on the shoulders and the like, and looked all chummy. I looked around at the audience; not a very rock 'n' roll audience, in truth. The gig began and they had some kind of projector, like the ones you get at school, displaying the lyrics: "Father God, you heard the prayer; From deep within my spirit cried; If there's a God, come rescue me; Now here I stand, I'm saved by grace." That's quite Goddy, I thought.
Not as Goddy as it got just before the interval. A song ended in clouds of feedback... feedback that just kept feeding back. And as it fed and fed and fed, the singer raised his arms out straight on each side and began to mutter... "Thank you Jesus... thank you Jesus..." To my horror, the people around me began to raise their arms too, all murmuring "Thank you Jesus... Thank you Jesus." I looked across at Stephen. He wasn't murmering. "Thank you Jesus!", I thought.
The interval arrived and I was out of there like an atheist. A slightly shaken atheist at that. Stephen stayed. It got weirder. I think someone was cured of Leukemia or something like that. [I invite him to elaborate in the comments.]
Fast forward 14 years and they're playing Petőfi Csarnok. I don't know if it's likely to be quite as intense but, if someone suggests that you go, and you're not a religious nutcase, don't say that you haven't been warned. On the other hand, it is their farewell tour, so if you're looking for God in the form of mediocre rock, it might be a while before the chance comes again. Tickets here.
delirious; delerious, delirius, delerius
Andy Sz.
When Sam invited us to the gig, I was a little suspicious. "They're not going to be really Goddy, are they? I'm not coming if they're Goddy." "No, they're not Goddy," he lied. My friend Stephen was angling for Sam's sister, so I think I had some kind of fluffer duty, especially as I was the one with the car.
The little hall was packed, and Sam went over to Deliriou5? (I can't help saying it like that), who hugged him, patted him on the shoulders and the like, and looked all chummy. I looked around at the audience; not a very rock 'n' roll audience, in truth. The gig began and they had some kind of projector, like the ones you get at school, displaying the lyrics: "Father God, you heard the prayer; From deep within my spirit cried; If there's a God, come rescue me; Now here I stand, I'm saved by grace." That's quite Goddy, I thought.
Not as Goddy as it got just before the interval. A song ended in clouds of feedback... feedback that just kept feeding back. And as it fed and fed and fed, the singer raised his arms out straight on each side and began to mutter... "Thank you Jesus... thank you Jesus..." To my horror, the people around me began to raise their arms too, all murmuring "Thank you Jesus... Thank you Jesus." I looked across at Stephen. He wasn't murmering. "Thank you Jesus!", I thought.
The interval arrived and I was out of there like an atheist. A slightly shaken atheist at that. Stephen stayed. It got weirder. I think someone was cured of Leukemia or something like that. [I invite him to elaborate in the comments.]
Fast forward 14 years and they're playing Petőfi Csarnok. I don't know if it's likely to be quite as intense but, if someone suggests that you go, and you're not a religious nutcase, don't say that you haven't been warned. On the other hand, it is their farewell tour, so if you're looking for God in the form of mediocre rock, it might be a while before the chance comes again. Tickets here.
delirious; delerious, delirius, delerius
Andy Sz.3 Comments:
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I think Andrew forgot to mention that, in the first half, the youth leaders in the audience were asked to raise their arms to allow the lead singer to channel God. Then came the memorable line - I don't know why Andrew hasn't remembered it - "Is there a taxi driver in the audience? A taxi driver with a dodgy arm?". There wasn't a taxi driver in the audience, much less one with a dodgy arm. No-one was cured of leukemia, or anything else for that matter (that taxi driver really should have gone along), although the lead singer did claim that a man with leukemia had been cured at a previous Deliriou5? gig. Yes, that's right, that man with leukemia who wasn't all over the papers and on the TV when he was miraculously cured of a disease without medicine and the use of modern science. They really should have made more of this, as I'm sure they would have had to hold gigs in a larger venue than a small church hall in Bedford after word got around. I think they missed a trick here.
I've tried to remember what happened in the second half but it seems I've blocked it out. This isn't the case with afterwards though, as that was truly unforgetable: people laying hands on people and people jibber-jabbering and people thrashing this way and that way. I was scared and I was also angry.
Another point of clarification: It wasn't a cult, it was a church; Thrapston Baptist Church to be precise, which my uncle used to call 'Happy Clappy Thrappy Bappy'.
By the way, even if you are a Christian who likes that kind of thing, don't go. The music's rubbish.
enjoy!!
just the gallery: http://colourofair.com/wp-content/uploads/misc/delirious2/index.html