Often when I go to see Delirious? I end up travelling quite a way to get to the venue, so there's something rather nice about only having a 10 minute drive from home to get to a concert. I arrived at Southampton Guildhall shortly before 5:30pm and walked up to the front door only to be intercepted by big-beefy-security-guy. "How can I help you mate?" he asked in that way that really meant "Where do you think you're going? Get out of here before I break your arm". Realising I wasn't going to get very far without a pass I phoned Jon who came and met me at the door and hung a AAA around my neck. Big-beefy nodded and stepped out of the way, I was in. Tree63 had just finished their sound check on stage, so Jon took me on a guided tour of the stage and introduced me to the charming John Ellis, lead singer of Tree. We then had a look around at the impressive production for the tour, including the very cool Kingdom Of Comfort stage props. I grabbed this photo (below) of Jon posing by the bird cage before he insisted on using my camera to take a few shots of me next to the props too (but you don't want to see those photos, right?).


We then wandered back stage to the Delirious? dressing room where Martin, Stu, Tim and Paul were occupying their time on laptops, listening to music or on the phone. We chatted for a few minutes before it was time for Delirious? to do their sound check. I followed them back to the stage and watched and took some photos (the pictures in this blog are all from the sound check). The band spent quite a bit of time rehearsing the transition from God Is Smiling into God's Romance, and then tried God Is Smiling into My Glorious. After a few attempts and a bit of discussion, they decided My Glorious followed on better, so that song was chosen. With Sound Check finished, Stu G decided to play the opening guitar riff of Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall, Paul couldn't resist joining in on drums.


Both bands and what seemed like endless crew members then headed off to the nearby 'Slug and Lettuce' for some dinner. As usual Martin only got about 2 paces from the venue door before getting stopped for an autograph, whilst Jon and Paul walked past untroubled. Over dinner I was amused to witness Tree63 drummer Darryl Swart pull out his camera and start photographing first his plate of food, and then someone else's. "I'm documenting what I eat on tour" he explained! Back at the venue I had a wander around and chatted to Fierce boss JB. We talked about the forthcoming single, and I told him I think this is one of the few times Delirious? have actually released the right song as a single! He was quite pleased to hear that since apparently it was his idea to release Love Will Find A Way. We also talked about the new live DVD (due for release early next year) and some of the plans for Delirious? in 2009. More on that another time.


Back in the dressing room there was some debate about how the band should come onto stage at the start of the show. Sound-man Matt had suggested some intro music, and the guys pondered using it, before deciding instead to start with Martin walking on dressed in a gown and crown to sing Kingdom Of Comfort. Next I chatted with Tim who told me that details of the new single had been sent to some 300 media outlets. Nobody knows how much notice they'll take of it, but the single's video (made up of footage from the Ultimate Event and Frenzy Festival) has been distributed to as many places as possible. A little later Martin's wife Anna arrived with two of their children. The kids seemed quite excitable and clearly had a good relationship with the likes of tour manager Ian Cattle and lighting man Andy Hutch, who they've spent weeks away on tour with in the USA. It was nice to see the family oriented approach the band has to touring.


As show time drew closer, the pre-gig pacing around the dressing room stepped up a notch. I chatted to Paul who confided that the hour or so before a show is the worst time, too close to the gig to concentrate on anything, and nothing to do but wait till it was time to go on stage. He told me his parents would be in the crowd tonight. In fact with Southampton being only an hour from Littlehampton, all of the band had their families in the crowd for this show. Other pre-gig entertainment came in the form of the white coats that had been reserved for the crew to wear for the show. Normally crew members wear black to blend into the darkness, but with the 'white theme' of Kingdom of Comfort someone had decided that crew should also be cloaked in white for this tour. The crew didn't seem completely convinced with this concept, and there was some general amusement backstage as they donned their white coats and readied the stage for Delirious? imminent arrival.


With just a few minutes till they were due on stage, Martin gathered the band together in a huddle whilst Stu said the pre-gig prayer. Then they headed for the stage. I watched from the wings as they walked out in the darkness and the stage lights came on. A deafening thunder of applause and screams came from the crowd. I then quickly headed into the pit to take some photos for a few songs, before returning to the stage wings to watch the show.


I was stood just to Stu's left, behind his guitar amp, when in the middle of Rain Down I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see the grinning face of Stew Smith looking back at me! We hugged and tried to chat for a few minutes, but with Stu's amp just a meter away it was hard to hear what each other said. I asked him if it felt strange watching Delirious? on stage and he admitted it did feel a little bit weird. Later I noticed him taking photos of the band with his iphone, a definite proud smile on his face, and a slight nod of his head in the direction of Paul. I made a quick visit to the balcony for some long range photos, before returning to the pit to watch Martin climbing into the crowd during History Maker. The security man in the pit clung onto Martin's leg like his life depended on it. Before I knew it the concert was over, and we were back in the dressing room again. There was a general consensus that the crowd had been incredible and the show had gone well. I left them to meet up with their wives and children backstage, and headed home wondering how many more nights like that I would witness. The sinking feeling inside me knew there wouldn't be many more.

I've never been to Brighton before. According to the map the Concorde2 venue in Brighton, where Delirious? were opening their UK tour on Friday, is right on the sea front. So as I drove in to Brighton it wasn't hard to get myself in the general vicinity of the venue. But after I parked the car and looked around I couldn't see where it was, so I headed West along the sea front in search of it. Having reached Brighton Pier and still not located it, I decided I was heading in the wrong direction and so turned round and headed East. Back past the car again and eventually I saw the Concorde2. As I stood outside the venue I could hear support band Tree63 doing their sound check inside. I phoned Jon only to be told that he'd walked into town for dinner. "Come and join us" he said. So, I retraced my steps back along the sea front to the pier again! Then, following the directions Jon had given me on the phone I turned inland and walked into town. After a while my phone rang and Jon asked where I was. "Umm, somewhere in Brighton" I said, "There's a big church in front of me". "Turn left, up the hill" Jon instructed. So I took the next left and kept going. A little while later Jon called again, "Where are you now?". "Umm, somewhere in Brighton. There's a railway bridge in front of me" I said. "You're miles off track" Jon said, "Stay where you are, I'll come and find you". So I stayed put, and sure enough a few minutes later I saw Jon walked up the street towards me.


He led me through the lanes of Brighton to a Noodle restaurant where Paul and Stu were waiting. Taking my seat I was slightly alarmed to see chopsticks in front of me. Not exactly my forte. But to my relief when my meal arrived it was accompanied by a good old fashioned fork. As we ate Jon gave me the surprise news that the band would be announcing the release of Love Will Find A Way as a single. Having spent the past few weeks trying to convince a few people on the forum that a new single was neither likely nor a good idea, I was slightly taken aback to hear the news. It seems the band and their label want to tap into the fans passion for one last chart effort. Jon told me that they want to finish as if they're not finishing. I suppose that means not winding down to a slow end, but keeping the momentum going right to the end. As for what will happen in 2009, that's still to be finalised. Apparently they'll play about 30 concerts in total next year before calling it a day. There's some talk of a final tour, or a set of dates in the UK, but nothing concrete yet. (There is a big outdoor event though which Delirious? will be playing at on May 24th at Wiston House in Sussex).


It was good to chat to Paul a bit about how he has found it fitting into the band since taking over from Stew. He told me about getting mobbed at the airport in South America a couple of weeks back, and about shooting the new live DVD in Colombia. By about 7:30pm the guys were itching to get back to the venue, opening-night nerves were kicking in. As we walked back through the streets of Brighton, this time taking the direct route instead of my rather protracted route of earlier on, Paul and Jon turned tour-guides pointing out the sights of Brighton. As we arrived back at the Concorde2 I left the guys to head round the back to prepare for the gig, while I went in through the front door to collect my guest pass. Thankfully there was none of the usual body searching, complaints about carrying a camera or moans of "which list are you on?" that are normally associated with me trying to get into a gig. Once inside I was struck by; a) how small the venue was, and b) how packed the venue was. Tree63 were already half way through their set by now and I was stood at the back of the crowd with no easy way of getting anywhere near the front. I spent the next 10 minutes slowing working my way nearer the front in an attempt to have at least some chance of taking half decent photos of Delirious?


I was impressed with how well the crowd knew Tree63's songs, and the band were sounding very good indeed. By the time Delirious? came on stage the temperature in the room was both metaphorically and physically sky high. The only down side of the set was the surprising lack of recognition from the crowd when Deeper started. Normally it only takes a couple of notes from Stu's guitar for the crowd to start jumping and cheering. But half of the crowd didn't even seem to know what the song was, let alone jumping to it. On reflection I think Martin's observation later that "the front row seems to change every couple of years" was spot on. New fans come along and don't know some of the older songs that for years have been a stable part of the Delirious? diet. Interesting how things change.


Martin's shopping trolley microphone stand was an unusual idea. I think it might be just a little too big and clunky to work as a stand, and maybe in conjunction with a few other Kingdom Of Comfort props it might have worked better than on its own. But apart from that it was a very well received show to kick off the UK Tour.