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Burn Fund Benefit Concert, Vancouver Canada - Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver (24 May 2005)
Last modified: 24 May 2005

Venue: Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver
Author: Brandon Klassen
Date: 24 May 2005

7:30 PM: The Pacific Coliseum was alive with energy as fans awaited Delirious?' first return to Vancouver in over 3 years. Martin greeted the crowd with a "croaky England cold" and told all that it was up to us to sing out. I don't think we disappointed - and Martin even reached a good number of his high notes despite being under the weather. The setup was slightly smaller than a usual concert at the venue, providing a closer experience for the not-quite-capacity crowd, and a large video screen sometimes showed live camera feeds and sometimes pre-recorded video, with lyrics occasionally overlaid.

The feel of the night was thematic, and we gave our all in proclamations of "My Glorious" and "Majesty", lost our voices in exuberance with "Rain Down" and "Deeper", and were transported to the heights of "Mountains High" and "God In Heaven". Spontaneous bits included Martin singing about his first trip to Vancouver over a decade ago, a stirring instrumental with Martin on acoustic, and the requisite round of "I Could Sing Of Your Love Forever". "Every Little Thing" brought out the lighters and cell phones, and as expected "History Maker" welcomed Martin into the crowd, standing on shoulders to sing with us and having his Bible held up to read the prophetic Acts 2:17-21. Being up close to Martin tends to make us fans go crazy, and "O Captain! My Captain!" was yelled in response to Martin's "CAPTAIN" armband.

Stew and Tim kept the songs flowing without a hitch, Jon maintained a completely cool exterior throughout the performance with his shades, suit and integral bass grooves, and Stu's talent for churning riffs was invigorating. For two hours, we raised and clapped our hands, lifted our voices, and jumped and danced with the tug of the Holy Spirit opening our hearts in worship. The evening closed with the call of "Investigate" to be searched by God and made clean (but the stunning "Bliss" never made the encore). Thank you Delirious?, for coming back again and sharing this special night with us, reminding us of God's fire in our lives.

As a benefit concert this show put the idea of World Service into action, and the proceeds from the evening including the merch went to the Vancouver Burn Fund, "Preventing Victims - Empowering Survivors," a non-profit charity established in 1978 by the BC Professional Fire Fighters Association to provide funding for equipment and training for hospitals in British Columbia.

Setlist:
Grace Like A River
Rain Down
My Glorious
Free
With You
Mountains High
Majesty
--Instrumental
History Maker
Inside Outside
Deeper
Every Little Thing
God In Heaven

Encore: Investigate





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