Album Reviews
Movie Reviews
Concert Reviews

Top 10
Resources
Time Wasters
Contact Us

Recorded during the Hillsong Conference 2003, delirious? combined with the Hillsong worship team to record this live event where 20,000 worshippers packed the Sydney Superdome. 

Whilst I am certain that it was an awesome of praise and worship to God on the night itself, none of it comes through this recording. In fact, despite the participation of delirious?, who are no slouches,  this album sounds tame and limp in comparison to the usual power and passion one expects from a Hillsong live record. The usual suspects ("I Give You My Heart," "I Could Sing Of Your Love Forever," "King of Majesty," "History Maker") are all in evidence here, but sadly never quite muster the energy and verve one would expect.

Kevin Mathews  1/22/2005

What happens when two of the biggest forces in modern praise and worship get together for one CD? Hillsongs, lead by Darlene Zschech, and best known for songs such as "Shout to the Lord" and "Power of Your Love," has been one of the landmark groups in modern praise and worship. Delirious? is another group that has been a huge factor in the popularity of this movement, releasing songs such as "I Could Sing of Your Love Forever," "The Happy Song," and "Shout to the North." There is quite possibly no two bigger names in the modern praise and worship movement than these two. 

So what happens when these two groups collaborate on one praise and worship event which is then recorded for a CD? Unfortunately, a disappointing release. The energy that was no doubt at the live event is not on this album. There is very little collaboration on the various tracks, with only a few featuring the two groups together. Even when Martin Smith of Delirious? and Darlene Zschech of Hillsongs sing a duet on a song, it is really only one artist performing guest vocals, and usually the guest vocals are hard to hear.

So what does this project feature? New songs? Not exactly. The event where this album was originally recorded occurred a year and a half ago, so even songs that were new at the time such as Delirious? hits, "Rain Down" and "Majesty," are now familiar songs. The best songs from both groups? No, there are some outstanding hits from both, but some of the songs are definitely not the best known songs from the groups--many of those hits aren't on this project. One group performing some of the hits of the others? We do get Zschech performing "I Could Sing of Your Love Forever," but that's about it. Maybe the two groups are going to alternate songs. The first song is by Hillsongs, and the second is by Delirious? but the trend ends there as Hillsongs performs a few more songs and Delirious? performs the entire second half of the album. This project feels like a concert where Hillsongs performs, the two perform together for a short time and Delirious? performs the rest of the album.

With two huge groups, expectations were high for this release. Unfortunately, it doesn't live up to those expectations and is a project that only die-hard fans will enjoy.

Burton Wray   January 23, 2005

 Zschech and company are joined by Delirious?, and over 20,000 conference attendees.  Opening the disc is “Everyday,” which achieves its purpose in fine fashion, getting the crowd involved with an upbeat (but not too upbeat – this is a church conference, after all) number that everyone knows and enjoys.  

From there it’s hit and miss.  Like most worship CDs, some of the tunes tend to run overlong with repeated choruses (“Free,” “King of Majesty”), while other demonstrate that Delirious? still does their best '80’s band imitations.  “Rain Down” and “History Maker” evoke the scary image of Bono leading a worship conference, while “Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble” has a striking similarity to Simple Minds.

The music here is competently done, and the attendees seem to be oblivious of anything except for the sounds enveloping them, and hopefully, a direct connection to God.  The bonus DVD is almost exactly the same soundtrack as the CD, and doesn’t add a lot to the package, other than putting a picture to the audio.  As always, the effect here is somewhat diminished in watching other people worship, rather than participating in it myself.  

Brian A. Smith
30 January 2005