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| CELEBRATING THE CENTENARY NATIONALLY - No Turning Back now |
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| Crusaders officially celebrated their glorious centenary year with a slick and spectacular concert, packed with energy and variety, at the Royal Albert Hall. |
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‘No Turning Back: The Main Event’ featured bands such as Delirious?, Yfriday, Thebandwithnoname as well as other acts like Tommy Baker and The Lacey Theatre Company. Nearly 4000 young people and adults packed the prestigious Central London venue and rocked the place for 4 exhilarating hours on Saturday 20th May. The event also featured the first official announcement of Crusaders’ imminent change of name – to Urban Saints – on January 1st 2007.
The ‘Picnic in the Park’ event, beforehand, was hampered by some torrential rain showers that kept the numbers attending fairly low. However as ‘No Turning Back’ got closer, the crowds gathered in Kensington Gardens and were truly buzzing with eager anticipation. Hundreds of people lined the outside of the Royal Albert Hall waiting for the doors to open. Once inside, the excitement built to near fever pitch before the house lights went out.
‘No Turning Back’ began with Beth Tysall, one of the winners from 2002’s ‘Life 2 The Max’ Talent competition, singing ‘How Great Thou Art’ unaccompanied and her soaring, spine-tingling vocals really set the mood for the day. Matt Summerfield (Crusaders’ Executive Director) bounded on with host, Emma Owen (from God TV and formerly of ‘The Tribe’) to welcome everyone before handing over to thebandwithnoname. The Manchester-based quartet appeared on stage in cloaks and hoods before throwing them off and launching into the high-tempo ‘Amazing Grace’. They really got ‘No Turning Back’ rocking, spitting out Gospel truths and punky grooves, and raised the expectation levels for what was to follow.
Comedian Tim Vine and comic-magician, John Archer worked hard to bring some comic relief to the proceedings – although a number of the jokes may have gone over the heads of the younger members of the audience. The Lacey Theatre Company performed an excellent, if slightly abstract, dramatic rendition of the Gospel story. The play, written by Rob Lacey who recently lost a long battle against illness, was performed in his honour.
Heroes of the North East, Yfriday, brought some all-out rock to the line-up. With big guitar riffs and sing-along choruses they encouraged the young people to live lives for Christ and aspire to change the world. After such a high-tempo rock performance, the 4000-strong crowd needed a rest, returning after the short interval for the drumming and percussion ‘experience’ that is the Psalm Drummers. Their short but rocking set featured a handful of highly talented drummers, using lots of different types of drums, to produce a cascade of beats full of rhythm and groove.
Blush UK, a four-piece girl band from Manchester, brought some glamour to the line-up as well as their infectious pop-dance tunes. The testimony that one of the band members had been healed just hours before of a knee injury, added to the crowd’s excitement and brought glory to God even amongst the slick entertainment of this pop concert. Next up was, escapologist Steve Legg, who drew both laughs and gasps from the watching crowd, as he escaped a straight-jacket in less time than it takes some people to put take off an overcoat! Sports juggler and entertainer, Tommy Baker, also added to the ‘wow-factor’ with his repertoire of basketball juggling and skills. No matter how many times you see Tommy, who played at all last year’s No Turning Back tour dates, it is still astonishing what he can do with a basketball or three!
Throughout there were video messages from Christian leaders including Soul Survivor’s Mike Pilavachi, Andy Hawthorne from The Message and Roy Crowne of YFC as well as birthday greetings from Crusaders’ President Steve Chalke and the Patron, Sir Cliff Richard. Council Chairman, Nigel Spencer, complete with young members of his Ramsay group, delivered a birthday message from the Queen while Chair of the Crusaders Executive, Peter Jeffrey helped build anticipation of the movement’s new name just prior to its ‘reveal’ as part of a montage of 100 years of Crusaders.
As the event sped towards its climax, Matt Summerfield shared a challenging Gospel message, encouraging the young people in the Albert Hall to seek Jesus Christ in their lives and to go and make a difference where they are. Matt explained that being an agent of change is exactly what being an ‘Urban Saint’ is all about. Then Matt handed over to the final act, the eagerly-anticipated, Delirious?
The highly accomplished Littlehampton band, fired up the crowd with some truly rocking versions of their newer songs, making the Royal Albert Hall bounce and sway like never before. Then Martin Smith and co, skilfully and wonderfully transformed their act from polished ‘rock show’ to a far more participatory worship experience. Their classic call-to-make-a-difference track ‘History Maker’, made way for worship songs like ‘Majesty’ and ‘Our God Reigns’. The final moments of ‘No Turning Back’ were sealed as a deluge of coloured balloons fell from above the crowd and then it was all over.
As the masses streamed through the doors and out through Kensington Gardens on their way home, there were loads of smiling, happy faces and many, many messages of encouragement and gratitude for a stunningly enjoyable birthday bash.
Happy birthday Crusaders! 100 years old – 100 years young… |
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