for King + Country
Indigo at The O2,London
Russ Ballard, of the British rock band Argent, said it first with God Gave Rock ‘n’ Roll to You, a hit way back in 1973.
Nashville-based for King + Country are on a career-long mission to prove Russ was right. And what better time to weld stirring rock music to Christianity than at Christmas?
The singing Smallbone siblings – Aussie-born but US-raised – sold out two nights at Indigo at The O2; not bad numbers for their first-ever London shows.
The audience were predominantly devout, but you didn’t have to be a believer to be converted by the band’s powerful blend of polished performance, handsome harmonies, absolute sincerity and old-school showmanship.
They started with a sombre but sublime, stripped-back, atmospheric version of In The Bleak Midwinter, Gustav Holtz’s 1908 carol based on a 19th century poem by English poet Christina Rossetti.
The 26-song set, delivered in two halves, mixed new arrangements of traditional carols with original Christmas numbers like Baby Boy, complete with sleighbells, without any drop of standards.
The 1800-strong crowd were on their feet as soon as they hit the opening chords of second song, Joy To The World, a hymn originally written by the 18th century English minister Isaac Watts, and barely sat down again.
Silent Night, complete with mass iPhone torch accompaniment from the audience, was memorable. But best was the band’s heavily rhythmic, electrifying take on set-closer Little Drummer Boy (originally written by US composer Katherine Kennicott Davis in 1941).
It made a genuinely stirring ending before the jubilant encore reprise of Joy To The World.
The brothers, Joel and Luke, performed in vintage military tunics, with Joel in particular looking like a straight Freddie Mercury, possibly sowing the seeds of unchristian thoughts amongst teeny-boppers and grannies alike.
Between numbers the siblings joked about growing up in Sydney, where Christmas was celebrated on the beach, and recalled their early, cash-strapped days in America after their father relocated the family to Tennessee.
But behind the warm mix of laughter and nostalgia, there is seriousness at their core of their repertoire.
Few performers would have chosen to end the first half of their show as Luke did, by spending ten minutes urging the audience to support the Compassion charity dedicated to releasing children from poverty.
The band – all nine of them – were faultless, with not a note out of place, and the set varied from the passionate sweeping pop of For God Is With Us, one of their strongest original songs, to the leisurely groove of their interpretation of the African-American spiritual standard Go Tell It On The Mountain with a guest performance from Joel’s wife, Moriah Smallbone (née Peters).
The brothers dedicated Unsung Hero to their mother and left the stage during Angels We Have Heard On High to walk through the audience shaking hands and cementing a connection that had been obvious from the start.
They even managed to transform O Come, O Come Emmanual, a hymn more than 1200 years old, into a touching prog rock epic.
Their set was a triumph of pop gospel. Their passion melted cynicism and sent their fans floating home on cloud nine.
God gave rock’n’roll to you? Of course He did. Why should the devil have all the best tunes?