Tree63: Rock resurrected

Playing music with overt Christian themes but strong rock structures, they quickly gained a large following thanks to their offering believers an alternative to more traditional – and sometimes cliched – worship music.

Thanks to their world-class chops – all three core members (John Ellis, Darryl Swart and Daniel Ornellas) are still producing music professionally – the band also gained the respect of non-believers who simply appreciated the skill involved in creating a long list of hits, including the Billboard chart-topping Treasure.

After Tree63 broke up in 2009, however, their legacy was subjected to fairly rigorous testing as it became clear that finding success in the US (the fabled “breaking America” myth) wasn’t all unicorns and rainbows, and singer John Ellis, in particular, came under fire for having opinions that didn’t gel with the band’s fans’ perceptions of their heroes.

The latest manifestation of the latter phenomenon was Ellis’s interview with Gareth Cliff a few weeks ago, which was controversial enough to raise fears that ticket sales for their reunion tour (two dates in Pretoria, one in Johannesburg and a set at Splashy Fen this past weekend) would suffer.

They didn’t fill Bryanston’s cavernous New Life Church last week, but the crowd of a few hundred was large enough – and enthusiastic enough – to guarantee a good atmosphere, something the band visibly responded to as their set progressed.

Ellis still lives in Durban, but Ornellas is based in Nashville in the US and Swart in Calgary in Canada, so a touch of rustiness would have been acceptable.

However, but for a bit of vocal fatigue in the encore and a sense that there’s a different chemistry in a trio who now only see each other once every few years, Tree63 were every bit as impressive as they used to be.

Eight popular albums meant they could afford to leave audience favourites like King off the setlist without any listeners feeling short-changed.

Realistically, this show was more about nostalgia than the launch of a second career, but in that context, it was wonderful.