New Model Army @ O2 Forum Kentish Town - December 13, 2018

Arrived at the Forum in time to see most of Shattercones set. It gave me a Nick Cave, David Lynch vibe with a twangy old-fashioned rock weirdness.  I really liked them. They played about 6 songs including A Cheat and In Relief, and I believe The Butterfly Song, all of which you can find on youtube or through their FaceBook page.

I'd heard a lot of good things about Seán McGowan from comments on Solo Armada's social media pages. Tonight he was doing a solo acoustic set which I believe is his norm rather than backed by a full band. He was chatty and personable and funny and seemed genuinely grateful to have been asked to open for NMA. He did a short set of mostly upbeat catchy songs that didn't fully win over the talking audience, but seemed to please quite a few.

Setlist:
Spancil Hill
Off the Rails
Romance Ain't Dead
Springhill
Cuppa Tea
No Show

New Model Army came on at 9:15. This London gig is one of their shows for their annual Winter Gatherings, but it's my first time seeing them. I discovered them sometime around 1991 and became obsessed with their Son of Cain album, and to a lesser degree some of the following LPs like Thunder and Consolation. Unfortunately they played nothing off my favourite album, including 51st State which was a staple on mixed tapes for years, but I realized how much of their other work I really like, so I didn't mind too much.

They have many albums to chose from and seemed to select songs that worked with the winter theme and the current political climate. The later in the set, the more the setlist seemed to be off the cuff with requests from the crowd that it was unclear if the band could hear or not, since many were shouted out in a jumble.

I had agonized a bit about whether to brave the cold evening to see another show alone, but knew I would regret missing a band I have liked for so long, and as always, was happy to have seen them finally.  They have a nice rapport with the fans, who seemed to be a touch on the crusty side, but less so than I feared. Most were in the mid 30- mid 50 age range I would guess, and there were many, many New Model Army T-shirts being shown off. I even dug out my old "Get Me Out" one for fun, and after a wash to shake off the years of musty box smell it was good to go. There was some fairly mellow moshing and a few people not just sitting on shoulders but standing on shoulders, which would have annoyed me, had I not been down the front with a good view.

Justin Sullivan the main and only persistent member of the band repeated a theme of political divisiveness a few times as he spoke to us between songs. His main message being that the politicians will only achieve their selfish aims if we let ourselves become divided; a fitting message for such a divided mid-Brexit country. Nice to hear that NMA's political messages haven't softened any.

Setlist:
Whirlwind
Burn the Castle
Drag it Down
Devil
States Radio
A Liberal Education
Brother
Winter
225
Better Than Them (as a tribute to Pete Shelley)
Too Close to the Sun
Guessing
Today is a Good Day
Autumn
Fater
Green and Grey
Encore:
Drummy B
Waiting
Island
Encore 2:
Stupid Questions
Betcha