Band:
New Model Army Venue:
Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK Date: 22
October 2000
Support band - Automatic
Local band "Automatic" wowed the crowds with their performance as support
band for New Model Army. The hall was already half full when they came on
stage.
They help fill the gap left behind by the demise of The Wildhearts with
their very similar musical direction. Only disappointment was the lack of
merchandise available from them. Quite a few people could be heard at the
stall asking if they had a CD available.
I did actually spot at least one member of NMA watching them from the dark
corner of the crowd, and he certainly seemed to be enjoying their
performance.
Their set seemed to go over too quickly though, not long enough to get a
true picture of their full potential.
New Model Army
NMA came onstage around about 9 pm and continued to play full on for the
next 1 1/2 hours. This was being billed as the warm-up for the big
Nottingham Rock City gig, well if this was a warm-up then they must have
blown Nottingham away.
The
hall was packed with fans both old and new, coming in all shapes and
guises.
You had the travellers, the Goths, the rockers, and even the tattooed
skin-head brigade, on mass and hungry to see the band back in action. They
opened with 'Fate' and went on to 'Over the Wire' next.
Justin was totally into it and was strumming the hell out of his acoustic
guitar.
It may have been 7 years since they last played Newcastle, but the fans
were definitely out in force that night. Many travelling down from
Scotland and even some travelling over from other parts of Europe just to
catch a show with them.
The songs they played covered the wide spectrum of their back catalogue of
hits, with 20 years under their belts they had plenty to choose from. They
also did 'Purity' and used the keyboard to cover the fiddle parts,
although a good version, I did miss the fiddle.
The fans arms were held high and outreaching to the band as we swayed
along all night. Not many could resist dancing along with the beat they
played.
In between songs Justin made the remarks that when NMA were first starting
out Margaret Thatcher had just become Prime Minister, and Newcastle
football team were just another 2nd division team and nothing special. He
said it felt good to have outseen Maggie!
Always a favourite with the fans was 'Green and Grey' a song which was
dedicated to the North of England.
Towards the end of the set they played 'No rest for the Wicked', probably
their most famous song, which is almost an anthem for their fans after all
these years. The crowd went totally mental and the circles of dancers
which had formed broke out into one big frenzied mass of deranged fans,
swarming back and forth in front of the stage.
The lads came back on stage to do an encore which included 'Liberal
Education' and 'Vengeance' if my mind serves me right.
Welcome back NMA, don't leave it so long next time you visit!
Setlist included:
Over The Wire
Stranger
R & R
Aimless Desire
Wonderful Way To Go
No Greater Love
Orange Tree Roads
You Weren't There
Vanity
225
Purity
Flying Through The Smoke
Stupid Questions
No Rest For The Wicked
War
Green and Grey
