After
5 years without any studio album NEW MODEL ARMY
are back on tour again! (Not counting all the gigs that Justin
Sullivan played solo in the meantime or with Red Sky Coven.) Finally
with a stopover in Bremen again and not only in Cologne, where
they play regularly each year their ritual Christmas Show. With
them they brought their latest album Carnival
which is in contrast to the name the darkest and most desperate
album that I heard for years.
I expected at least one song about the British/American activities
in Iraq. But now Justin concentrates more on the individual destinies
of refugees and their situation than on global political problems
as before.
In the afternoon before the show in the :: Modernes
:: I had the opportunity to talk to Justin Sullivan (one of my all
time heroes) a few minutes. Even if there were some radio and
TV stations waiting already to get their time to talk to him.
The first question that came to my mind when I listened to the
tracks on the new album was what the meaning of BD3 and
LS43 could be.
BD3 is the postal code of the part Bradford where he
lives while LS43 is a working title with a meaning that
he didn’t want to tell.
Whenever I think about NEW MODEL ARMY and America
I always think that these 2 groups will never get along. Not only
because of the 51st State. The more surprised I got to
hear that exactly this song is the most requested song in the
states. I wanted to know why they didn’t play that song
for several years in the 90ies, when that song was more actual
than ever (during and after the 1st war in Iraq). He said that
this song became too big. And they wanted to concentrate on other
things.
I doubt that this song lost any size and still it is hotter than
ever. So I was very happy to hear it again in their concerts.
Getting back to the band’s new album Carnival
as a title of the album doesn’t really fit to the dark lyrics
in my opinion. But the name was chosen as a contrast to black
and white thinking of many people.
::
pics ::
New Model
Army were supported on this tour by :: HONIGDIEB
:: a German speaking (and singing) pop-punk band from Dortmund. Some
people might know Hannes Smith, the head of the band, already
from Phantoms Of Future or The Idiots (this name was chosen by
fans of the band). A simple thing: he proposed a few possible
names and at one of their first gigs the audience voted at a gig
their favourite name. Nice plan…
Hannes brought four people with him to play their 45 minutes set.
Most of their songs came from their new long-player Einzig
aber nicht artig. A colourful show was presented
with a performance that reminded me of Iggy Pop. Just the music
was not as variable as the performance but never boring. A nice
support act for bands but not worth visiting one of their solo
concerts.
The main act
:: NEW MODEL ARMY :: started a few minutes after 21h
because a limit of 2 hours was set. That was enough to play a
good mixture of old and new songs. As mentioned already in several
magazines: Dave Blomberg left the band a few months ago and was
replaced on the guitars by Marshall Gill. Furthermore they played
with two drum sets on some songs so there was not a lot of space
left on stage. So four subwoofers had to be but into the pit in
front of the stage which made it hard to move for photographers
and the security people.
I found it interesting to see that Justin Sullivan has still the
same bright and shining eyes while he sings as in the 80ies when
I saw them for the first time. Anyway, I would have expected more
than just five songs of their new album. Occasionally some British
Army-heads build their “trees” in the audience gesturing
during the songs as ever. It seemed as if they never had a five
year pause since Eight. The set ended
with Green And Grey after nearly 2 hours. A very nice
evening with NEW MODEL ARMY!
Setlist: Over The Wire, The Charge, Water,
Fate, Wonderful Way To Go, Carlisle Road, Another Imperial Day,
Here Comes The War, Better Than Them (acoustic), Red Earth, Before
I Get Old, Island, No Rest, Purity, Poison Street, Get Me Out
// Flying Through The Smoke, 51st State // 125mph, Green And Grey
