Absence makes the heart grow fonder they say and it’s a little strange indeed to see, an albeit 2-piece, New Model Army, in Perth almost 40 years after I last saw them. It’s strange what time does, I’d been anticipating this final date of the first ever Australian Tour since it was announced last year and tonight, now that it’s here I realise I’m not sure what to expect. That makes it all the more special.
Back in day of course, a New Model Army gig was an angry affair, we were angry, the band was angry, it was wonderful. Amidst all the 80’s Pop and gloss, NMA shone like a beacon of sharply realised truth in a cultural landscape that was incredibly rich and diverse: and a political landscape that involved the Tories selling off all of the State’s assets and dumping on the working man by bringing in cheap labour from abroad.
You could argue that in the decades that intervened Justin Sullivan’s lyrical palate has grown exponentially but the heart and soul are still the same, throwing light on global and spiritual concerns rather than the struggles close to home. As someone who was there in the early days then jumped to Australia in the 90’s and never had the chance to see the band until tonight the very last day of the very first Australian tour it’s quite a moment.
One of the things I loved about this first ever tour is that when the ticket sales didn’t quite live up to expectations rather than simply cancel dates like most promoters would, the touring company Troubadour worked with the band to ensure that the whole tour go ahead but that those dates like tonight in Perth (and Adelaide and New Zealand) that didn’t sell as well as others saw Justin and Dean perform as a duo sporting electric and acoustic guitars.
So here we are 45 years after NMA burst onto the scene on the last day of the Australian Tour in a bar named after one of Ireland’s greatest musical sons (we do get a few bars of Thin Lizzy later in the set) and the great news is that after a strong acoustic support set by Carus Thompson, they are finally here. Well at least 2/5 of them as Justin points out before we start. The rest of the band may well have headed home already but Justin Sullivan and long-time guitarist Dean White are here to show what an elite squad can do.
Opening with a hearty rendition of ‘Before I Get Old’ it’s clear that Sullivan’s voice has lost nothing over the years. It’s a vocal that is as distinctive as ever, and unlike some of his contemporaries who you had to fight to hear the lyrics, he’s crystal clear. It’s a great start and as the set builds it threads its way through the entire catalogue almost, picking as wonderfully circuitous route. There’s a wonderful piquancy to tonight and Justin seems in great cheer, and looking forward to a few weeks trekking to the North of W.A. in the weeks after the tour. And Dean is just great, punctuating the air with chords and crashes (and the occasional trip to the keyboard).
Interestingly there’s more than a few songs tonight from ‘Eight’ tonight starting with second song ‘Stranger’ and adding ‘Wipeout’, ‘You Weren’t There’, and ‘Snelsmore Wood’. Both ‘Thunder and Consolation’ and ‘The Love of Hopeless Causes’ are also well represented but there are some real gaps. There’s nothing from the seminal ‘No Rest For the Wicked’ the album that I first heard way back when, but even later records like 2013’s ‘Between Dog and Wolf’, ‘Strange Brotherhood’, ‘Carnival’ and ‘Winter’ don’t get a look in. Now that isn’t meant as a dig, it’s a testament to both the output of the band and their incredible catalogue married with the limitations of the two-piece format. When you have 15 albums and 150 songs a 20 songs set can’t possibly please everyone.
Tonight’s crowd is wonderful. There’s a heady mix of lifers (some of whom had followed every date of the tour), ex-pats and the curious and everyone has a tale to tell about the first time they saw and heard NMA. I regale more than a few people of my tales of Huddersfield Poly, St George’s Hall in their hometown of Bradford and of course Rock City in Nottingham. NMA was made to be played loud, but the words were always meant to be taken to heart and this format suits that well. Amidst the songs we have the stories and we bring our own stories too.
We dd get ’51st State’ but of course I would have loved to have heard ‘Poison Street’ and ‘No Rest’ and those lucky bastards at the Triffid in Brisbane got both; or even ‘Wonderful Way to Go’ and ‘Here Comes the War’ that they got in Sydney but then we would have to have forsaken the deeper cuts like ‘Snelsmore Wood’ and we were the only ones to get ‘Bad Old World’ probably my favourite from ‘The Love of Hopeless Causes’.
“See you again in another 45” Justin leaves us with… Well maybe we will see them again, maybe we won’t, but one thing is for sure – this was the only place to be on a Monday night in Perth. A firepit of memories and emotion that will stay with me for a very long time. This was one of the gigs that makes you realise not just how powerful, all-consuming and life-affirming music can be, but also how time changes us all. And in moments like this you come to realise that the world would be colder, darker place if you didn’t have music like this right there in your heart and soul.
What a wonderful way to end a tour…
Many thanks to Justin, Dean and Troubadour for making this happen. Get out there and support live music.
