First NMA Experience

[Master Ray]

OK, I posted my 'first NMA experience' thing a long time ago, but I stumbled across this clip on Youtube from a US dude who actually has a pretty good YT channel (well worth checking out!) and I think this is a lovely story about someone discovering NMA... it's a bit old, posted in 2012, but there's a great story about Tommy... I think you'll enjoy it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6S4KYGpFx4

 

[kabe]

OK, I posted my 'first NMA experience' thing a long time ago, but I stumbled across this clip on Youtube from a US dude who actually has a pretty good YT channel (well worth checking out!) and I think this is a lovely story about someone discovering NMA... it's a bit old, posted in 2012, but there's a great story about Tommy... I think you'll enjoy it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6S4KYGpFx4

 

thanks, man...it'd be nice to hear more of those 'first encounters'...  not worth much, but i'd love to hear/see/read someone way-under-50 encountering NMA for the first-ish time - i think i'm getting a bit too old........ugh......

[Matt2072]

Just adding my first NMA experience...

(TLDR: Salford Uni 1991 - borrowed T&C off a mate)

I was in my first year at Salford Uni in 1991 and my music guru mate Jon lent me T&C after I spotted it in his record collection and thought "New Model Army is a great name for a band, I want to hear that". I'd never heard of them until that point. I loved it on first listen and was well pleased to discover they'd released previous records. Being a record-head at the time I quickly bought the vinyl of No Rest, Ghost of Cain, Impurity, Radio Sessions, Raw Melody Men, The Price ep plus some 12" singles and a couple of 10" singles (for the b sides) - I couldn't believe how they were all different but I loved them all. (For some reason I've never bought Vengeance...).

NMA are not really typical of the music I like / have liked - I've moved through The Smiths, Shoegaze, Beatles / Lennon, EDM, Brtipop etc, etc ... but NMA have also been there, in their own category, special to me.

[Talltigger]

So, having not thought about this for several years (and having not visited Birmingham since seeing NMA in Sep 1987) as a family we found ourselves in Birmingham for a couple of days. We were waiting for the library to open at 11am and needed to kill some time. Having told our youngest about my experience many years before, she decided we should go find the venue, so off we went. I was told it was a health club, but it turned out to be boarded up. It certainly gave me goose bumps going back and remembering it all... I have photos of the place now if anyone's interested



The setlist:

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/new-model-army/1987/the-powerhouse-birmingham-england-13c739e5.html

[AndyInPerth]

My first experience was not my first listening..

I'd been a listener for a couple of years, but was at Reading Festival in 1989 (what a great line up!).  NMA were playing just before the Pogues, but I was more a NMA fan than the Pogues so made my way down to the front.

Justin, Moose and Rob walked on stage, and the first few chords of Vengeance sounded out.   Almost immediately, 20-30,000 people just surged forward and the front 20 rows or so, start bopping and jumping.    I was then that I got hooked on how energetic and powerful they were live.