The description on the site of Lokerse Feesten
Tursday 7 Aug 2014 - Mainstage
New Model Army
We don’t remember much of our school days or English history classes, but the term New Model Army does ring a bell. And we definitely do remember the concerts the Bradford band with the same name gave over the years. Formed in the darker years of Thatcherism their songs are a mixture of melancholic lyrics – written with a bleeding heart and balled fist – and post-punk, of brilliant easy-to-sing-along choruses and big chunks of folk and hard rock. New Model Army is one of those acts from that legendary musical decade, hated by some and loved by others, that received more superlatives and excellent reviews than it did royalties. If you don’t believe us, just listen to sensational albums like ‘No rest for the wicked’ (1985), ‘The ghost of Cain’ (1986) or ‘Thunder and consolation’ (1989), preferably one after the other, and whoever fails to count at least twenty world class songs will get the entire Celine Dion collection for free. And what about nowadays? The holly fire still burns as brightly as during Fairfax’ or Comwell’s war period (check your history books) because New Model Army has picked up the thread in recent years. Their latest album ‘Between dog and wolf’ dates from 2013. Playing all their classics would take them at least three hours, so that’s not on, but during their 40-minute set Justin Sullivan’s mini-army can show the younger Blink-182 fans that the hard-edged rock’n roll usually referred to as punk, was already around some 30 years ago.
