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New Model Army

Dec 16, 2025 By Dom Gourlay Web Exclusive

A New Model Army show is more than just a gig. It’s an event; a coming together of like minded souls and kindred spirits, many of whom have followed the band for years if not decades. Some who’ve passed the baton down to sons, daughters, nephews and nieces. In many ways it feels like being part of one big family. Each with their own story to tell about how their love affair with New Model Army began and why its still as strong a bond as ever, some 45 years after the band’s formation. What keeps New Model Army relevant is their dedication to the cause where complacency and becoming stagnant have never been tolerated. With 16 albums to their name - each and every one critically acclaimed in its own right - and a tireless self belief that the next record will always be better than the last, they’re a force of nature. An institution in many ways and one that’s never been more necessary than now in these dark, far right inflicted times we find ourselves caught in.

New Model Army’s affinity with Nottingham and in particular Rock City is well documented. Arguably the band’s second home behind their native Bradford, the annual Christmas gig always a guaranteed sell out long before December. This year’s event was slightly different, having initially been scheduled for 21st December 2024 but due to drummer Michael Dean requiring a keyhole neck operation to cure a trapped nerve last year, the show had to be postponed along with several others on the Unbroken tour. Nevertheless, anticipation levels are high both in the queue stretching past Rock City and inside the venue. Having spent a large part of 2025 on the road both in the UK and overseas, tonight represented the penultimate show of a busy schedule.

As with previous Christmas shows here, there’s no support. Just a short, semi-acoustic set to begin with that opens with Justin Sullivan raising the roof for a solo rendition of “Better Than Them”, a single from 1985 that remains one of New Model Army’s most popular songs to this day. Followed by a full band, electric set that almost breaks the venue’s curfew thanks to what seems to be an impromptu rather than pre-planned encore. Back to the opening set, which includes “A Liberal Education” off 1984’s debut LP Vengeance and “1984”, released the same year as a bonus track on the twelve inch of another early single “The Price”. Nevertheless, it’s one of their more recent compositions that provides the first real hairs standing on the back of the neck, goosebumps inducing moment. “Die Trying” off 2016’s fourteenth album Winter might just be one of the most poignant songs ever written as it tells the story of a refugee fleeing their homeland whilst aiming to get across the Mediterranean Sea to a safer haven. With the antagonistic noise made by right wing politicians about small boat crossings to the UK its relevance to the present doesn’t go unnoticed as the audience remains silent throughout Sullivan’s brutal rendition. Meanwhile, “Fate” off 1993’s The Love Of Hopeless Causes makes a welcome return to the live set as does “Lovesongs” off the band’s third album “The Ghost Of Cain”, itself turning forty next year. Finishing on “Idumea” off last year’s most recent long player Unbroken which sees bass player Ceri Monger also bashing out the skins alongside the aforementioned Dean for a two drummer pronged attack at its finale.

The main (second) set finds them opening with one of their oldest compositions, “Christian Militia”, which also happens to be the first song on side one of their first album. “Everything’s forgotten in holy wars” laments Sullivan over one of the band’s most fully charged compositions that sounds as fresh today as it did on release some 41 years ago. “First Summer After”, one of the standout tracks from 2024’s sixteenth album Unbroken finds itself bookended by two songs from the aforementioned Winter as both “Echo November” and the title track remind us why New Model Army possess one of the strongest catalogues of any band around. There is a massive cheer and surge on the dancefloor culminating in several human pyramids being built when “No Rest” - the band’s breakthrough single (and only Top Of The Pops appearance) from 1985 is despatched with the same caustic energy as it was back in the day.

“Do You Really Want To Go There?” again highlights how incisive their most recent record was while an equally reticent “Here Comes The War” off album number six The Love Of Hopeless Causes also harks back to the days when New Model Army could release a single and it would gatecrash the UK top 40 without any press coverage or radio play, such was the band’s loyal following. Violin player Ed Alleyne-Johnson made a welcome return to the stage for “Vagabonds” and “Purity”, having played on both back in the day. While a venomous “Stormclouds” off 2013’s Between Dog And Wolf opens the doors for a riotous “51st State”, still one of New Model Army’s most prophetic compositions having been written nearly 40 years ago yet its content and sentiment as painfully true today as it were back then. “225” and “Green And Grey” off 1989’s fourth album Thunder And Consolation closes the set before Sullivan and band - drummer Dean, bass player Monger and guitarist Dean White return to the stage for three more songs including another big single from their first decade “Stupid Questions” and an anthemic “I Love The World” that brings the show to a splendorous finale.

As triumphant and diminutive as we’ve come to expect. This was New Model Army at their feverish best that many of their peers and contemporaries could only dream of matching.