Having only been to the Shepherds Bush Empire once before this week I was now at my second concert there in under seven days. This time to see a favourite of mine, New Model Army, whom I’d seen five times before but hadn’t since December 1994 (GIG 191).

A few of us met up at a pub in West Hampstead for the afternoon before heading over to Shepherds Bush to meet up with even more friends. New Model Army gigs were great. not only for the music but for catching up with people as so many friends came out to see the band.

The support came in the form of Det-Ri-Mental, a “hiphop-ethno-techno–world fusion” group which had split off from Fun-Da-Mental after a few differences between band members. Det-Ri-Mental were pretty good live.

New Model Army weren’t touring in support of an album release, so had a free hand to play whatever tracks they liked. With such a fantastic back catalogue they had plenty to choose from and played loads of the classics, even if they did miss out a few of them (probably down to the time limitations and doing some set rotation between nights). Even though we had upstairs tickets, so couldn’t be in the pit, it was still an absolutely fantastic evening and show.

Price: £10.00