Live Review & Gallery: New Model Army Set Mary’s Underground Ablaze in Furious Return 4.05.2025

Tonight, under the low ceilings and candlelit corners of Mary’s Underground, New Model Army return to Sydney with the fire of a band who never learned to slow down. It’s intimate, intense, and laced with urgency. But before Justin Sullivan and co. take the stage, the crowd gets a taste of something entirely different—Operation Ibis, ska-punk party birds straight outta the bins of Sydney’s Inner West.

Operation Ibis are chaos in all the best ways: feet flying, and that DIY-to-the-bone energy infecting the early crowd. They’re scrappy, sweaty, and impossible not to dance to. For 40 minutes they revel in the kind of joy that only ska-punk can deliver — unpretentious and unapologetic.

There’s a decidedly political feeling to the gig tonight. With the Australian election just having taken place, the energy in the room hums with that familiar mix of rebellion and relief. Operation Ibis lean right in—they’ve got a track called “Scomo”, written almost exactly three years ago about former Liberal PM Scott Morrison, and it still gets a massive roar. Later in the night, Justin Sullivan nods to the political moment too, telling the crowd that Australia has “chosen the lesser of two evils.”

Then the lights dim.

Formed in Bradford, UK in 1980, New Model Army emerged at the crossroads of post-punk, folk rock and a brewing working-class rage. Led by the ever-uncompromising Sullivan, the band cut through Thatcher-era England with albums like Vengeance and Thunder and Consolation, songs filled with poetic defiance and bone-deep conviction. Four decades later, nothing has dulled.

Tonight’s set draws from 2024’s critically acclaimed Unbroken — their 16th studio album, a record that captures their timeless blend of militant rhythms, lyrical fire, and unshakable melodies, but the setlist includes the staples. Sullivan’s voice cuts clean through the mix, equal parts preacher and prophet.

The crowd, a mix of lifers and first-timers, hang on every word. New Model Army might have five decades behind them, but they still play like a band with everything on the line.

New Model Army move on to Adelaide, Perth and Auckland next, head HERE for tickets.

Images Deb Pelser.