My first show. I had never heard of them but had been a fan of New Model Army since '88 or so. The year before NMA played Southpaw as a “semi-acoustic” show so I was always on the lookout for their shows. This time there were a bunch of kids in suits and dresses, not exactly the typical NMA crowd. When the band came on I thought, “It's either a ska band or a Jersey bar band, where they need to bring on as many instruments as possible, trying to be the e-street band. All signs pointed to ska which was cool. I could go for a ska band. But something was off. It wasn't ska. It was…well…it wasn't ska. I won't say that my mind was blown or my life was changed right there. The band was tight, original, frenetic and the crowd was definitely into it; definitely one of the better openers I've seen. I jumped in the pit for a song or two and had a good time. After inferno finished, I saw Justin standing off to the side getting ready to backstage. I nearly said, “Tough act to follow” but didn't. Suffice to say, NMA was more than up to the task of headlining after Inferno. Later that summer, I noticed they were playing Bowery. They were good the first time so I saw them again. That's when I jumped into the thick of it, with full contact dancing and holding up crowd surfers and realized how much fun the shows were and how good the music was. - Doug G.