GANG OF FOUR
The Cut Live, Gloucester MA, October 30, 2024
Wowwwww— what a hiatus!!!!!!! I am embarrassed to say that I have had this post drafted since early November. *gasp* Let’s blame the usual suspects: the election, fascists, the state of the world… blah blah blah, you get the point. However, the bastards won’t get me down. Thus, Jam in the Speaker is back!
And talk about an opportune time, because Gang of Four’s The Long Goodbye Tour is about to commence in a little over a week!!!! Below is my write-up of their show last fall with Gail Greenwood (Belly, L7, The Bangles) on bass and David Pajo (Slint) on guitar with GoF legends, Hugo Burnham on drums and Jon King on vocals (and microwave, iykyk), and backing vocals by Ts Burnham, Hugo’s daughter! Honestly, it’s so cool seeing musicians perform with their kids— there’s something very unique and special about it.
For those who don’t already know, Gang of Four is a post-punk band founded in 1976 in Leeds, England, with Jon King, Hugo Burnham, Andy Gill (guitar), and, Dave Allen (bass) as the OG GoF. We have lost two GoF legends; Andy Gill sadly died in February 2020 at the age of 64 and, over the weekend, it was announced that Dave Allen died at the age of 69. RIP, kings.
The band is known for subversive lyrics, mocking and criticizing the woes of society. Their use of feedback on guitar over some of the sickest bass lines to ever exist— the rhythm section of GoF is actually insane. Listen to “What We All Want” and you’ll hear what I’m talking about. The lyrics and vocals bring it all together, creating one of the coolest bands to ever exist. It never fails to amaze me how fun their music is considering much of it involves deconstructing social class, the government, war, ya know light-hearted stuff. It’s safe to say, Gang of Four fights fascists.
Their 2024 Gloucester show sold out pretty fast— so fast that my sister, Caroline, and I found ourselves high and dry. Admittedly, I spent a couple weeks reaching out to random Facebook charlatans claiming they had spare tickets. The resale/ticket scammer situation is insane. With photoshop, PDF editors, and zero ethics, scammers have found ways to seemingly replicate ticket confirmation pages, creating the illusion that they have legitimate tickets. Luckily, some cool dudes tagged The Cut about legit tickets, and eventually my sister and I were able to find tickets. Big shout out to the band Naked Objects for selling me a ticket (and not up-charging it like a douche). And a big shout out to The Cut for helping facilitate buying real tickets.
The drive from Providence to Gloucester was a solid two hours. Fortunately, Caroline and I were well-prepared with vegan-chicken-patty sandwiches for the road and an excitement that felt truly untamable. It was kismet that we found tickets— I still can’t believe it. We listened to Belly most of the drive since we were still on a high from seeing them a month earlier. Although we suspected we might see Greenwood’s Belly bandmate, Tanya Donelly, at the show, I’d like to think playing Star (1993) and King (1995) helped us manifest meeting half of Belly. Also, I have to declare how lucky I am to have a sister who happens to love all the same music that I love. She is my concert-buddy for life!!! With hardly any traffic, and a surprisingly warm October day, the drive to Gloucester became a mini-road-trip.
As we approached the venue, entering the coastal city of Gloucester, neither of us could hide our massive grins from the world. As we drove down Main St, we passed the The Cut Live, and saw the marquee in all its glory: SOLD OUT. That’s what I’m talking about! We found nearby parking about a block or two away from the venue, and it was on!
The Cut is a cool and dynamic venue. The first half of the space is a bar/restaurant, and the club is beyond it. As Caroline and I waited for our tickets to be scanned, a man behind us began making the usual old-head comments we are used to hearing, “wow, you guys look pretty young to be seeing *insert band name here*.” The joke this time around was when we engaged with this man in particular he didn’t seem to know much about the lineup— some fan, huh? We might look young, but we know our shit!
The Mini Mekons opened up the show; a trio of the Mekons, made up of Jon Langford, Sally Timms, and Josh Kanter. It was such a great way to open up the show. Their energy was warm, their banter between songs was funny, and their music was transformative. It really felt like they’d taken us to an English pub, which is fitting since both the Mekons and Gang of Four are from Leeds. I especially loved their performance of “Last Dance” which I included below. They just released a new album titled Horror that came out last week, so def go give it a listen! Their song “Mudcrawlers” was released as a single a couple months ago, and really dig it.
In between sets, I ran off to make sure that we were standing on Gail’s side of the stage, since GoF’s bassist stands stage right. I’m not really sure where I was running off to, but once I saw GFG’s sticker-bombed T-Bird, I hastily made my way back to where Caroline was standing near the front of the stage. She was chatting it up with two sky-scraping punks, formally known as, Joann and Mike (now informally known as Punk Rock Mom and Punk Rock Dad). They had jokingly stood in front of Caroline, turned their heads back and said to her, “this spot is perfect,” before letting out a laugh and stepping back so Caroline could regain her vantage point to the stage. Once I finessed my way into the crowd, I was met with 3 sets of very excited eyes. While I was surveying the stage, Caroline, Joann, and Mike had made the connection that we were all in attendance at the Belly show in Providence. It was Mike’s recognizable low timbre that helped make the connection, since he and Joann gleefully heckled their friend, Gail, yeah that’s right, GFG, in September. GAAAIIII-YYUUUUULLLLL! ONE MORE SONG!!!!!! (mind you, they were saying “one more song,” after Belly played their first song… LOL, like yeah, I hope they play one more song, the show just started) However, heckling was not in the cards at the Gang of Four show out of respect to Gang of Four AND to GFG, since it was her first GoF show— which she KILLED!!!!!!
The energy right before Gang of Four was similar to the energy right before you take off on an airplane— you know you’re about to be in the clouds! The vibes were vibing hard. There’s also something to be said about the attitude of gratitude. Knowing how hard Caroline and I worked to find legit tickets felt so special. Like every second of being at that show felt like gift.
“I Love A Man in A Uniform” complete with finger guns! I’ve been going to shows since my age was in the single-digits, which is to say, I’ve seen a lot of shows, and genres at that. I can say with full certainty that Gang of Four had the highest energy out of any band or performer I’ve seen. From start to finish, not once did any band mate’s energy falter. Music is a living, visceral experience, and GoF encapsulates so much emotion and power that the whole event felt like a post-punk baptism.
Here is a clip of “What We All Want” below (my phone camera was broken, so I’m 99% sure the video below is from my sister).
Set List:
Return the Gift
Not Great Men
Outside the Trains Don’t Run on Time
5.45
We Live as We Dream, Alone
Ether
Paralysed
Anthrax
He’d Send in the Army
I Parade Myself
What We All Want
I Love a Man in a Uniform
At Home He’s a Tourist
Natural’s Not It
To Hell With Poverty
Encore:
I Found That Essence Rare
Capital (It Fails Us Now)
Damaged Goods
Second Encore:
Where Were You? (Mekons Cover, with the Mini-Mekons!)
Elevator
It was a show filled with community, in a way that I’m not sure that I’d ever really witnessed before (that is until Freezing Man, but we’re not there yet!). Being surrounded by people who more or less share the same views, I felt hope and joy.
It was such an awesome time! By the end of the night, Caroline and I were talking to Gail Greenwood, Tanya Donelly (Belly), Dean Fisher (The Juliana Hatfield Three), Chil Mott (Benny Sizzler)….. ok, now I sound like a name-dropping-douche. All thanks to Joann and Mike— our rock’n’roll parents, who we fortuitously met at the show. I really can’t say that I think everything happens for a reason, because that’s a weird way to justify all the fucked up shit going on in the world. But, I will say that I think some things are meant to be. We had the most unreal evening seeing Gang of Four, meeting our favorite musicians, and adopting two adorable knuckle-heads as our rock parents who have taken me and Caroline under their wings. That night we all talked about Joey’s Song Freezing Man Festival, a fundraising event for epilepsy research and awareness in Madison, Wisconsin that is held every January. I had just listened to the Joey’s Song podcast episode with Greenwood talking about the festival as she is the musical director for Freezing Man’s Know-It-All-Girlfriends, an all-chick supergroup that rivals the Know-It-All-Boyfriends in a battle-of-the-bands type show on the final night of the fest. Additionally, Belly would be playing the festival, as well as Greenwood playing bass with the Bangles and Donelly singing backing vocals. We had to go to Freezing Man, it sounded like it was going to be epic (it was). Even though Caroline and I had just met Joann, it was that night that we all agreed we would go to Freezing Man together— and we did. (Stay tuned for my Freezing Man post, I promise that is coming.)
Gang of Four kicks off their The Long Goodbye Tour April 18th in Westport, CT and ends July 5th in Amsterdam. The Long Goodbye Tour will consist of the usual suspects, Jon King and Hugo Burnham, with Gail Greenwood on bass, and guitarist, Ted Leo stepping into the GoF scene! I saw Leo play with Aimee Mann in 2017 which totally rocked, so I am really looking forward to seeing him play with GoF.
I am soooo verrrry excited to see them again, and wish all the best to Jon, Hugo, Gail, and Ted. To a very healthy, happy, and safe tour, kicking ass and taking names! These guys have been working their butts off, not just for the tour, but in fighting for what’s right in this crazy, fucked up world.