Gang of Four live @ The Crystal Ballroom

UK post-punk legends Gang of Four have been on the road in support of a new archival reissue of their early works via Matador, and they hit Somerville’s swanky new Crystal Ballroom this past Sunday, March 6th. Although down co-founder and longest running member Andy Gill (who sadly passed away in 2020), three out of the Four who tenured during their golden years are aboard for this run. As a little treat, Slint/Tortoise/basically every other band we love man Dave Pajo is filling in on guitar. Fresh off a freak bus incident they were in top form on Sunday, making for an excellent night of epochal political punk. 

Backed on stage by a row of Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ Pride, and Antifa flags, Gang of Four came out swinging with “Return The Gift” off 1979’s Entertainment!. Jon King, as wild-eyed and loose-limbed as ever, wasted little time taking aim at certain political leaders and followers in a short but pointed bit of banter. The Four’s blend of sharpened leftist fury and breakneck punk-funk kinda feels more contemporary than ever, and it’s clear the intervening years have done little to douse the flames. Other tracks from Entertainment! and it’s just-as-strong followup Solid Gold like “Not Great Men”, “Ether”, and “He’d Send In The Army” (in which the band slag off politicians, the idle rich, and warmongers, respectively) feel even more prescient in today’s political climate. Gang of Four were undoubtedly keen to play off that bit of negative camaraderie.

King in particular was in rare form throughout, sweating his way through a long sleeve workshirt in record time. His greatest hits included: maniacally stalking the stage like a tiger, squatting and stomping around in a sorta pseudo sumo wrestling move, and slamming (ultimately breaking) a children’s aluminum baseball bat on a busted old microwave oven during “Army”. 

Also of note was Pajo, who did a marvelous job replicating Gill’s iconically scratchy, anti-guitar hero style while also adding in a handful of his own signature flourishes as a winking nod to the heads. His take on the atonal noise “solo” that opens “Anthrax” commenced with the running of his Strat against the overhanging stage monitor, emitting a cacophony of beautiful, piercing feedback. Bassist Sara Lee (who joined the Four around 1982’s underrated Songs of The Free) and OG drummer (a Massachusetts resident!) Hugo Burnham admirably held down the band’s wobbly grace with their prodigious low end. Burham’s progeny Ts even joined Lee and King for a couple songs on backing vocals, as well.

Although billed as a celebration of their mighty ’77-’81 catalog, Gang of Four did dip slightly into their later days with a run through of “I Parade Myself” off 1995’s Shrinkwrapped. Bound to a different kind of disdain, the song turns their usual poison-tipped pen inwards while still pulling no punches. It wasn’t a detour so much as a spiritual cousin of their more rowdy early period, and the Four ripped through it with clenched teeth. Other standouts included a blistering take on “I Love A Man In Uniform” from Free, the ever-relevant b-side “Capital (It Fails Us Now)” and a glorious one-two punch at encore’s closing of  “I Found The Essence Rare” and “Damaged Goods”. 

Those two are undoubtedly their most beloved songs, the kind that inspired raucous singalongs. It reminds that Gang of Four once gleefully had communist theory broadcasting into homes, righteously corrupting innocents all over the world. At least until they refused to self-censor while on Top of The Pops. Now, some of those people who heard those tunes brought their kids to the gig on Sunday night. Full circle!

Boston’s DJ Carbo played period appropriate tunes before Gang of Four hit the stage.

More photos from Sarah Wilson (including the aforementioned appliance smashing) after the jump.