Post-Punk Pioneers Gang of Four to Kick Off Farewell Tour at The Westport Library

Tue, Feb 4, 2025
EJ Crawford
Gang of Four

Gang of Four, the pioneering band that served as one of the forerunners of the post-punk movement, fusing outspoken political messages with intense, percussive live sets, will kick off its farewell tour on Friday, April 18, in The Westport Library’s Trefz Forum.

Tickets for this kickoff concert, an extension of VersoFest 2025, are $55 and on sale now. No bags permitted, aside from purses, clutches, and small handheld bags. All seats are standing room only; accommodations available upon request.

Tim “Journeys by DJ” Fielding, the founder of Brainiak Records and producer for legendary works by DJs including John Digweed, Paul Oakenfold, Farley & Heller, Coldcut, and Gilles Peterson, will spin tracks before the show.

In addition to the concert, singer Jon King will be on hand in the Trefz Forum during the day for an author talk and conversation with Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Chris Frantz (Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club) about his new book, To Hell with Poverty!: A Class Act: Inside the Gang of Four, which is publishing April 1.

The Long Goodbye Tour is already selling out across the country as fans line up for one last look at these legends of music.

Gang of Four formed in Leeds, England, in 1976, led at the time by King, bassist Dave Allen, drummer Hugo Burnham, and guitarist Andy Gill. The band pioneered a style of music that inverted punk’s blunt and explosive energies — favoring tense rhythms, percussive guitars, and lyrics that traded in Marxist theory and situationism.

The original lineup released two landmark albums, Entertainment! (1979) and Solid Gold (1981). A third, Songs of the Free (1982), was recorded with bassist Sara Lee replacing Allen. After Songs of the Free, Burnham departed and Gill and King continued on, releasing Hard in 1983.

The band broke up following Hard, with the original quartet reforming in 2004 for tour dates and the release of their fifth album — and first in two decades — Return the Gift, in 2005.

Gill’s untimely death in 2020 led many to re-examine the group’s catalog, putting Gang of Four back in the spotlight to widespread acclaim. Entertainment! was ranked as the fifth best punk album of all time by Rolling Stone in 2016, Pitchfork placed it as the eighth best album of the 1970s in their 2004 assessment, and Pop Matters deemed it the “best post-punk album ever!” in 2020.

In 2021, the band teamed up with indie label giants Matador to release a deluxe, Grammy-nominated boxset Gang of Four 77-81, a comprehensive and detailed history of the band’s music, politics, and influence over the period.

The current iteration of the group consists of founding members King and Burnham, alongside bassist Gail Greenwood (L7, Belly) and guitarist Ted Leo (Citizens Arrest, Chisel, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, plus his noted collaborations with Aimee Mann).

In the last few years, Gang of Four’s songs have continued to resonate, having been sampled by artists ranging from Run the Jewels (“The Ground Below”) to Frank Ocean (“Futura Free”).

Now, 40 years since the original release of Entertainment!, Gang of Four’s legacy cannot be overstated.

“2025 will be the 45th anniversary of the release of Entertainment! in the U.S. and will be our final year as a band,” Gang of Four said in a statement. “It’s been wonderful, but all things must end. We want to go out with a bang and celebrate with our fans and friends.

“So, on what will be our last U.S. tour, we’ll play two sets at each show: Entertainment! from start to finish in the first, and the best of the rest in the second. Come and join in, it’ll be a blast!”

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