By Shaun Richman
Shaun Richman is a labor and socialist activist in New York, he
is the current editor of The Torch, Journal of the
Young People's Socialist League (YPSL).
The Gang
of Four returned to New York in great style and form last night, showing no
signs of their two-decade gap in performing. They were tight and sharp and
ready to take over the world. Darting across stage and frequently switching places,
Andy Gill's jagged guitars sounded every bit as dangerous as they do on those
old records while Jon King punctuated his singing by wildly flailing his arms
like some sort of spastic messiah.
It felt a bit like a socialist church (the crazy, speaking-in-tongues, big-tent
revival kind) as the crowd (a wonderful mix of old-timers and kids) screamed
along with lines like "The change will do you good!" and "To Hell with
poverty!!!"
The set list was mostly restricted to songs from their first two albums, the
only ones that all four original members played on, although the late, Joseph
Conrad-quoting "We Live As We Dream, Alone" was a welcome surprise. I understand
the band will be re-recording some of their old classics for release on iTunes
and perhaps some sort of modified petroleum product (they don't own their
original masters, so this would be the way to make a proper profit for their
trouble). This is not unwelcome, but new material would be well worth the wait. This is
one reunion that only serves to enhance the band's legacy.
Brooklyn's own Radio 4 is opening for the
entire national tour. They're a great band, but their sound is awfully, ah,
inspired by Gang of Four, and I feared that they wouldn't compare well
side-by-side, but they acquitted themselves nicely.
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