On their penultimate 2025 North American show at the Fonda Theater, Gang of Four did not go out quietly. Appropriately, they delivered to the sold-out Los Angeles crowd a 110-minute set of loud, frenetic post-punk perfection.
The band’s final tour, dubbed The Long Goodbye, marks 45 years since the release of their debut album “Entertainment.” That album comprised the first 11-song set. “Guns Before Butter” had recently been dropped from the set due to Hugo Burnham’s injury (more on that later) followed by a second set of “The Best of the Rest.”
Founding members – vocalist Jon King and drummer Hugo Burnham – are joined on this final trek by bassist Gail Greenwood (Belly / L7) and guitarist Ted Leo (Ted Leo and the Pharmacists / Aimee Mann). Both Greenwood and Leo injected loads of their own personalities into the proceedings.
The tour kicked off on April 18th, and sadly, just 13 days earlier, original bassist Dave Allen passed away from early-onset dementia. Allen’s presence has been deeply felt at these shows, prompting fond onstage mentions from King and Burnham, and via the nostalgic images of the original band projected on the rear screen.
At 8:30, the “Entertainment!” LP cover was projected on the rear screen to the delight of the roughly 1,200 fans in attendance. Throughout the show, various slogans were projected as well, including “TO HELL WITH POVERTY,” “WOMAN LIFE FREEDOM,” and “YOU ARE SAFE WITH US.” Interspersed with these were a montage of flags – LGBTQ Pride, United States, Black Lives Matter, UK, and Women Life Freedom – and photos and flyers from the ‘80s.
On Wednesday – even after 30 shows – Greenwood still looked overjoyed to have been invited to this party as her punchy bass line drew Burnham into the rhythm of “Ether.” King owned the stage with arms flailing, then bounding sideways with eyes wide open.
Leo (bravely stepping in for founding guitarist / vocalist Andy Gill, who passed away in 2020) capably provided the jabbing staccato guitar riffs, especially in the manic three-song assault of “Natural’s Not in It,” “Not Great Men,” and “Damaged Goods” that briefly left King out of breath. King then told us of his first visit to the U.S., where he ended up at the Chelsea Hotel in New York after being “rejected at the Y.M.C.A.”
Most of “Entertainment’s” tracks have been longtime live standards for Gang of Four, but fans were also treated to the rare “Glass,” “Contract,” and “5:45,” which King began by playing a melodica. A longtime personal favorite, the final bridge of “5:45” provides the album’s title in the lyric “Guerilla war struggle is a new entertainment.”
Interestingly, prior to this tour, “Contract” had not been performed since 1981. However, also among the last three songs on the album are the familiar classics “At Home He’s a Tourist” and “Anthrax,” wherein Leo violently abuses his guitar while extracting wild feedback and noise. King further adds to this sonic spectacle by bashing his tambourine on the guitar neck.
Following “Anthrax,” Burnham (still wielding a crutch due to a foot injury suffered on May 13th in an unfortunate backstage slip) stepped up to the front microphone with a smile and a brief message: “Ten minutes.” It should be noted that the injury in no way diminished the precision performance by Burnham, one of the most influential drummers of his generation.
Eight minutes later, a spotlight revealed a microwave oven, perched upon Greenwood’s L7 road case, which King began to beat rhythmically with a well-worn baseball bat. This commenced the “Best of the Rest” set with “He’d Send in the Army” from the 1981 LP “Solid Gold.” After King tossed the microwave carcass into the photo pit, three more tracks from the same period followed.
Prior to “Outside the Trains Don’t Run on Time,” King told an anecdote about playing Perkins Palace “some time ago” (it was 1982) and having a naked man jump on stage and embrace him. “That was the first time I met Flea,” King said.
Next up was “Paralysed,” sung by Leo in a confident emulation of original member Gill. Several shows on this tour have featured special guests on the next two songs, the alternative radio staples “What We All Want” and “I Love a Man in a Uniform.”
On this evening, the band was joined by a horn section (Jordan Katz on trumpet, David Ralicke on sax, and Vikram Devasthali on trombone), and backing vocalists TS Burnham (Hugo’s daughter) and Kay Hanley (from Letters to Cleo). It was a glorious racket!
The five special guests then departed, but Gang of Four carried on. The lone ’90s track of the evening, “I Parade Myself,” was an interesting change of pace, with King alternating disco-like poses to frantic bursts of dancing, all while swinging his mic in circles while Leo soloed furiously. Finally, a frantic “To Hell with Poverty” closed out the second set.
The band left the stage for barely a minute before launching into a song that prior to its appearance on this tour had only been performed once since 1983 (at the Echoplex in Los Angeles 10 years ago), “Armalite Rifle.” King revealed to me after the show that he plays the song “under duress” as he has “never felt the lyrics to be accurate, but the band loves doing it!”
King then announced that they are about to do something they typically don’t do – repeat a song – and they launched into a (longer) noisy and cathartic reprise of “Damaged Goods” including all the earlier special guests on horns and vocals.
It dawned on me that for most in attendance, this would likely be the last song they’d ever see Gang of Four play. When this extended version – with the iconic outro refrain of “I’m kissing you goodbye (goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye)” – wraps up at 10:25, there are multiple hugs, waves to the crowd, and visible tears in the eyes of Burnham and King.
Conversing with Burnham post-show, he left me with these words: “Be the resistance.”
In this era of “farewell” tours, it is easy to be skeptical of an artist’s motive for doing so. I believe that in the case of Gang of Four, the message is clear, the urgency of their music and legacy is intact, and that no fans are leaving the show feeling that they’ve seen a weak imitation or diminished lineup of one of their beloved bands.
