Leeds UK post-punk legends The Gang of Four returned to Toronto for one last time as part of their farewell world tour in 2025. For their final outing—featuring surviving members main lead singer Jon King and funky drummer Hugo Burnham—they played their groundbreaking 1979 classic, Entertainment!, in its sequential entirety.
(Photos by Various Artists)
After reading raves about the album and band in the UK press, I picked Entertainment! upon its release on this side of the pond in the spring of 1980. It blew me away immediately and yours truly played the dickens out of it all through that spring and summer. And I have continued to do so throughout my life. It never gets old.
Along with guitarist Ted Leo and bassist Gail Greenwood, they delivered a superb, track-by-track recreation of the album for the first set. Every song came off well, but I probably most enjoyed my favourite number on the album, “Not Great Men.”
The second set was also champion, being a “greatest hits” compendium. “He’d Send in the Army”—with King pummeling a microwave on stage for that repeating, sparse percussive beat—was a particular highlight.
It was also nice that King remembered their very first Toronto appearance in 1979, opening for the Buzzcocks. I know a few people who were at that show, and they came back raving—or confused—about them.
Everyone at the packed-to-the-rafters Opera House clearly enjoyed the evening. What a way to go out.
Nephew Colin and I also enjoyed running into and chatting with Pete, Jim, and Penny at the show.
I’ll be podcasting and blogging about this concert as part of compilation episode Round Up #9 down the line in the mylifeinconcert.com series.
I have also written about them playing a thrilling, 5-star set here in London, Ontario in 1983. The link is below.
Yours truly, post-show with t-shirt. I look miserable but I truly wasn’t. (Photo by Colin Heddle)
015. (EP 21) I Found That Essence Rare: The Gang of Four with The Hoi Polloi, Wonderland Gardens, London, Ontario, Canada, Saturday March 5, 1983
NEXT SNAPSHOT: 54-40 return to the London Music Hall and blow the roof off the joint. Plus: The perma-bopping lass.
SNAPSHOT 220. 54-40 with Kandle, London Music Hall, London, Ontario, Canada, Thursday November 27, 2025
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