My Mate Went To A Gang Of Four Gig And All I Got Was This Lousy Postcard

Reidski has finally got round to blogging about the Gang of Four gig he attended last Friday. Good man, I was minutes away from writing a blog to tell the lazy sod to pull his finger out on the matter, and I had even scanned the image above to post as a reminder to Reidski that we had a one sided deal on the matter.

The image is from a comrade who also attended the gig last Friday and as his loose change didn't extend to him being able to bring me back an 'Entertainment' T shirt* as a commemorative memento from the gig, he thought the postcard would suffice as suitable compensation. Socialists and their sense of humour, eh? I think I would sooner get jokes that did include the words 'People, Front and Judea' instead in future.

The comrade - shut it with that lefty crap - friend is a longstanding fan of the Gang of Four, but had never seen them in concert before and it was one of those once in a lifetime opportunities. Especially as it was the original line up who were playing the Shepherd's Bush. "Darren, you could tell the drummer wasn't as posh as the other three."** Of course as soon as he came back from the gig, I was pumping him full of questions: Who supported them?*** Don't fucking tell me that there were ticket touts outside the gig selling tickets for a fiver.**** Did they play 'I Found That Essence Rare?' Is it as brilliant as it is on the album and the Peel Session recording?***** What was the make up of the crowd like?******

Of course he loved it - pogoing like the old punk that he is - and made special mention of his favourite Gang of Four track 'We Live As We Dream, Alone' . I was left smarting from missing out on the gig the week before, and living vicariously through his experience at the gig, and now Reidski's report of it, passively observing from a distance rather than actively particpating in an event. If that isn't a distillation of the theme of alienation characterestic of an archetypal Gang of Four lyric, then I don't know what is. *******

* Sixteen quid? The ghost of Joe Strummer is whispering 'Turning Rebellion into Money' into my ear whilst I type this blog.

** No, I'm not sure what he meant either, but I think I get his point.

*** A group called The Departure. Never heard of them but my mate said that they sounded very much like the Gang of Four themselves. Just part of that current crop of bands like The Killers, The Rapture, Radio 4 and Franz Ferdinand who wear part of their influences on their sleeves. For some reason, when he mentioned they were called The Departure I couldn't get Department S singing 'Is Vic There?' out of my head. I really must get out more. When he described what they look like, the support band I mean, I said "Aye, that's the style these days. The description sounds like the spitting image of Franz Ferdinand and the gear they wear." "Who? Never heard of them", was the reply. and remembering that as an old punk he would sooner listen to a Fast Product compilation as opposed to music written and performed this century, I just replied: "Think of Josef K." "Aye, right. Know what you mean now."

**** He rushed right in, so he has no idea. Thankfully that means that this is one of those rare blog posts where I don't have to link to a picture of Munch's The Scream.

***** He didn't rant and rave about the brilliance of 'I Found The Essence Rare' like Reidski did because he was too busy saying that they didn't play enough tracks off the Mall and Shrinkwrapped - the two albums from the mid nineties that everyone has forgotten about. He's a serious muso, my colleague, makes me look like an amateur.

****** A mixture of the young hipsters like Jon King's daughter and the oldster's like Reidski himself, who can even remember Old Grey Whistle Test, never mind who performed on it.

******* This post is written with tongue firmly embedded in check, but if I have played on your sympathy in any way then rip off t shirts or rare mp3s of the band can be sent to the usual address. You will be acknowledged and thanked at a later date. ;-)