Gang of Four @ Irving Plaza

Anybody seeing Gang of Four tonight at their second sold-out show at Irving Plaza? 24 years after the original line-up last played together they sound just as vital and contemporary as they did back then. Three notes into the first song my friend said to me, "This is how it's done." This is where The Futureheads and Bloc Party and so many more got the idea.

Really, there's more to life than showtunes.

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There was a time, hard to imagine nowadays, when the punk rock revolution of the late-'70s encouraged political discourse and provocative nomenclature.

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I never saw the original four members perform live but LOVED their first three albums. "I Love a Man in Uniform" was from the third album, "Songs of the Free," which they recorded with Sara Lee on bass, she played bass on Love Shack for the B-52s and was their tour bassist.

But people said Gang of Four were never as good on record as they were live, and the show they put on proved that to be true. They were astoundingly precise. Jon King, the lead singer, was hot. It reminded me of why I love good rock and roll.

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