We went to see Gang of Four at the Granada here in Dallas last night
Great, great, great show. Two of the original band members, and the two new people (guitar and bass) were fantastic.
A stripped-down show. No bullshit. At one point something in the guitar’s effect chain failed and they had to do some quick patching up of things. Jon, the singer, told stories in the meantime. They got things working and the badass show continued. Great crowd of appreciative fans, and a band that gave it all they had.
We’ve seen quite a few shows this year, and this is maybe the only one that plays with no backing track, no click track, no bullshit. It was real as hell, and so so good.
I believe this is to be their last tour of the America, and I’m so glad I got to see them. A favorite band of mine for quite some time, I never really thought I would. I missed them last time they came through.
Honestly, probably the best show I’ve seen in a long time.
Old Man Rant Alert: One thing I would note. While people were taking some pics with cell phones (clearly I was), compared to the douchey bullshit crowd we saw at St. Vincent a couple of weeks ago I would say there were at least 80% fewer phones being held up constantly. I find it reasonable to snap a few pics to remember a show by, but then put the fucking phones away and enjoy the show. It was quite noticeable, and I’m going to go out on a limb at say that while I like St. Vincent, her crowd is full of younger people who don’t have any fucking manners or know how to enjoy a show — probably because most of their artists and bands they like are shit. It made me even happier to be part of the generation I’m part of. We had (and have) the best music, the best fans, the best souls.
