Flyer
The Fall
The Hacienda
16th December 1983

Those good ole boys back in town....
Well I went to see the Gang of Four the other night and I gotta say they were “awesome” , “brought it” and “nailed it” as they say in the oft over-used vernacular of reality t.v. talent shows these days. I thought it’d be full of ‘oldest swingers in town’ types intent on painting the town beige and reclaiming all our yesterdays, but there was a goodly smattering of young folk too in the sell-out crowd. Consequently there wasn’t enough room to swing a cat, which may go some way to explaining why nobody brought one. There was plenty of appreciation in the room though, with lots of singalongachorus moments and good cheer.
I don’t know much (anything) about guitar technique but I always loved Andy Gill’s guitar playing; it’s a marvel; I’m sure Wilko would be proud. During "Anthrax" he just held the guitar flat with the neck stuck into the crowd while willing participants plucked, pulled, strummed and poked at the strings and it still sounded brill! How can you do that? There was a song he started with the line “I was born in Manchester 3...” sung on autotune, and in between wondering whether I’d clocked the lyrics right and wondering are they really going to do an R & B type number? It turned out only the former part was right, as Jon King informed us at the end of the song. So yes, he was indeed born in Manchester 3 ; (don’t even know where that is, but good on him for being born there I say!).
“Anthrax” sounded like it could have been written yesterday as did “To Hell With Poverty” (an all time fave). They didn’t play “Tourist’’ or ‘Man in Uniform’ but there was songs aplenty I was unfamiliar with, and most I’m sure, are from this latter day incarnation of the band. They gave it some welly and the crowd reciprocated in kind. I don’t think they’ve played round these here parts before and they seemed genuinely chuffed and a little taken aback by the overwhelming positive response. I remember them supporting Pere Ubu, along side The Au Pairs at M/c university some time ago and they seemed to have aged but not necessarily mellowed quite well.It must be good to be in a rock ‘n roll band at times like this...