Gang Of Four 'Entertainment!' New Zealand Shows Announced

UK post-punk figureheads Gang Of Four are returning to Aotearoa this March, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their landmark 1979 debut album Entertainment!, which gave us such politically-focussed spiky anthems as 'Damaged Goods' and 'At Home He's A Tourist'. Featuring founding member Andy Gill joined by bassist Thomas McNeice, vocalist John "Gaoler" Sterry and drummer Tobias Humble, the band will play Entertainment! in its entirety plus an electrifying selection of their greatest hits including 'I Love a Man in Uniform', 'What We All Want', Paralysed', 'To Hell With Poverty' and more. Gang Of Four last hit our shores for a headline event in 2016 and have a new studio album titled Happy Now set to drop in February, here's next year's tour details...

UPDATE 13/03/19: As a result of Andy Gill suffering from a serious chest infection, Gang Of Four's New Zealand shows have been postponed until November, check out the updated dates here:

Gang Of Four
Tuesday 12th November - Tuning Fork, Auckland
Wednesday 13th November - San Fran, Wellington

Here's Gang Of Four's iconic single 'Damaged Goods' from Entertainment!...

Listen to 'At Home He's A Tourist' from Entertainment!...

Watch a vintage live clip of the band playing their fist-pumping anthem 'To Hell With Poverty'...

Here's the video for Gang Of Four's 1982 hit single 'I Love A Man In Uniform'...

Press release:

“Entertainment! is one of those records where germs of influence can be traced through many genres and countless bands” (Allmusic)

One of the most influential and groundbreaking bands to rise from the British punk scene in the late '70s was GANG OF FOUR. To Celebrate the 40th Anniversary since the release of their debut album Entertainment! they will play the album in full + other Hits; I Love a Man in Uniform, What We All Want, Paralysed, To Hell With Poverty and more!

GANG OF FOUR’s Entertainment! may have been a sarcastic title, but it wasn’t entirely inaccurate. The album is caustic and bursting with disgust for unethical capitalism, opportunist politicians, and consumer society, among other things, but it’s also crafted with amazing pop sensibility— it is also remarkably danceable. The album was chock full of stone-cold classics Damaged Goods, Naturals Not In It (used during the title sequence of the Marie Antoinette), Not Great Men, Anthrax and Ether. It also featured At Home He's a Tourist which was banned by the BBC when released as a single due to a lyrical reference to condoms. The band were asked to perform the song on Top of the Pops. However, when the show's producers heard the line "And the rubbers you hide in your top left pocket" they asked the group to change the word rubbers to rubbish for fear of causing offence. The band refused and the appearance was cancelled…

When they finished the album and played it to their record company, EMI mystified asked “Is this the demo?” to which the band said, “No. It’s the album”. EMI left it as it was and it was put out without any polishing.

As with any boundary breaking record, Entertainment! has subsequently been the source of a continual stream of copies and copies of copies, but even as the imitations continue, GANG OF FOUR’S debut remains singular, a powerful call to arms and out of apathy Entertainment! was named… 5th Greatest Punk Album of All Time (Rolling Stone) 8th Best Album of the 1970s (Pitchfork)

Kurt Cobain (listed Entertainment! as 13th on his Top 50 Favourite Albums in his journal.

Michael Hutchence cited GANG OF FOUR as a major influence on INXS (Anthrax was used in Richard Lowenstein’s movie Dogs in Space which featured Michael Hutchence). They were also influential on the likes Fugazi, Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand. Join GANG OF FOUR as they Celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the album that kick started it all and changed the musical landscape, Entertainment!