What an iconic night for the Kansas City punk scene. Gang of Four played their first AND last show in KC, and it was one for the books. As part of their “The Long Goodbye” tour, they played two sets back-to-back, with the first being 1979’s Entertainment the entire way through. With L7’s Gail Greenwood on bass (GOD, she’s SO FUCKING COOL and ROCK AND ROLL) and Ted Leo shredding nonstop on guitar, this show a ceaseless string of surprises and treats for dedicated fans.
Drummer Hugo Burnham suffered an injury earlier in the day and instead of cancelling the show, played on a possibly broken ankle (dude!). At one point, Jon Wurster even showed up to alleviate some of Hugo’s injury by filling in on drums. Knuckleheads is such a beautifully intimate venue, it was hard not to bump into Wurster the rest of the night. Jon King kicked off the second set by beating the shit out of a microwave with a baseball bat, a hit with all the punks. We would like to safely assume that half the Lawrence and Kansas City punk scene were there. Seriously, if a sinkhole had tragically opened up and swallowed the show, the Replay would be out of business because there goes the punk scene.
The night concluded with an additional performance of “Damaged Goods,” a poignant moment on the farewell tour as they chanted “Goodbye goodbye goodbye!” with the crowd. The band left, but Hugo remained for some extra emotional messaging to the dedicated fans, standing alone and ordering fans “Be the resistance! Support live music!”
You can see photos from their set with Kansas City’s Roman Numerals below, as well as video of Wurster’s surprise appearance.
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