Just saw that Gang of Four will be playing at the Cradle in October (10/6 to be precise). I doubt it'll be much more than a nostalgia-fest. I mean, it's not like they've really done anything much of interest in the last 20 years. The show's presented by VH1 Classics, for cryin out loud. But I still don't think I can pass up a chance to see them playing live, even if it is decades too late. Hell, they could just play Entertainment! start to finish and it would be worth the trip.
I was gonna link to a marvelously cranky article by Jon Pareles in last Sunday's NYTimes but the Times link generator thingy continues to shun me. Alas. But it's almost worth the annoying registration process. Pareles takes up the contrarian position that CBGB, which has been fighting for survival with their landlord, is irrelevant and might as well close down. He has them coasting on reputation since the early 80s. I wouldn't be that extreme. It was still one of the key NYC venues into the mid-to-late 80s, both for touring and local bands. But when I moved back to New York in the early 90s it quickly became clear that CBGB was turning itself into a punk rock tourist trap. And looking at NY concert listings over the last few years (usually whenever we're planning a trip there) that's just truer and truer all the time. So yeah really... what would it matter. Shut it down. The moment is (long) past. On the other hand, I'd be happy to see a Las Vegas version, something that's apparently been kicked around as an idea, and something which clearly appalls Pareles on a certain level. For one thing, even though CBGB-LV wouldn't even be a pale version of the original, it'd still be one of the cooler things in Vegas. Plus how can I not love such a perfect example of "they swallow the poison and call it entertainment"?