By Paul Robicheau

Sunday’s 100-minute show at Crystal Ballroom offered a celebration of what Gang of Four means for its surviving original members and followers alike, including newer generations represented onstage as well as in the packed hall.

Hugo Burnham and Jon King of Gang of Four at Crystal Ballroom. Photo: Paul Robicheau

Gang of Four forged its path as one of British post-punk’s most original, influential forces with the socialism-fueled 1979 debut Entertainment! The group became one of rock’s most dynamic live acts on the fulcrum of kinetic frontman Jon King and stoic guitarist Andy Gill, who lashed jagged sonics over drummer Hugo Burnham and bassist Dave Allen’s blunt blend of punk, funk, and dub reggae rhythm.

But things evolve over nearly 50 years. Gang of Four briefly flirted with slicker, more commercial fare. Members left and returned as the band dissolved and reformed multiple times. At one point, prepandemic, it was effectively a Gang of One with Gill the sole original member, before he died, a suspected early Covid victim.

King and current Gloucester resident Burnham picked up the mantle with a lineup including ’80s bassist Sara Lee (before she retired), and they are now on their Long Goodbye farewell tour with bassist Gail Greenwood (Belly) and guitarist Ted Leo, known for his band the Pharmacists and a duo with Aimee Mann. The tour kicked off this past weekend with sold-out shows at the Cut in Gloucester and Somerville’s Crystal Ballroom — two weeks after news that old mate Allen also passed.

Gang of Four at Crystal Ballroom. Photo: Paul Robicheau

Sunday’s 100-minute show at Crystal Ballroom offered a celebration of what Gang of Four means for its surviving original members and followers alike, including newer generations represented onstage as well as in the packed hall. And to start off, the group performed the entire album Entertainment!

Greenwood, beaming at her great fortune to be there, egged Burnham into the initial drum volleys of “Ether” with her gritty bass. The lanky King commanded the stage with arms flung wide, then hands on thighs as he bounced sideways with eyes peeled like an agitated ape. Leo capably took Gill’s role as vocal foil, his guitar tone cleaner, though he was on top of the slicing staccato jabs of “Not Great Men” and “Damaged Goods,” a broadside that left King out of breath as he declared Boston “one of his favorite places in the world.”

The backdrop alternated images of King’s artwork for Entertainment! (where a cowboy exploits an Indian), old Gang of Four photos, and a row of associative flags — rainbow, US, Black Lives Matter, UK and Woman, Life, Freedom.

Jon King and Ted Leo of Gang of Four at Crystal Ballroom. Photo: Paul Robicheau

“I really regret this next song has any relevance,” King said of “Guns Before Butter,” where he sang “That’s something I can do without” and crossed wrists above his head in a manic shimmy. Leo squeezed more noise from his guitar, then gleefully slashed through “I Found That Essence Rare,” sharing a mic with King.

While most of that album’s tracks were live standards for Gang of Four, fans also got to hear the more obscure “Glass” (reflecting a British Invasion feel), “Contract” (hinting at reggae under Leo’s digital delay chords) and “5:45,” which King began by blowing into a melodica. Yet the last few songs in the 50-minute run through the album included classics “At Home He’s a Tourist,” Leo dropping shards and King giving him a body check, and “Anthrax,” Leo mining feedback against his amp and King later joining him in banging the strings.

After a quick break, Gang of Four were back for a more general bash — literally, in second-set opener “He’d Send in the Army,” where King took a baseball bat to a microwave oven in metronomic fashion. Early nuggets continued to reign with “Capitol (It Fails Us Now)” and “Outside the Trains Don’t Run on Time.”

Jon King and Hugh Burnham of Gang of Four at Crystal Ballroom. Photo: Paul Robicheau

Then it was time for the night’s local guests. Belly singer Tanya Donelly and Burnham’s daughter TS lent high harmonies to “We Live As We Dream Alone” and ’80s hit “I Love a Man in a Uniform.” And guitars soared between those songs. King sat out for Leo to sing “Paralysed” with stuttering, harmonic-iced guitar in a trio format before Mission of Burma’s Roger Miller added a second guitar over a thumping “What We All Want.” Leo grabbed the lead before Miller was coaxed forward to swipe jet-engine sounds from his axe, delighting old fans as well as the players. King noted Burma once shared their equipment with Gang of Four at the Rat before they ended up in Brighton to wax about “philosophy and drinking,” and kindred respect was rekindled on Sunday.

Guests departed, but Gang of Four remained on a roll. Surprising ’90s entry “I Parade Myself” injected a bit of swing while King turned from suave gestures to frantic bursts, then swung his mic in circles while Leo uncorked his best solo of the night, nodding to both Jimi Hendrix and surf-rock. But it’s hard to find a more incendiary set-closer than “To Hell with Poverty.” Leo suitably recast Gill’s revolutionary sonics over Burnham’s jerking neo-disco beat and someone in the crowd tossed a blizzard of fake $100 bills into the air.

For an encore, after the unrecorded oldie “Elevator” (with its admittedly lame chorus “Waiting for my elevator, thinking I should have come later”), Gang of Four chose to repeat “Damaged Goods.” Yet, with King fervidly singing “I bid you goodbye” to launch the song’s refrain of that final word, it made sense for the ending — to the show and to the live band locally. As he told the crowd, “If this is the last time we play in Boston ever, it’s been wonderful. Really.”

Paul Robicheau served more than 20 years as contributing editor for music at the Improper Bostonian in addition to writing and photography for The Boston Globe, Rolling Stone, and many other publications. He was also the founding arts editor of Boston Metro.