Gang of Four’s co-founders Jon King and Hugo Burnham know the farewell tour is a time-honored entertainment conceit that isn’t necessarily final.

But the British-formed punk-era troupe that’s offered its brand of entertainment — launched more than 45 years ago with its lauded debut album, “Entertainment!” — fully intends to “park it,” in King’s words, after its current The Long Goodbye trek through North America and a seven-date run in Europe that ends July 5.

“At some point you have to say, ‘Here’s a body of work,’ and that’s it,” explains frontman King, 69, via Zoom. “There’s no reason to carry on forever and ever. You could carry on like blues musicians…” but, drummer Burnham, also 69, picks up, “Old blues guys, they go around and play on their own or with pickup bands. Just to get us together for rehearsals, being scattered all over the world…being Gang of Four is not easy to do anymore.”

That said, both men are happy to report that they’re going out strong.

“It’s been fabulous, maybe the most enjoyable tour I’ve done,” says King, who recently published a memoir “To Hell With Poverty!: A Class Act: Inside the Gang of Four” named after Gang of Four’s 1981 single. “We talk to the audience, or I talk to the audience in a way I never did before, telling story. We play fun songs. We play stupid songs, we’re doing cover versions.

“What’s remarkable is how many young people there are at the concerts. After the shows I’ve been signing copies of my book, and every night there’s 17-, 18-, 19-, 20-year olds, and everyone says, ‘Thank you, which I find quite sort of moving. We’re a band, but we stand for something, which I think people find enjoyment in as well as solace.”

Burnham, who’s also a professor of Experiential Learning at Endicott College in Massachusetts, has noticed that tone as well. “People are not just shaking hands and saying, ‘Thank you very much. Please sign my poster.’ Not to hyperbolize, but they’re gazing into your eyes, saying, ‘Gang of Four are what we need now.”

It’s a good band for challenging times primarily because it came out of troubling times — mid-70s England, where the punk rock scene Gang of Four hailed from was inspired to counter the polarizing economic and socio-political divide of the era. “We’re slightly disappointed but energized by the fact the (‘Entertainment!’) album is very relevant,” King notes. “The things we wrote about — the rise of authoritarianism and wars and fascism and things like that, amongst all the dance tracks and the guitar stuff, is really relevant right now.”

Rolling Stone dubbed “Entertainment!” the fifth best punk album and one of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Its combining of rock, funk and dub styles created a sonic template followed by others (including the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine, Franz Ferdinand and more), and Gang of Four has remained determinedly and unapologetically topical throughout its nine albums and six-incarnation lifespan. Over that time two members — original guitarist Andy Gill in 2020 and bassist Dave Allen just on April 5 — two members have died, while a dozen others have made their way through the ranks.

King and Burnham still chafe that Gill operated an unauthorized Gang of Four at one point, but they have warmer feelings towards Allen and are donating a portion of their tour proceeds to his family to help defray treatment costs.

Meanwhile — joined by Ted Leo on guitar and Gail Greenwood on bass — they’re playing the “Entertainment!” in its entirety during the tour and even playing the signature song “Damaged Goods” twice, in sequence and at the end of the shows, which King says creates “a moment of communion.”

“Since we started up again in ’22, it’s almost always been the last song,” Burnham explains. “It’s obvious with (the refrain) ‘goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye.’ Every time we do it, the audiences roars; we barely have to sing the chorus. It’s just a lovely way for finishing it off.”

King and Burnham voice a “never say never” sentiment when asked if anything might bring them back in the future. King quips that, “I suppose if President Putin and Donald Trump want to have a party together we’d be the obvious to hire…Nah, I don’t think so.” They’d not be averse to one-off performances down the line, but, King says, “I think it is a time to call it, really.”

“In a rather sad way,” Burnham adds, “what we’ve accomplished is making music that resonates with the times, and it feels like two steps forward, six steps back ’cause here we are still, and that’s rather disappointing. At least there are people who see us as being some kind of comfort right now.”

And, King seconds, “We are music fans as well as musicians. There are things I’ve listened to through my life that meant an enormous amount to me and have helped shape my thinking — I think of ‘Highway 61 Revisited’ by Bob Dylan…and then listening to Muddy Waters. Those made me think about a different way of being.

“So we’re quite surprised, and it’s wonderful that all these years later what we did still carries weight and stands for progressive things at a time when progressive ideas are under threat.”

Gang of Four performs Wednesday, May 7, at the Magic Bag, 22920 Woodward Ave., Ferndale. Doors at 7 p.m. Tickets are sold out. 248-544-1991 or themagicbag.com.

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Originally Published: May 5, 2025 at 1:17 PM EDT