Over 30 years since playing their final show, Sugar has reunited for their “Love You Even Still” world tour celebrating the band’s catalog with original members Bob Mould (guitar/vocals), David Barbe (bass/vocals) and Malcolm Travis (drums). While Mould’s solo performances are frequent sell-outs in the Bay Area, the energy surrounding the band’s return to San Francisco was palpable as The Warfield’s general admission floor quickly filled up with fans.

Best known as vocalist/guitarist for D.C. post-hardcore band Jawbox, J. Robbins kicked the evening off with a 30 minute set as the crowd gathered.  While claiming to be new to being a guitar-slinging troubadour world, Robbins was pretty much a natural … chatty and amusing during between-song tuning and generally giving the gathered crowd an intimate feel, his percussive foot stomping eventually breaking the trance that his smooth voice and acoustic guitar had brought over the crowd.  His solo material included a humorously embarrassing admission that he shared a birthday with DJT as he introduced the snarky “Dear Leader,” but it was his cover of Jawbox’s “Savory” that really got the crowd pumped and singing along. Overall a perfect warmup for what was to follow.

The crew made quick work of the stage as the anticipation in the room built, hitting peak levels at The Beatles’ “She Said She Said” started blasting over the house PA followed by cheers as a giant “Sugar” backdrop was lowered behind the drum kit and the band casually took the stage led by bassist Barbe.  Wasting no time and without saying a word, the band hit the San Francisco crowd hard with a trio of tunes from their breakthrough debut, Copper Blue, which got the crowd singing and bopping along.  And while Barbe and Travis held down the rhythm, Mould was only contained by his responsibilities behind the mic stage, spinning the around the stage with the sort of energy that his long-time fans have come to expect. In fact it wasn’t until about 5 songs in that the band stopped for a breath, giving Mould the chance say, “it’s great to be home!” before jumping right back into the music.

Having only been active for a few years in the 90’s, the band’s catalog is admittedly limited. What that means for this tour is that the expansive 90 minute set covered virtually all corners of the bands songwriting from their aforementioned debut album to File Under: Easy Listening and  the Beaster EP all the way through to Besides, their posthumous collection of B-sides and previously unreleased tracks. But this tour is not purely a nostalgia tour with newer songs “House of Dead Memories” and “Long Live Love” both making live appearances, both sliding perfectly in to the Sugar legacy.

The band sounded absolutely fantastic, Mould and Barbe seamlessly trading off vocal duties which which gave Mould more time to scamper around the stage. The 90 minute set finally came to an end with the band’s biggest hit, “If I Can’t Change Your Mind” and a heartfelt thank you from San Francisco.  For even the casual fan of Sugar, it was perfection.

Sugar

J. Robbins