Sugar played Webster Hall last night for the first time in 31 years. Bob Mould's post-Hüsker Dü alt-rock trio broke up in 1997 after a brief run that still feels underrated in retrospect. The reunion wasn't nostalgia theater. They premiered two new songs, signaling that this comeback carries actual creative weight rather than just cashing in on muscle memory.
The band announced the reunion tour last fall along with the promise of fresh material. Getting both new songs and a full live performance in one night suggests they're serious about this. For a band that existed in that narrow window between underground punk credibility and mainstream alt-rock indifference, Sugar's return lands at a moment when '90s underground rock suddenly matters again in the cultural conversation. The fact that they bothered to write new material instead of rehashing "Changes" for two hours says everything about how they view this moment. It's not a goodbye tour pretending to be a celebration. It's an actual reunion.