MP3.com Live: The return of Sebadoh

Reunited trio blazes through more than 20 songs in an hour-long set that was strong at times and ragged at others.

SAN FRANCISCO--For the first few songs of its 75-minute set in San Francisco last night, one of the staples of '90s indie rock sounded like a college band that was still stuck on your couch 15 years later.

But the classic lineup of Sebadoh, reunited for its first tour since 1993, shook the cobwebs off to deliver a strong, if a bit uneven, show at the Great American Music Hall as part of the ever-growing Noisepop Festival.

Given that it was just the third show for the reunited trio of Lou Barlow, Eric Gaffney, and Jason Loewenstein, those cobwebs were expected, particularly because one of the band's hallmarks is the distinctive styles of each member as a songwriter and lead vocalist.

Although it was always lo-fi and punk-minded, Sebadoh's material runs the gamut from Barlow's sweet love songs to Gaffney's caustic, more experimental tracks, and those sounds were on full display last night, with varying degrees of success.

The trio rotated between lead vocals throughout the night, with Barlow and Gaffney sharing much of the duty because the tour is meant to focus on Sebadoh's early material before Gaffney left for good and before Loewenstein really began showing his true colors as a multi-instrumentalist and crafty songwriter.

The strongest lineup featured Barlow on vocals and guitar, Loewenstein on bass, and Gaffney on drums. That lineup turned back the clock on some lo-fi madness with songs like "Sacred Attention," "It's So Hard to Fall in Love," and "Soul and Fire," one of the night's encore tracks.

The set seemed rushed at time, with the trio ending songs after just 90 seconds in order to move on to the next one. Barlow acknowledged the rushed nature, saying the trio wanted to play a wide swath of old material in an hour.

"We have a short set time, so we're trying to cook through everything," he said.

It was great to see one of the pillars of '90s indie rock return to the limelight in its classic incarnation, as Gaffney and Barlow have managed to mend fences through the course of reissuing their classic albums on Domino Records.

But it will be most interesting to see this band in six weeks time, at the conclusion of the tour, to see if the cobwebs are nowhere to be found and if the reunited trio can keep it together to make a new record together.

Sebadoh's remaining tour dates:

3-2 Portland, OR - Berbati's Pan

3-3 Vancouver, British Columbia - Richard's on Richards

3-4 Seattle, WA - Neumos

3-5 Eugene, OR - WOW Hall

3-7 Santa Cruz, CA - Attic

3-9 Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour

3-10 Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland

3-15 Phoenix, AZ - Clubhouse

3-16 Albuquerque, NM - Launchpad

3-17 Boulder, CO - Fox Theater

3-19 Minneapolis, MN - 400 Bar

3-20 Milwaukee, WI - Shank Hall

3-21 Chicago, IL - Metro

3-22 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick

3-23 Toronto, Ontario - Lee's Palace

3-24 Montreal, Quebec - Main Hall

3-29 Northampton, MA - Pearl Street

3-30 Boston, MA - Paradise

3-31 New York, NY - Webster Hall

4-2 Philadelphia, PA - North Star Bar

4-3 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club

4-4 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle

4-6 Louisville, KY - Headliners

4-7 Nashville, TN - Exit In

4-8 Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse

4-9 Tallahassee, FL - Beta Bar

4-10 Orlando, FL - Social

4-12 Baton Rouge, LA - Spanish Moon

4-13 Houston, TX - Walters on Washington

4-14 Austin, TX - Emo's

4-16 Tucson, AZ - Club Congress