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Sugar

May 12, 2026 By Matthew Berlyant Photography by Matthew Berlyant Web Exclusive

Despite the ‘80s and ‘90s nostalgia that has governed a significant part of the indie landscape in recent decades, culminating in sustained reunions of legendary, seminal bands such as Mission of Burma, Dinosaur Jr, Pixies, and many of their other contemporaries, I still can’t believe that in 2026, Sugar is playing shows again and even released a new single recently with a hint of more to come. And to be honest, I’m not really sure why or how it even happened to begin with.

Since 2012, singer/guitarist Bob Mould has toured consistently as part of a trio with bassist Jason Narducy (more on him later) and drummer Jon Wurster, often incorporating many songs from his Sugar era into his setlists. In fact, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Sugar’s 1992 classic Copper Blue, he toured with Narducy and Wurster playing the album in full and released an album called Silver Age, clearly an allusion to the aforementioned Copper Blue as well as the closest he had come in sound to Sugar since their 1995 breakup. He has also released no less than six mostly similarly-sounding albums with this lineup, most recently last year’s Here We Go Crazy.

Nevertheless, when these reunion shows were announced, they sold out instantly and they had to add a third show at Webster Hall, an appropriate venue given that Mould’s ‘80s band Hüsker Dü played there (when it was The Ritz) on several occasions in the mid ‘80s, including a two-night stand in 1987 on the tour for their final studio album, the still underrated Warehouse: Songs and Stories. Clearly, many people who loved Sugar in the ‘90s and haven’t kept up with Bob’s solo career were eager to see this show and revisit their younger years.

And on this final night of the three-night stand, the show didn’t differ too significantly from the first two nights, as the setlist was almost the same during their hour and a half long set. The songs were played louder, faster, and with a more punk rock edge than on the recordings, with Bob moving around the stage enough to prove that he has more energy than many performers half of his age. At times, it was almost a 1-2-3-4 Ramones-like barrage of song after song, though thankfully it never reached the point where the songs became unrecognizable (like so many of The Ramones’ later concerts).

Thankfully, drummer Malcolm Travis, who collapsed about forty-three minutes into the set on Saturday due to heat exhaustion (though he resumed shortly afterwards), was fine throughout, and the show went off without a hitch. During the hour and a half set, they played almost every song in their relatively short catalog (just two albums, an EP, and a B-sides collection alongside the new seven-inch), with highlights ranging from Copper Blue classics like “Changes” and “Fortune Teller” to similarly now classic cuts from 1994’s File Under: Easy Listening such as the David Barbe-sung “Company Book” and Bob classic “Your Favorite Thing.”

There were some notable differences at the end, though. We knew this was going to be an even more special night when Patterson Hood of Drive-By Truckers came out to sing “JC Auto” from their 1993 EP Beaster. And if that wasn’t enough, Craig Finn of The Hold Steady came out to sing “Helpless”. And last but not least, Narducy himself came out, hugged Barbe, and proceeded to sing the night’s closing track, “If I Can’t Change Your Mind.”

If I have one minor complaint, it’s that “Gee Angel,” played on the previous two nights, was skipped due to time constraints. They will be back here at a larger venue (Brooklyn Steel) in the fall and if you missed them play these more intimate shows, at least you’ll have another chance to see them while you still can!