[ATTENDED: October 13, 2026] Sugar
Sugar hasn’t toured in some 30 years. For some reason I thought I had seen them back the first time, but I’d actually seen Bob Mould doing a solo tour (with a band) and they played Sugar songs.
I’ve seen Bob several times, both by himself and with a band, but I was really excited to see Sugar and, while it wasn’t THAT different from when he plays a solo show (with a band) it was all Sugar and there were several songs sung by David Barbe, the legend from Athens. And Malcolm Travis (I had no idea his history) was on drums.
There was a MASSIVE banner that read SUGAR behind them and, aside from lighting changes, there wasn’t much more spectacle. Because this (as with most things Bob does) was all about the music.
After an opening tape of The Beatles’ She Said She Said (which I joked was played at the loudest volume I’ve ever heard The Beatles played) the band came out. Malcolm sat at the drums, David grabbed his bass and Bob headed to the guitar. For the whole show, nobody changed instruments, they just played 23 songs in 90 minutes and left us exhausted and elated.
Bob was his usual antsy self, stomping around the stage like a boxer warming up. He was dripping sweat by the end of the first song. They opened with the first three songs from Copper Blue. I have seen Bob and I’ve seen him play a few Sugar songs in recent years, but as soon as David sang the backing vocals on The Act We Act, it was a real Sugar show.
I deliberately didn’t listen to any of the albums before the show for fear that I’d be upset if they didn’t play the song I wanted to hear and I was pretty thrilled by how much all of this music that I’d listened to so much came back to me.
Hearing the opening bass line of A Good Idea (a very Pixies like song) was wonderful and watching Bob play that rising guitar note was just as cool . We all sang along to “that’s a good idea, she said she said.” There was an older woman in front of my wife. She was short with long gray hair and for the first couple of songs, she was completely consumed by the music–raising her arm (something I particularly hate) and dancing and moving and backing into my wife–she took up way too much space. She settled down after the opening salvo of songs, but it was fascinating. We were annoyed by her, but also appreciative of how into it she was.
I loved hearing Changes, and probably would have happily had them play the entire album straight through (but they had to save a few songs for the end). They sprinkled songs from File Under: Easy Listening throughout the set. So up next came the David Barbe sung Company Man. I didn’t recognize it at first–David’s mic seemed a little quiet and/or he was singing a little too quietly. His backing vocals (which were usually higher) sounded great. But he was a little muffled on lead. I hadn’t thought of Company Man in a long time and it was cool to hear it–Bob’s screams at the end gave it even more punch. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: BOB MOULD-“American Crisis” (2020).
Bob Mould was once a punk icon. He has since moved through various styles of music (some more successfully than others). But now, with everything going on in America these days, he is back to doing what he does best–writing short, powerful, rocking punk songs that address issues.
