Reunited ’90s rock trio Sugar capped a sold-out, three-night reunion run — the Bob Mould-led band’s first shows in 31 years — Monday (May 4) at New York’s Webster Hall, welcoming surprise guests such as Drive-By Truckers’ Patterson Hood, the Hold Steady’s Craig Finn and Mould solo band member Jason Narducy to sing at the end of the set.
Hood gave his best vein-bulging shouts on “JC Auto,” a ferocious favorite from the 1993 EP Beaster. Finn, who has toured with Mould in the past, took the mic for “Helpless” from Sugar’s beloved 1992 debut Copper Blue, while Mould offered Narducy the verses for that album’s surprise hit single “If I Can’t Change Your Mind” to close the night.
Despite its short lifespan during the height of grunge, Sugar provided Mould, now 64, a crucial bridge back into playing in a rock band after he’d spent the initial years after the demise of Hüsker Dü recording and performing solo. Joined by bassist David Barbe and drummer Malcolm Travis, the group released two albums and toured regularly before disbanding amicably in 1995.
Sugar announced its reunion last October with the first of two new songs and plans to stage residencies in New York and London’s O2 Forum Kentish Town. Early this year, the band revealed an extensive 2026 run, which begins May 26 in Dublin and will play Europe through mid-June. Sugar will return to the road in North America Aug. 15 in Seattle and is scheduled to wrap Oct. 24 in Barbe’s Athens, Ga., home base.
Mould told the New York crowd he hoped to see them again on Oct. 16 at Brooklyn Steel, which falls on his 65th birthday. Narducy, who is on a solo tour and happened to be six hours away from Manhattan in Buffalo, only arranged to sing with Sugar the night before, admitting he was at a gas station when he received a text from Mould inviting him to join the fun.
