Veruca Salt has enough spice to pack the TLA

Do you remember Veruca Salt?

If you didn't come of age during the years of MTV's 120 Minutes, chances are you don't. Like Dishwalla or Joe Public, it's one of those '90s bands that's not a household name, but whose most popular songs you've almost certainly heard.

In the case of Veruca Salt, one such song is "Volcano Girls," the lead single from the Chicago alternative rock group's second album, Eight Arms To Hold You (1997). Between the pauses of a choppy, distorted electric guitar riff, lead singer Nina Gordon sings, "Leave me, lying here, 'cause I don't wanna go." It was featured in the modestly successful late-90s teen comedy film Jawbreaker. And, alongside Blur's "Song 2" and EMF's "Unbelievable," its chorus would not sound out of place booming over the speakers at a professional sports game.

In the "Volcano Girls" lyrics, Veruca Salt managed to mention its other relatively popular but less catchy song "Seether," the first single from the band's debut album, American Thighs (1994). Both tunes barely broke into the top 10 on Billboard's Modern Rock charts, but their respective music videos dominated MTV back in the day when the cable television channel still played music videos. Veruca Salt never approached the heights reached by Soundgarden or Smashing Pumpkins, but these songs earned them a place in the '90s alternative rock canon.

On Tuesday night, Veruca Salt's legacy proved strong enough to pack the TLA. The audience consisted mostly of old glory-seekers in their mid-30s or older, but there was a small number of younger devotees who passionately sang along throughout the impressive and massive 24-song set.

This tour marks the first time Veruca Salt's founding members - guitarist/vocalist Gordon, guitarist/vocalist Louise Post, bassist Steve Lack, and drummer Jim Shapiro - have played together since their break-up soon after Eight Arms To Hold You. Post carried on the name using various musicians as her supporting band, and released two unremarkable albums, Resolver (2000) and IV (2006). Details of the split are not totally clear, but stories of Post and Gordon's disagreements left the impression that Veruca Salt would never return to its original form.

"Aren't you guys glad we got over all our ?" Post jokingly asked the crowd following a performance of the jolly, jangly "With David Bowie." The two frontwomen playfully conversed between songs (once about the merits of REO Speedwagon), and each smilingly accepted an arrangement of flowers as a gift from someone in the audience. On several occasions, they met in the middle of the stage during instrumental breaks to whip their hair around and shred on guitar.

It's good Gordon and Post have resolved their differences, because Veruca Salt doesn't work without the creative dynamic between them. While Gordon provides intelligent, gender-conscious snark, Post brings the gravel-throated, edgier rock and roll energy. Post is also an electrifying, superb guitarist - her modest but thrilling solos during "Get Back" and "Forsythia" were highlights of the night.

Unsurprisingly, the set relied mostly on songs from the first two albums. In addition to "Seether" and "Volcano Girls," "Spiderman '79," and "Venus Man Trap" had audience members jumping, swaying, and singing. The best moment came just before the encore, when the four-piece played "25," a deep cut from the first album that patiently builds up to a frenzy of sludgy, feed-backing guitars and Gordon's howls about the anxieties of growing up.

Veruca Salt also played a new song that will appear on the band's forthcoming fifth album, which Post said is finished and will be released soon. The announcement comes on the heels of two other songs released earlier this year, which marked the recently-reunited band's first fresh material in nearly two decades. Once a new full-length hits the shelves, the alt-rock veterans will technically stop being a legacy act. But it's unlikely Veruca Salt will ever trump the hits for which some of us will always remember them.