Bob Mould and band crank it up at Seattle's Neptune Theatre

Bob Mould then (behind) and now ... and Mould still screaming.

Andy, text; Cat Rose, photos

Oh, there was sweat. HEAPS of it.

And there was noise … and melody… and crazy-blissful people present with Bob Mould on the premises. (One spastic fan in front was losing his shit… shouting lyrics, arms flailing — except when he took a break to snap a selfie with Mould in the background.)

Welcome to the world of Mould and his cohorts Jason Narducy on bass and Jon Wurster on drums at the Neptune Theatre in Seattle on Tuesday.

They always unleash a solid, ROARING set: your eardrums will take a beating while your emotions will surface in full force. Sit back and enjoy the ride, right?

As the tunes rocketed at us virtually non stop, everyone around us seemed to have specific songs they were stoked on. Opener "Flip Your Wig," check. "Changes," oh, yeah. "Star Machine," "Little Glass Pill" and "The War," bring it on. "Divide and Conquer" and "In a Free Land," that's fucking right.

That's just a sampling of what went down on Tuesday during the 23-song set featuring 10 Husker songs, four Sugar tunes and nine solo rippers.

You can't always decipher the lyrics that Mould is offering us (without a lyric sheet handy), but it's good to have his voice around. It's comforting -- even when it's jackhammering away most of the time. And it's HONEST, VITAL and REAL.