Sugar at The Forum

Sugar

J. Robbins

The Forum, 24 May 2026

It's been more than 30 years since Sugar last played in London and then they split before I ever got the chance to see them live, so when they announced a short run of reunion shows, including two nights at the Kentish Town Forum, where they first played London back in 1992 (I went for the second night), I jumped at the chance to finally see them live and wow, it certainly didn't disappoint, as the trio, especially Bob Mould, have the energy of bands more than half their age.

When I bought a ticket to this show I did kind of know what to expect audience-wise and indeed when I arrived in Kentish Town I did just follow the flow of middle-aged men to the venue, but once inside it was quite nice to see there were quite a few kids too. I'd love to know what they made of it all, but clearly there were some parents wanting to pass down their love of Sugar to their kids. There was also quite a few people who had traveled from overseas go see the band reunite (I spoke to at least three Americans), so the excitement was clearly high, which made sense because not only did no one really expect this reunion, in the scheme of things, Sugar were only together for such a short amount of time. 

I must make a confession here that while I remember Sugar back in the 90s and saw their videos on MTV, it was years later than I really investigated their music, mainly due to my late friend Dan being a big Bob Mould fan, from his days in Hüsker Dü to his solo career. It did feel sad to see their reunion without him, as, like me, he never saw Sugar either back in the day, but I certainly felt his presence tonight.

I was surprised I actually got a plum spot in front of Bob Mould himself, since he stands to the left of the stage, but maybe the microphone in the centre threw some off, but that was for the support act J. Robbins, now a solo artist, but probably most famous for being the frontman of punk band, Jawbox.

Jawbox is another band I had never really listened to so I wasn't sure what to expect, but Robbins arrived on stage armed with just an acoustic guitar, so I assumed we would be seeing a softer side to him. I couldn't have been more wrong, as Robbins thrashed away on that acoustic like the true punk rocker he is.

Apparently he played material from his solo career and songs from some of his other bands, Burning Airlines, Office Of Future Plans and of course Jawbox.

He spoke about how in the 90s "the mothership" that was the major labels sucked the band up (after years of being on the far cooler Dischord, no less) and this brief flirtation with the mainstream gave the band their most successful song, Savory (which he dedicated to Bevis & Butthead, as the cartoon duo had famously featured it on their MTV show). Despite being played on an acoustic, it still sounded spiky, angular and dischordant. It was a definite highlight.

The best most was probably when he asked if anyone in the audience had ever looked up on the internet to see if they share a birthday with someone famous, and a lot of people did. Then he asked if anyone had looked up to see if they shared a birthday with someone famous and discovered that famous person was Donald Trump. And yes, apparently Robbins and Trump share a birthday. Not knowing how to feel about this fact, Robbins put all his disgust into a biting song called Dear Leader, which was both amusing and full of punky venom. The first line said it all: "Dear Leader, guess what? It’s my birthday too. Top of my wish list: to be rid of you." 

At the end, he chuckled, "Petty? Perhaps but cathartic," before joking "That showed him!" Certainly timely and I'm pleased to say it sounded great too.

At the end of his set, Robbins reminisced that during his days touring with Jawbox he has fond memories of driving in the band's van listening to Sugar, so this was something of a full circle moment for him. It was a really nice moment and his set went down well with the crowd full of punk rocks of a similar vintage.

Finally, the band we were all excited to see didn't leave us waiting for too long, arriving early to the stage, after the backdrop with large letters that said "SUGAR" (as if we didn't know) lowered behind them and quickly launched into the first song, The Act We Act. It was incredible to see that, despite being older and a little more grey, the band were as energetic as ever and Mould in particular (looking a bit Paul Hollywood these days I must say with his white beard), was full of vigor, throwing himself around and running around the stage while still playing guitar and then making it back to the microphone without losing a breath. 

"Good evening London, we are the band called Sugar!" Mould announced at the end of the song and the excited crowd went wild. They played one of my favourites early on, A Good Idea, with Mould throwing his hand in the air as he sang "the air was thick with the smell of temptation!" the sweat falling off him as he sang and thrashed away at his guitar. It felt like no time had passed at all and this was the kind of performance we would have got back in 1994.

The intensity didn't let up throughout the show, in fact sometimes they barely stopped for applause, as they ran through over twenty songs from their three albums, a bunch of B-sides (including a surprise addition of the instrumental Clownmaster) and even a couple of new tracks, Long Live Love and House Of Dead Memories, which seamlessly fit right in with the older material. 

I shouldn't have been surprised at just how raw and punky it was given their hardcore background, but it really was so much more raucous than I had imagined, yet so full of melody too, with bassist David Barbe singing the poppy chorus to Changes, reminding me they are so much more than beautifully noisy riffs.

Although Barbe and Mould alternated singing the lead, just as they did on the records, I must admit I did find Mould's songs and performance more exciting on the whole. It was great to see Mould giving his all to songs like Hoover Dam, Gift and Your Favorite Thing, Mould jerking his head, as he bashed away at his guitar, before launching into a guitar solo while still energetically launching himself around. I have to say he's a fantastic guitar player and he even reminded me of my favourite ever guitar player, J. Mascis, at times, which, given Mascis was heavily inspired by Mould when he first started out, makes complete sense.

My favourite moment came when they played the slightly slower number, Explode And Make Up, with Mould screaming "I hate you!" on the chorus, the song building up to an awesomely distorted and feedbacking guitar solo. It was just beautifully raw and powerful.

The show ended with the double punch of Tilted, with Mould going crazy on his guitar, and the intense JC Auto, which kept building and building and by the end had Mould going full punk, as he screamed "look like Jesus Christ, act like Jesus Christ, I know, I know!", his guitar feedbacking in the best dischordant way at the end and Barbe closing his eyes, as he looked utterly lost in the moment.

There was an encore which included probably their best known song, If I Can't Chance Your Mind (as well as Helpless and Gee Angel), but it was a Sunday night and the trains stop early. Fearing being stranded up London, I skipped out on the encore and missed the final songs but to be fair I still feel I got a hell of a show. 

What a treat to finally get to see Sugar live and, best of all, see them still at the top of their game. I'm so glad they reunited and played these shows and I got to witness at least one of them!