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Is it even worth presenting a unified theory of punk-band reunions at this point? No! Just button your cardigan higher, clutch your “Falsetto Keeps Time” 7-inch closer, and enjoy the fact that all the bands whose CDs you wore out in the 1990s (or didn’t discover until the aughts, after they stepped into semiretirement) are playing again. The Midwest born- and -bred Promise Ring—gentler than Texas is the Reason, poppier than The Get Up Kids—started its second life with twin reunion shows in Madison, Wisc. and Chicago, Ill. last February, and has toured as relentlessly as could be expected of an aging emo band since then. If tonight’s show is like other stops, it’ll skew toward mixtape staples from the group’s most popular full-lengths, the seminal Nothing Feels Good and its pop-punkier follow-up Emergency! Emergency!—and the crowd will be just as devoted as the band to a full-throated, enthusiastic delivery of the lyrics they’ve memorized. Forget-me-nots and marigolds don’t get old. Neither does singing along.
The Promise Ring performs with Title Tracks at 8 p.m. at the 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW. $25. 930.com. (202) 265-0930.