A 'new' Throwing Muses makes its return to the TLA

By Sara Sherr

Boston's Throwing Muses was in perfect form at the Theatre of Living Arts on Thursday night. Its members took the stage to a recording of "University" - a shimmering instrumental from their latest album of the same name - then began their 90-minute set with the jarring "Furious" from 1992's Red Heaven.

The band's last Philadelphia appearance was its first tour without Tanya Donelly (who departed to form Belly). The group was left with a hole to fill, since frontwoman Kristin Hersh's and Donelly's intricate guitar interplay and off-kilter harmonies were key.

This time around, Hersh's haunting vocals and guitar playing were more confident, complemented by the frenetic drumming of David Narcizo, the solid playing of newcomer Bernard Georges on bass, and rounded out by keyboardist Robert Rust.

This lineup charged new songs, such as "Bright Yellow Gun," "Snakeface" and "Hazing," and also did justice to older material such as "Cottonmouth," "Vicky's Box" and "Devil's Roof." The band returned for two encores that included "Hook in Her Head" and "Two Step" from 1991's Real Ramona. But the highlight of the evening was when Hersh returned to the stage for the second and final encore to play the impassioned "Pearl."

The opening act, the Ohio trio Ass Ponys, turned in an entertaining set that combined plaintive country-rock with a sense of humor.

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