Kevin Bronson on May 10th, 2016

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“You were born too late / I was born too soon,” starts “American Moon,” the song with which Violent Femmes closed out their hour-and-a-half concert Saturday night at the sold-out Orpheum Theatre. On this night, though, it felt like every was born at about the right time, as the veteran Wisconsinites thrilled a room full of lifers and newbies alike with their indie bouillabaisse.

Announcing they were working with no setlist and making it up went along, the band kicked off the show with “Blister in the Sun,” now 33 years young, and spiked the show with what long-timers would consider necessary songs — “Add It Up, “Kiss Off,” “Prove My Love” and “Gone Daddy Gone” among them.

Violent Femmes reformed in 2013 for their third go-round — doing a memorable set at Coachella that year — and started issuing new music last year.

With Gordon Gano switching between guitar, banjo and violin and Brian Ritchie mixing things up as well, the band devoted almost a third of their set to new songs, including four (“I Could Be Anything,” “Memory,” “Issues” and “Big Car”) from their first full-length in 16 years, “We Can Do Anything,” released in March. They also played “Good For / At Nothing,” “Fast Horses” and “Love Love Love Love Love” from last year’s Record Store Day EP.

And speaking of “Love Love Love Love Love,” the guy who wrote that song for the Femmes, Jake Brebes, opened the show in his new incarnation as the three-piece Happiness.

Photos by Mitch Livingston

Setlist: Blister In The Sun, Kiss Off, Good For/At Nothing, Love Love Love Love Love, Big Car, Prove My Love, Promise, Country Death Song, Jesus Walking on the Water, Gimme the Car, Old Mother Reagan, Issues, I Held Her in My Arms, I Could Be Anything, Fast Horses, Freak Magnet, Black Girls, Gone Daddy Gone, Add It Up. What You Really Mean, Memory, American Music