Tanya Donelly fronts Belly at 9:30 Club on Sept. 29, 2018. (Photo by Jason Nicholson)

Belly are back! In May, the Boston band released Dove, their first new album in more than 20 years. On Saturday, Belly played those new songs at 9:30 Club.

For quite a long time, fans patiently waited for Tanya Donelly, Gail Greenwood, Tom Gorman, and Chris Gorman to release a third album. The outstanding first two — Star (1993) and King (1995) — became ’90s indie rock anchors, themselves alone capable of putting Boston on the map on the musical landscape of that decade. After Belly called it a day, folks always felt their business was unfinished. Sure enough, Tanya and company regrouped and toured a few years ago, and they have now blessed us with new music.

The new album dominated the set with “Army of Clay” appearing early and quite a few songs placing in a second set — including “Shiny One,” “Artifact,” and others.

Listen to Dove by Belly on Spotify:

While the new songs sound like classic Belly, the crowd of course wanted to hear the classics, and Belly obliged. The set began with “Dusted” from Star and went into “Seal My Fate.” Belly closed the first set on “Judas My Heart” from King. Early in the second set, the band played “Gepetto,” our editor’s favorite Belly song, and soon after, they stormed 9:30 Club with the anthemic “Feed the Tree” — the college indie rock single to end all college indie rock singles.

Belly closed their show on “Super-Connected” and threw “Thief” from their Sweet Ride: The Best of Belly compilation into the encore. Please return soon, Belly!

Oh, and by the way, guitarist Gail truly rocked the house. You can see for yourself in the pix below! Here are some pictures of Belly performing at 9:30 Club on Sept. 29, 2018. All photos copyright and courtesy of Jason Nicholson.