Extreme Rocks Sold-Out House of Blues for Its First Dallas Show in 16 years

Amid one of his many discursive, cheerfully profane asides Saturday night from the House of Blues stage, guitarist Nuno Bettencourt acknowledged that Extreme, the band onstage, is not a group that rushes things.

“It takes Extreme roughly 31 to 33 years to make an album,” the 57-year-old Bettencourt cracked. But, as he went on, Bettencourt spoke of the value of “not giving a fuck about influences,” and the importance of crafting songs that mattered to every member of the band — the deeper its belief in the material, the more meaningful it became to share it with a passionate fan base.

Given the ecstatic response Saturday to songs more than three decades old, Bettencourt is likely onto something: Extreme may not be the most prolific rock act in existence, but each record, however infrequent, leaves a profound impact.

I’d consider myself a case in point: As a teenager, I wore out cassettes of 1990’s Extreme II: Pornograffiti and 1992’s III Sides to Every Story, and was rewarded Saturday with ample, nostalgic dopamine hits.

The sold-out House of Blues teemed with fans Saturday. From all available evidence, it appeared to be Extreme’s first Dallas performance in 16 years, as it returned to the last venue it played in town, in August 2008. (The band was on hiatus from 2010 to 2015.) The Boston-formed foursome — Bettencourt, vocalist Gary Cherone, bassist Pat Badger and drummer Kevin Figueiredo — doesn’t fit neatly into the hard rock genre, incorporating elements of funk, glam and metal into its sound, which helps its vintage songs avoid sounding like the product of any specific era.

Extreme’s ongoing “Thicker Than Blood” tour is in support of Six, the band’s latest studio album, which dropped in 2023 (and, true to form, was its first studio release in 15 years).

The quartet tore through about half of the record’s dozen tracks over its two-hour set — “Thicker Than Blood” packed a wallop, as did “#Rebel” — displaying a kinetic relentlessness throughout. (The album’s cover image, a glowering gorilla, loomed behind the band all night on an otherwise sparely dressed stage.)

Indeed, the 62-year-old Cherone was everywhere, endlessly whirling about the stage, seeming to change his attire for nearly every song, and even scaling a stack of amplifiers during “Play with Me.” Time has, as it does for nearly every singer, somewhat dulled his range, but he mustered more than a few powerful moments, his muscular, baritenor voice still capable of eliciting goosebumps — particularly during the epic anthem “Am I Ever Gonna Change.”

Bettencourt’s guitar wizardry was astonishing to behold — whether emanating from an acoustic or an electric, the flurry of notes and formidable skill on display was breathtaking. “Midnight Express,” an instrumental taken from 1995’s Waiting for the Punchline, was dizzying in its intricacy — the incandescently talented Bettencourt made it seem as simple as breathing.

The night was punctuated by the band’s two hit singles — 1991’s acoustic two-fer “Hole Hearted” and “More Than Words,” from its double-platinum Extreme II: Pornograffiti LP — and the enthusiastic audience was more than up to the task of participating.

During “Words,” Cherone turned chunks of verses over to the crowd, which, while engaging, also dampened the effect of his harmonizing with Bettencourt. In sharing the moment, Extreme also stepped on it a little — not that any of those with phones outstretched to capture it all minded in the least. (Depressingly, a good portion of the crowd also headed for the exits as soon as “Words” ended, with four songs remaining in the main set.)

Thankfully, Extreme harbors no ambivalence about its past success and, indeed, performed with a vigor many acts of its vintage don’t feel compelled to muster. Passion can wane over the years, but Extreme appears as devoted as ever to making sure it leaves a mark.

Saturday kicked off with a blistering set from Living Colour, a contemporary of Extreme’s that has been a far more frequent presence in North Texas, and which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. (Compared to Extreme’s scarcity, Living Colour has passed through the DFW area six times in 16 years, most recently in Addison in June 2022.)

The New York City-formed quartet — vocalist Corey Glover, guitarist Vernon Reid, drummer Will Calhoun and bassist Doug Wimbish — ripped through a 40-minute showcase illustrating the elasticity of its sound.

Opening with MC5’s “Kick Out the Jams,” tucking in a restrained cover of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U,” punching out a feisty hip-hop medley (“White Lines (Don’t Do It),” “Apache” and “The Message”) and concluding with its enduring hit, the achingly relevant “Cult of Personality,” Living Colour viscerally connected the past and present, augmented by Reid’s staggering fretboard fireworks and Glover’s potent presence.