Neal Augenstein, wtop.com

Wow, what a trip back in time.

About two months after deciding to reunite after nearly 25 years, Modest Proposal played its first show Saturday night at Comet Ping Pong in Northwest, D.C. Apprehension, rustiness and nervousness were replaced by excitement and a collective joy of seeing old friends and climbing back onstage.

The sold-out crowd packed the small performance area even before openers, The Reply, took the stage. Many in the audience had seen the bands in the 1980s. Through the years many had fallen out of touch, but retained the commonality of being in D.C.'s mod music scene more than two decades ago.

My biggest fear had been about forgetting lyrics, even though I had written most of the songs. Thankfully, buoyed by the crowd, I was able to "just sing," and remembered most of the words.

Dancing full-out while singing proved to be a cardiovascular problem. Several times during the set I had to consciously concentrate on diaphragmatic breathing to avoid panting. My wife was on the side of the stage yelling "loosen your tie."

The show was videotaped, and professionally recorded. I haven't had a chance to see or hear any of that material yet. The last time MP was on stage, digital photography and social networking didn't exist, but within hours audience members were posting pictures of the reunion show on their Facebook pages and on YouTube.

It's still not clear where we'll go from here with the band. I think we tacitly agreed to not discuss it until after the reunion show. I'm not sure about the rest of the guys, but I'm juiced for more.

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