On a night when the temperature felt determined to chase everyone indoors, Newport Music Hall became a refuge with its exterior glow cutting through the frozen dark like a promise. Outside, Columbus shivered. Inside, fans gathered to thaw the winter gloom with the kind of communal warmth only a long-awaited reunion can deliver.

Though I’d spent plenty of time with Mike Doughty’s solo work Haughty Melodic and the pop-leaning brightness of Golden Delicious, I walked into the Newport Music Hall woefully uninitiated in the world of Soul Coughing. That changed quickly. Before the lights dimmed, I found myself surrounded by fans eager to explain how they first fell into the band’s orbit: a collective genesis rooted in the strange, cerebral pull of early ’90s alt-jazz, experimental groove, and avant-rock. Or as Doughty himself called it in a long ago Washington Post article, “Deep Slacker Jazz.”

I questioned fans as to their initiation with the band and the answers were as eclectic as the music itself. One fan swore Soul Coughing seeped into his life through the walls: “It was always blasting from my brother’s room next door when I was a kid.” Another credited Doughty’s poigniant wordplay: “Mike’s lyrics were unlike anything I’d heard… the complexity, that’s what hooked me.”

But the most unexpected tale came from a PhD student in Latin who laughed as he recounted buying his first car from his high school Latin teacher,“as is,” he emphasized. This meant it came with everything left inside including a stack of CDs, among them, Soul Coughing. His partner, also a doctoral candidate (a pattern was emerging, this band attracts thinkers), jumped in proudly to add that they wouldn’t have even known about the show if she hadn’t gone digging through weekend event listings. Show poster in hand, they couldn’t wait for the show to start.

Whether fans discovered Soul Coughing by accident, inheritance, curiosity, or pure lyrical obsession, one thread ran through every conversation: unfiltered joy at seeing this band take the stage again be it for the first time or after a very long wait.

Soul Coughing first hit the scene in New York City at the infamous Knitting Factory playing their first official show in 1992. They soon became one of the most beloved alternative cult bands of the 90’s with a devout fanbase. Coughing released its first album, Ruby Vroom, in 1994 with Irresistible Bliss and El Oso following in ’96 and ’98 respectively. Despite their grand popularity among alternative circles, they disbanded in 2000. It wasn’t until 2022 that Daughty and bassist, Sebastian Steinberg, reunited as part of Steingberg’s set for The Watkins Family Hour. At the end of 2024, the full band, comprised of Daughty, Steinberg, drummer Yuval Gabay, and keyboardist/sampler Mark Degli Antoni, reformed for a short tour which carried over into the spring of 2025 and continues this month with a very limited 8-show run.

The music seems almost a stream of poetic consciousness, with spoken word lyrics wrapped up in complex bass, keyboard, and drum signatures. Saturday’s crowd was treated to 90-plus minutes of sampled hip-hop experimental jazz funk (my take) with all the familiar staples from show opener “Bus to Beelzebub” to the double encore “Is Chicago, Is Not Chicago” and “Super Bon Bon” and everything in between.

As the final notes rattled the rafters and the crowd spilled back into the icy Columbus night, one thing was unmistakable: Soul Coughing’s return isn’t just a nostalgic victory lap. It’s a revival that never fully loosened its grip on its fans. Saturday’s tour opener proved that the band’s blend of groove, intellect, and unfiltered originality still lands with the same off-kilter magic it did decades ago. For longtime devotees and brand-new initiates like myself, this tour will prove to be a rare chance to witness a band reclaim its spark in real time. If Soul Coughing comes within driving distance, I’d suggest you bundle up, step out into the cold, and catch this ride while it’s here. The tour only runs through the middle of December.

Were you at The Newport last evening? What are your thoughts, I’d love to hear your experience with the band and what the band’s recent get together means to you.

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