On Friday night, former Sleater-Kinney singer and guitarist Corin Tucker made her first appearance on a D.C. stage since the legendary Pacific Northwest trio went on indefinite hiatus in 2006. Touring in support of her first solo album, 1,000 Years, Tucker delivered a strong, if not quite spectacular, 16-song set backed by drummer Sara Lund (Unwound, Hungry Ghost), guitarist/keyboardist Seth Lorinczi (The Golden Bears, Circus Lupus), bassist Mike Clark (Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks), and percussionist Lorca Wood (Hungry Ghost). Although the Black Cat was surprisingly less than half-full, The Corin Tucker Band’s 70-minute performance offered the sparse but enthusiastic crowd a long-awaited opportunity to reconnect with one of indie-rock’s iconic figures as she enters a new phase of her career.

After an energetic, groove-laden opening set by Portland blues-rockers Hungry Ghost, Tucker and her bandmates led off their performance with “Half a World Away.” Tucker’s unmistakable voice resonated over the song’s droning introductory guitar notes before the rest of the band joined in to kick the song into high gear — Lorinczi unleashing some crunching six-string riffs and Clark adding a nice, dub-inflected bass line. Next up was the recession-themed “Thrift Store Coats,” followed by a slow build toward the careening guitar crescendo of “Handed Love,” the chorus of which nods overtly to Pearl Jam’s 2009 single, “Got Some.” (Tucker previously collaborated with Eddie Vedder on several projects, including a 2008 cover of John Doe’s “The Golden State.”)