By Paul Robicheau

The band’s performance at the Sinclair proved that the Chameleons are back in vintage form.

Chameleons at the Sinclair. Photo by Paul Robicheau

In 2009, Mark Burgess rolled into Faneuil Hall to sing songs from his defunct, underrated ’80s post-punk outfit Chameleons U.K. with a pickup band after a Hennessy’s bartender asked him to perform in exchange for a free hotel room. On Saturday, at a sold-out Sinclair in Harvard Square, circumstances sure had changed. Singer/bassist Burgess teamed with old guitar mate Reg Smithies in a reshuffled group under original moniker the Chameleons, reviving greatness as they opened with the band’s 1986 swan song Strange Times in its entirety.

The Manchester-born Chameleons never really got their due. The quartet’s early ’80s sound drew from the echoey guitar and passionate vocals of U2’s debut Boy, though Burgess’ lyrics were opaque more than anthemic, steering clear of chorus refrains or easy-to-glean song titles in the lyrics.

Mark Burgess of Chameleons at the Sinclair. Photo: Paul Robicheau

But third album Strange Times propelled the Chameleons U.K. to mysterious, more original heights. The textural guitars of Smithies and Dave Fielding found room to breathe around Burgess’ alienated musings and John Lever’s rattling drums. In that era’s landscape of dark, atmospheric guitar rock, any of the band’s more popular peers were hard pressed to surpass Strange Times’ first five tracks.

On Saturday, that put immediate power and added pressure in the hands of Burgess and Smithies’ new edition of the Chameleons with guitarist Stephen Rice, keyboardist Danny Ashberry and Boston-bred drummer Todd Demma (on leave from Lovina Falls, which impressed in its own opening set).

“Mad Jack” jumped to life amid a slight swirl of stage smoke, Burgess using a pick to pump his bass as sharply as the guitarists. But the true test came in “Caution,” whose dreamy exorcism on record cast a sure spell for mixtapes. Rice chimed into its delay-spaced intro before Smithies floated his counter-woven melody and Demma faithfully laced full-tom tones and rimshots to accent Burgess’ melodramatic delivery. As he sang, “Everybody’s walking ’round the dead and cold,” the frontman crossed his arms with a shiver.

Some issues surfaced in sound and vision. In contrast to the album (richly produced by David M. Allen of Cure fame), the mix was a bit too loud to give crisp space to the guitars, while blueish-tinted backlighting created a consistent frontal dimness that flattened the band’s dynamics from a visual perspective. “Tears” offered a welcome, distinct cool-down (even without the acoustic guitar of the album’s original arrangement) but its later drum parts could have been tempered.

“Soul in Isolation,” however, surged as the centerpiece of Strange Times’ live rendition. Rice droned on E-bow over Demma’s cushion of tumbling drums as Burgess stretched the song to 10 minutes, blending quotes from Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth,” the Doors’ “The End” (fans cheered after he swapped children for leaders to sing “All our leaders are insane”) and “Eleanor Rigby,” emphasizing its chorus “Look at all the lonely people.” And the singer embodied the menace in “Soul in Isolation”’s lyrics about a threatening figure, firing an imaginary rifle as he sang of a diamond bullet “right in the brain.” As the song resolved into an ambient coda to rising applause, Smithies segued into the signature lick of “Swamp Thing” over a thumping beat, summoning the stormy premonitions of the album’s most popular track.

Yet the Chameleons were just getting started as they tackled the rest of Strange Times, with no drop-off in intensity. The group poured itself into a straighter rock drive for “Time/The End of Time” (prefaced by Burgess telling fans, “Do not waste a single moment”) and “In Answer,” brought a loping levity to “Childhood,” and tapped gravitas for the instrumental “I’ll Remember,” the last of the album’s core tracks. That brought the set to the hour-long mark, before the group added the slashing B-side “Ever After” for good measure.

Mark Burgess and Reg Smithies of Chameleons at the Sinclair. Photo by Paul Robicheau

Then came a six-song encore, kicked off by the solid new single “Where Are You?” (released on EP ahead of an upcoming album), which brandished more traditional rock riffs, and then a string of nuggets. “A Person Isn’t Safe Anywhere These Days” rocked hard yet faded into a reggae feel. And the ruminative “Is It Any Wonder?” paid tribute to band manager Tony Fletcher, whose 1987 death by heart attack led to the Chameleons’ breakup before a 2000-2003 reunion.

Finally, Burgess passed his bass to Ashbury (whose non-intrusive keyboards had lent sonic icing) to take over while he grabbed the mic for “Second Skin” and “Don’t Fall,” two final songs from 1983’s Script of the Bridge. “No one’s really certain what tomorrow brings,” Burgess sang over the buzzing twang of the chorus-spiked “Don’t Fall,” still in hearty voice as he swung his arms wide, coming across a lot like Bono in his open-chested black vest as he brought a rousing finish to the 100-minute set. We’re talking early Bono, as Burgess still flashed the edge and vigor of his younger days. Tomorrow may bring the new album, but for now, the real certainty is that the Chameleons are back in vintage form.

Paul Robicheau served more than 20 years as contributing editor for music at the Improper Bostonian in addition to writing and photography for the Boston Globe, Rolling Stone, and many other publications. He was also the founding arts editor of Boston Metro.