Dusty Watson (drums) and Rob Lind of The Sonics perform at Moore Theater in Seattle on April 2, 2015. Photo by Mat Hayward/Getty Images.

SAN FRANCISCO — “Guess you guys aren’t ready for that yet, but your kids are gonna love it,” Marty McFly told a stunned and silent Enchantment Under the Sea Dance crowd after rocking out to “Johnny B. Goode” in 1955, to which he’d time-traveled in “Back to the Future.” Five years later in Tacoma, Wash., in real life, a group of high school kids got together, calling themselves The Sonics, and ended up making music that would go on to influence punk, grunge and garage rock. But back then, they largely got the same reaction as Marty. They were too loud, too brash. As founding saxophonist and singer Rob Lind pointed out at the band’s show at Great American Music Hall on Saturday, when a local radio station picked up their local hit “The Witch,” the reaction was swift:

“‘The Sonics are playing devil music!'” Lind said, recalling the public outcry.

Despite modest (at the time) success with their first two albums, 1965’s Here Are The Sonics and 1966’s Boom, they moved on and lived their lives for five decades. But demand for them grew. The likes of the Cramps, the Dead Kennedys and Nirvana had called out the seminal Pacific Northwest band as a major inspiration throughout the years. The Sonics have shared the stage with the likes of Eddie Vedder and Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic.

The band officially reformed around 2014, with original members Lind, screamer/bassist Gerry Roslie and shredding guitarist Larry Parypa, as well as drummer Dusty Watson and bassist Freddie Dennis. They made another album, 2015’s This is the Sonics, which charted, spurred on a popular tour and brought the band further into prominence. The Sonics were finally getting their due outside of musician circles. There’s even a documentary about them that’s completed and just waiting for a mass release.

But a decade after their reunion, the Sonics are ready to call it a career. Both Roslie and Parypa have stepped down from touring; the band members are now all around 80, after all. Saturday’s Great American show, the end of a two-date set in California, was dubbed “Farewell SF.” Lind, Watson and one-time Sonics bassist Don Wilhelm were joined by keyboardist Jake Cavaliere (Lords of Altamont) and singer-guitarist Evan Foster (Boss Martians), both of whom are in their early 50s.

It was more than enough.

This incarnation of The Sonics turned in a snarling performance that was as loud as their 2015 set at the Fillmore, and using their newest members as a strength. Cavaliere and especially Foster shined from beginning to end. Each sang (screamed) lead and contributed mightily to the band’s sound in the roles created by the band’s founders. With his guitar turned up all the way, Foster made an early statement with a cover of Eddie Cochran’s “C’mon Everybody.” He led the band with powerful riffage and soul-rattling vocals.

The band members all looked dapper in dark suits with white button-up shirts and ties. That made the hard rock they played stand out even more. They blasted through rockers like “Cinderella”—with Foster swinging his guitar over the heads of attendees in the first couple of rows—and “Keep A-Knockin’ (But You Can’t Come In).”

When Lind, the only original band member performing on this night, wasn’t sending shards of sax blasts or singing, he’d look out to his bandmates and the crowd, soaking in the scene. He also handled most of the talking, sharing bits about songs here and there, and introducing the band.

Watson rolled the band from “Shot Down” to an equally rambunctious cover of The Lords of Altamont’s “Get in the Car” without missing a beat. Then, on “Dirty Robber,” Lind sang lead, delivering in a rhythmic, jazzy cadence before he and Foster staged a guitar and harmonica duel. The band’s cover of Richard Berry classic “Louie Louie” was impressively muscular, at times sounding like the Scorpions’ “Rock You Like a Hurricane.” I kid you not, a sort-of mosh pit opened up in the middle of the floor as Watson’s white mop flew left to right. Lind then pointed out The Sonics released a cover of the song early in their career.

Their take on Motown classic “Money (That’s What I Want)” was groovy, while Foster’s voice got even more gravelly on a raucous cover of Little Richard’s “Lucille.” It was as if a souped-up melodic car exhaust was singing lead. Following the tempo-switching assault of “You’ve Got Your Head on Backwards,” which at times sounded like a bar-room singalong, The Sonics concluded the main set with hit “Strychnine.” The three-song encore rocked as hard as the rest of the show, including the band’s second-ever recorded song, “Psycho,” and “The Witch.”

There were no big farewell speeches. Who knows, maybe it’s not the end. The noise the band made at Great American Music Hall is ripe for arenas right now. A band like the Black Keys, The Hives or even Pearl Jam should ask the Sonics to tour with them. That would get the band a proper send-off.

Santa Ana doo-wop and surf rock quintet The McCharmlys opened the show with a wonderfully throwback performance. After dedicating opening song “Crying” to a young fan in the front who’d made the band a sign, the band moved to Brill-building- and doo-wop-inflected “Awful Thing” and the surf rock of “LUV.”

There was some pretty backing harmonization on bluesy tune “Everything You Said.” The McCharmlys slowed the pace on ballads “Don’t You Know” and “Break My Heart” before breaking out Spanish covers of The Ronettes’ “Be My Baby” (“Tu Seras Mi Baby”) and the Rolling Stones’ “Get Off of My Cloud,” the latter of which was especially raucous. They ended on a high note with the punky “Love Me Too” and garage rocker “The McCharmly Stomp!”

Follow editor Roman Gokhman at Twitter.com/RomiTheWriter.