Nada Surf, courtesy.

This story originally appeared in the Oakland Tribune.

SAN FRANCISCO — In the world of pop music, you’re either “popular” or you’re forgotten. Nada Surf knows how it is.

The New York indie band — singer-guitarist Matthew Caws, drummer Ira Elliot and bassist Daniel Lorca — found a surprise alt-rock radio hit in “Popular,” the lead single off their debut album, “High/Low,” in 1996.

Then they disappeared.

The band was dropped from its label after it refused to go back into the studio to write radio-worthy singles for a follow-up album, “The Proximity Effect.” Although the album was released overseas, it took three years for the band to wrangle its rights and release it independently in 2000.

It failed to garner much attention in the U.S, however, and their next two discs, 2002’s “Let Go” and 2005’s “The Weight is a Gift,” earned positive reviews but also failed to create a buzz.

Bands generally don’t get a second chance at success, which is why Nada Surf’s rebirth with its just-released album, “Lucky,” is noteworthy.

At their solid performance Saturday at the Fillmore, it was obvious to see the band felt grateful and lucky to be on stage.

“So great to play here again,” Caws said before the band launched into “Hi-Speed Soul” and “Happy Kid,” off “Let Go.”

The trio, which shared the stage with longtime friend Louie Lino on keyboards and barely touched the work from its two first albums, stopped to thank the crowd between nearly every song.

The songs, and much of the rest of the set, were a dose of irony-free energy. The new material —and they played a lot of it — didn’t quite measure up. But tunes like “Whose Authority,” “Weightless,” “I Like What You Say” and “Beautiful Beat” were melodic and upbeat — a complete turnaround from “Popular.”

Caws introduced “Inside of Love,” the band’s lead single off “Let Go,” as the band’s “Motown, Smokey Robinson song.” The point of his speech was to teach the crowd a Pips-inspired two-step dance move.

Although the song sounded nothing like Motown, it was still the band’s best performance of the night.

The three harmonized splendidly on “What is Your Secret,” off “This Weight is a Gift.” The set closer, “See These Bones,” off the same album, was beautiful and haunting, building into a quick crescendo.

Keeping with the theme of being grateful to be on stage, Nada Surf played host of the party. If they were not thanking the attendees for coming, Caws was handing a fan a guitar pick or teaching a singalong.

When a fan asked him for some water, he was happy to oblige by handing the fan his bottle and throwing several more into the crowd. Caws also took a request, “Always Love,” right in the middle of the encore.

He even invited 15 fans on stage to dance during the last song of the encore, “Blankest Year.”

Yet the surprise of the night was that Nada Surf actually played “Popular,” a song that has been missing from their set lists as of late.

Caws introduced it as “a song off our first album. It’s sarcastic “if you don’t know, it’s sarcastic.”

Follow editor Roman Gokhman at Twitter.com/RomiTheWriter.