Cracker? Aren’t they, like, so 1993? Kind of. But that mattered little to the 800-odd people who massed on City Hall Plaza to catch a free show from the country-garage popsters sponsored by the River WXRV 92.5 FM (and Dunkin’ Donuts and Aquafina and Pepsi and PayDay) last Saturday night.

It’s been more than a decade since David Lowery disbanded ’80s college-rock darlings Camper Van Beethoven to make a stab at the big time with Cracker. And it’s been eight years since Cracker made a strong chart showing with " Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now), " " Euro-Trash Girl, " and " Low. " But the crowd didn’t seem to mind any of that. " They were cool then, they’re still cool now, they’ve never sold out, and I think they still have some teenage left in them! Please welcome Cracker! " , crowed the MC as Lowery, lanky in jeans and denim jacket, kicked into " Euro-Trash Girl, " which was all laconic phrasing and country-fried leads from guitarist Johnny Hickman. North Reading native and multi-instrumentalist Kenny Margolis stepped forward to take a nice accordion solo toward the end of the song.

" Anybody here from Chelsea? I’m from Chelsea. I hear it burned down after I was born, " quipped Hickman after " Teen Angst. " Lowery later introduced drummer Frank Funaro as hailing from Springfield. With so many locally bred players, it seems strange that, as Lowery admitted, the Richmond-based band almost never play here.

" They’re a little heavier than I thought, " said a guy in a tanktop and NASCAR hat to his beefy pal as the band wound down an impassioned " Sweet Thistle Pie. " " Cracker! " , yelled a bespectacled yuppie into his cell. " So good! " As if hearing these compliments, Lowery allowed that " every time we come here, we realize we have a lot of fans up here. Boston’s a great rock town. " He showed his appreciation with a catchy version of " Get Off This. "

After an extensive, wah-wah-drenched breakdown over which Lowery led the crowd in a mantra of " fuck the slice, we want the pie " ( " À la mode! " yelled one drunk dude), Cracker gave ’em what they’d been waiting for: the once ubiquitous " Low. " The song’s hook was powerful, and it sounded as fresh as it did in ’93. " I know we don’t make it here often enough, " Lowery apologized afterward. " But come see us again. Come see us in a club where we can play for, like, three hours. There’s no way we can explain ourselves in an hour and 15 minutes. "