CHICAGO--For alt-rock matron Kim Deal, the Breeders always seemed like a family affair. She formed the band as a diversion from her touted-if-troubled Pixies with Boston pal and ex-Throwing Muses guitarist Tanya Donelly. She recruited friends from her hometown of Dayton, Ohio, to participate, and pointedly, when she took the Breeders full-time, her twin sister Kelley was backing her up on guitar.

The feeling of family was never more evident than on Saturday (7/14), when the sisters returned to the stage at Chicago's shabby, spectacular Congress Theatre before a near-capacity crowd. The pair appeared reborn almost a half decade after Kelley's heroin habit snuffed out the band.

Following a blast of organ music, an introduction by Steve Albini (who's recording the Breeders' long-awaited follow-up to 1993's "Last Splash," tentatively titled "Title TK," at his Chicago studio) and the girls' parents, Kim gulped and said, "Here we go."

The band--now featuring Fear bassist Mando Lopez and guitarist Richard Presley, and 22 Jacks drummer Jose Mendeles--hit its stride seven songs in, during a thunderous rendition of the hit "Cannonball." Prior to that, Kim seemed a bit overwhelmed by the rapturous reception that greeted her.

Kelley, on the other hand, confidently played most of the show wearing a wide grin and sporting a Minnesota Vikings T-shirt--a nod to the state she called home after a stint in rehab. She delivered "I Just Wanna Get Along" with a mean Brooklyn patois as her proud papa snapped photos from the side of the stage. After the song, Kim shouted to her mom in the crowd, "How we doin', ma?" Ma Deal gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

Classic cuts like "Iris" and "Saints" were better received than newer songs, but those newer songs--notably "Fire the Maid" and "Sinister Foxx"--held promise.

Oddly, the Breeders recruited one of the most studiously understated acts in indie rock, Minnesota-based Low [ tickets ], to open. Whereas the Deals are wisecracking troublemakers, Low co-captains Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker are blushing wallflowers. Nevertheless, the trio padded the grand theater with velvety sounds, notably a liquid version of Neil Young's "Down by the River" sung by Parker, and "Dinosaur Act" and "Sunflower" off its latest full-length, the Albini-produced "Things We Lost in the Fire."

The Deal sisters, though, were clearly the evening's prom queens, dragging pals onstage, and screwing with one another and their bandmates between songs. But after eighteen songs, the pair was spent. They closed the show with a dusky version of "No Aloha," and Kim's announcement, "We're gonna stop now."

The sisters then spent nearly a half-hour shaking hands with fans, signing autographs and posing for photos. A harbinger of good things to come? Let's hope so.