OAKLAND, Calif. -- Bratmobile's Allison Wolfe was out of breath after the first song Sunday night.

Decked out in a sleeveless, canary yellow thrift-store dress and '50s cat's-eye glasses, Wolfe -- 29-year-old singer of the reunited riot-grrrl trio -- was holding her side after some double-time go-go dance moves for the set-opener, "Queenie."

She looked like she'd forgotten how much energy it took to play one of Bratmobile's one-minute shimmy-punk tunes. Yet the significance of what she and her former bandmates were doing onstage was lost on neither the audience nor the band.

"These [old Bratmobile songs] were some of the first songs I ever played in a band and I missed them, so it was fun to play them again," drummer Molly Neuman, 27, said.

The Stork Club -- a hole-in-the-wall venue on one of the roughest downtown stretches of Telegraph Avenue -- was packed with 200 or so old-school punks who'd come out to cheer on the reunion of one of the most beloved underground rock bands of the early '90s. Furthermore, it was the kickoff of a mini-tour by the reconstituted Bratmobile that will include five dates opening for their fellow all-female rock trio Sleater-Kinney.

The trappings of the Stork Club fit the evening's nostalgic vibe. The main room décor was a hybrid of decrepit waffle house, Swiss chalet and cheesy disco. Red leather booths lined the walls, lit up by a trail of multi-colored lights hanging from the ceiling and a slowly rotating mini-mirror-ball. A dusty Christmas tree next to the speakers was offset by floor-to-ceiling silver and red tinsel behind the stage. A smattering of kitschy Mickey Mouse Christmas decorations adorned the walls of the adjacent bar room.

Billed as a birthday party for a number of close friends, the free show had the feel of a punky high-school reunion, with old fans dragging themselves out of the house on a drizzly night to support their compadres, while younger fans also were on hand to be part of history in the re-making.

Rusty but energetic, the trio -- who also include guitarist Erin Smith, 26 -- blasted through a 12-song, half-hour set of mostly old tunes that got many in the heavily tattooed crowd doing a frug with as much abandon as the winded Wolfe.

The show included terse romps through such Bratmobile classics as the title track to their 1994 swan-song EP, The Real Janelle (RealAudio excerpt of title track), as well as "Kiss and Ride," "Love Thing," "Panik" and two recently-penned songs. According to Neuman, the reunion was inspired less by nostalgia than by the pull of old bonds.

Bratmobile were thrust into the spotlight during the early '90s riot-grrrl scene -- which included such raucous, outspoken female punk bands as Bikini Kill and Huggy Bear -- and called it quits while they were ahead. They had barely toured after the release of The Real Janelle before breaking up.

Last December, the members of Bratmobile met up at a Washington, D.C., show featuring the all-female San Francisco Bay Area punk bands the Donnas, Neuman recalled.

"It was sort of like spontaneous combustion," a winded, sweaty Neuman said after the show.

Dressed in black skirt and red T-shirt emblazoned with the word "Hawaii," she said that the three musicians had been joking about a reunion at the Donnas show and, before they knew it, they were writing new songs together.

Since Bratmobile's dissolution, Neuman took up the sticks for the now-defunct Peechees and took on the role of general manager for Berkeley, Calif.'s Lookout Records. Wolfe and Smith reunited for a brief period in the defunct Cold Cold Hearts, and Wolfe currently fronts the band, Deep Lust.

Wolfe was enthusiastic onstage during the confrontational, new tunes, "Flavor of the Month Club" and "Cheap Trick Record." But after the show, she said that some of the old songs didn't ring as true to her as they did five years ago.

"The old songs had my words," Wolfe said, "and the music holds up, but I think The Real Janelle songs felt fresher, because we didn't really tour that much on them."

Some devotées ravenously documented the show with hand-held tape recorders aloft in the air and an array of visual equipment that ranged from digital video cameras to disposables and Polaroids. Meanwhile, a clutch of younger fans made sure the trio autographed well-worn covers to Peechees and Bratmobile albums.

"We came up here all the way from L.A. on a Greyhound last Thursday," said a wide-eyed Leslie Galvam, 20, who had brought a satchel full of Bratmobile-related albums for the trio to sign.

Galvam and a friend said they quit their jobs at an Italian restaurant and spent most of their recent wages to make the pilgrimage for the Bratmobile show and Friday's Berkeley, Calif., reunion gig by the legendary female-fronted punk group, the Avengers, who now go by ScAvengers.

"We worked at this restaurant and we just quit and decided to come up here and see this show," Galvam said. "It was just cool to get a chance to see [Bratmobile] playing all together."

Bratmobile closed the show with their enduringly obnoxious signature rant "Cool Schmool," which Wolfe jokingly introduced as the surf-music classic "Surfin' Bird."

Barely toweled-off after the gig, the Bratmobile three wandered out into the club and were swallowed up by small crowds of their pals, who stayed long after the last rant had rattled the speakers.