This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Photos by Debra Rothenberg

After a too-long absence, Beehive Queen Christine Ohlman and her band Rebel Montez returned to a sold-out Iridium and charmed the few in the audience who didn’t already know her talent.

With a repertoire as big as her vocals, Ohlman and the rocking band Rebel Montez jumped right in with “That’s How Strong My Love Is,” then she encouraged the audience to download the next song, “The Cradle Did Rock,” the sales of which benefit the New Orleans Musicians Assistance Foundation and the New Orleans Musicians Clinic.

Full of funny patter offsetting the fervor of her music, Ohlman, who’s in the Saturday Night Live band, gave shout-outs to several musicians in the crowd, including singer/songwriter Jo Armstead (e.g., Ray Charles’ “Let’s Go Get Stoned”), then prefaced the title track to her album The Deep End, by saying “The Beehive Queen doesn’t fall into the shallow end. No. It’s no fun there,” and proceeded to belt it out—and damn, it was fun.

We also got a taste of their upcoming album, with the title track “The Grownup Thing,” featuring a terrific solo by guitarist Chris Bickley. Ending with Al Green’s “Take Me To the River” the night felt complete–we had, indeed, been washed down, and by a Queen, no less.

—Suzanne Cadgène