For many musicians, the trajectory of their career is a linear one. They move from one band to the next, frequently burning bridges behind them. For David Lowery, however, this hasn’t been the case. With the two bands that, aside from one solo record and an album made with German Polka outfit FSK, represent his life’s work frequently touring together, things have come full-circle for the Camper Van Beethoven/Cracker frontman. As such, when he isn’t fighting for songwriters’ rights or lecturing at the University of Georgia, Lowery is able to perform songs from the entirety of his recorded output with nearly all musicians who helped him create them.

Even though Camper Van Beethoven has emerged recently as the more active of Lowery’s musical concerns, the band is perhaps still regarded as the quirky cult predecessor to the more populist Cracker, and as such they took the Highline Ballroom stage first Sunday night. They opened with “Tania” from Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart, the band’s major label debut from 1988, and the gypsy-tinged strains of Jonathan Segel’s violin were immediately arresting. Cuts from that record dominated the opening portion of Camper’s set, with “She Divines Water,” “Turquoise Jewelry” and “Eye of Fatima (Parts 1 and 2)” all being played before Lowery and company segued into newer material like “Too High for the Love-In” and “Northern California Girls” from last year’s excellent La Costa Perdida and the title track from 2004’s New Roman Times. Still, older cuts like “All Her Favorite Fruit” held the greatest resonance, with lyrics less complicated than those on the newer material, but just as evocative. Of course, there are songs that any CVB set would seem incomplete without (“Take the Skinheads Bowling” and “Good Guys and Bad Guys”), but the band also trotted out “The Day That Lassie Went to the Moon” and “Opi Rides Again—Club Med Sucks” from 1985’s Telephone Free Landslide Victory. Through it all, though, there wasn’t a hint of nostalgia, and the mix of reggae, hardcore, and other far-flung influences in the band’s rich catalog remained vibrant.

Following a solo performance of “O Death” by Lowery on banjo, Cracker guitarist Johnny Hickman joined the singer for a run through “Friends” from the band’s last album, 2009’s Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey. The set got going when the rest of the band emerged for “Useless Stuff,” and “Gimme One More Chance,” with its meaty riffs, was a crowd-pleaser. But it was Cracker’s more nuanced songs, highlighted by Kenny Margolis’ keyboard and accordion playing, that stood out. Sure, “Eurotrash Girl” was a fun romp, but it was less balls-out songs like “Been Around the World” that really shined.  On the surface, Cracker’s set contrasted fairly sharply with that of CVB, but Lowery’s love for wordplay and broad palette of musical influences were what was most distinct. As they finished up with “I See the Light” before encoring with the Hickman-sung “Another Song About the Rain,” it seemed obvious that Lowery could continue on in this manner for many years to come without it ever getting old.