On their first tour since splitting up in 2004, The Beta Band touched down in Boston late last month. It was hard to know what to expect from the notoriously fanciful band after 21 years of absence, but also equally impossible not to expect something memorable. Opting for a couple of DJ sets instead of an opening band to start the night only added to the sense of anticipation. The lights eventually went down, and a montage of videotaped shenanigans was shown as what seemed to be an introduction for the band’s entrance. That wasn’t the case, however, as Bowie’s 7-minute-long “Memory of a Free Festival” was then played, making the band’s inevitable emergence feel somewhat anticlimactic.

With each member dressed in a different shade of coveralls, The Beta Band’s set began just as slowly, with “Inner Meet Me” from the band’s renowned Three EPs collection starting things off. Rather than begin with a big splash, the band seemed to be dipping its collective toes in the waters as they warmed up, with “She’s the One,“ a similarly midtempo cut from The Three EPs coming next. But even when the band started to work up steam, the disjointed nature of their performance deadened the impact. Sometimes it was the choice of song, as with “It’s Not Too Beautiful,” which practically comes to a screeching halt as it dissolves into a John Barry sample two-thirds of the way through, and at other times it was the band’s nonchalance as they swapped instruments.

Indeed, the show ebbed and flowed more than one might think possible for a 15-song set just barely more than an hour-long. Heroes to Zeros’ “Assessment,” one of just a handful of songs played not from The Three EPs, was especially soaring and a highlight of the evening, but it wasn’t until “B + A,” the instrumental 10th song in the set, that it felt like The Beta Band was firing on all cylinders. As such, when they eventually closed their main set with “Broke,” it seemed like they were just getting going as they returned for an encore of three more songs that finished with “The House Song,” an extended groove that might have been a better way to start the evening. As such, it was almost to their detriment that The Beta Band left everyone wanting more. With any luck, though, we’ll get it at some point down the road.