Two months ago, Leeds, England, octet Chumbawamba were stopped from performing on a downtown Washington, D.C. rooftop during a free lunchtime concert. OK, the police didn't exactly come in to stop a riot so much as politely remove the group for not having the proper permits, but the radio station-sponsored promotional show still came off as Beatlesesque disobedience. The crowd jeered, the band sneered and the ubiquitous single "Tubthumping," which concerns the Man's fight against such social disruption, seemed to take on new depths of political meaning.

\\In the months since that incident, the pop hooligans have managed to denounce Jesus Christ at a radio station Christmas concert, strut around on national television in naughty garb and watch their eighth studio album (but the only one that has moved more than a few copies in the U.S.) hover in the Top Ten with the likes of the Spice Girls and Shania Twain.

\\When the band returned to the nation's capital Monday night, a rowdy, sold-out 9:30 Club crowd was eager to witness more such commercially viable anarchist antics. Led by Danbert Nobacon, a diminutive mutation of Billy Corgan and the guy in Right Said Fred, and Alice Nutter, an emaciated, blue-haired hellraiser, the group slammed through an hour-plus of protest songs drenched in infectious synth-pop grooves and smooth, catchy harmonies.

\\Most of the set list was plucked from current album "Tubthumper;" earlier efforts like "Pictures of Starving Children Sell Records" and "Never Mind the Ballots!" were mostly ignored. During the swinging "Drip, Drip, Drip," Nutter danced around in bulky red boxing gloves, socking it to an invisible Man trying to keep her down, while Nobacon skipped backstage to change from a black suit awash in flaming red pitchforks to a more subtle number patterned with bright orange chimney bricks. For the driving techno of "I Want More," Nutter bounded from the shadows in a red nun's habit. With a cigarette dangling from her lips Andy Capp-style and a bottle of Jack Daniels dangling at her side, Sister Nutter shouted, "Here's to you, Washington! Once is never enough!" Gulp, gulp, gulp. By the time the tune blurred to a loud, messy close, the screaming dervish had polished off a quarter of the bottle.

\\Yes, they did play "Tubthumping," and yes, the audience did go appropriately apeshit. But by the time the band shouted out their claim to fame (and relative fortune), the truth was already out: Chumbawamba, though entertaining, are basically anarchists in the Human League'