Bosstones storm House of Blues

The Throwdowns began as a way for the Bosstones to get back into the clubs when the band was riding the crest of its popularity and playing large venues and festivals. Now the holiday concerts are a mix of both showmanship and communal bonding. The band remains a juggernaut with three horns and keys atop a foundation of bass, guitar, drums and, of course, dancer Ben Carr.

With such selections as “Dr. D’’ and “Devil’s Night Out,’’ the song list spoke to the longtime fan who probably first heard those tunes when the Bosstones were coming up through the clubs. Yet the stage design, with its wall of 40 plastic lawn Santas setting a new standard in tacky couture, and the finely calibrated blend of ska, punk, and brawny rock made clear that the Bosstones do indeed know how to party at a pro level.

The Bosstones surveyed their catalog, mining decent nuggets such as the ska shuffle of “Graffiti Worth Reading,’’ from more recent (and overlooked) releases, and deep cuts from classic albums, with the soul-searching combination of “Jump Through the Hoops’’ and “Toxic Toast’’ off of 1994’s Question the Answers’’ perhaps the highlight of the show.

The Bosstones peppered in plenty of signatures among the two dozen or so songs played. “The Rascal King,’’ and “Kinder Words’’ came early, while “Someday I Suppose’’ and “The Impression That I Get’’ dropped later on, allowing for a set that hit familiar outposts often enough to keep even the most casual fan engaged. But hearing the Bosstones light up Bob Marley’s “Simmer Down’’ or tackle its own anti-violence broadside “Numbered Days’’ reiterated the band’s depth.

The Throwdowns are as much a celebration of punk culture as of the Bosstones themselves, a point reflected in the choice of opening bands, which on Night 1 included The F.U.’s, an architect of the melodic hardcore sound popular in Boston’s early-’80s punk scene. Detroit’s We Are the Union, which has taken the ska influence into the pop-punk camp, also performed.

Scott McLennan can be reached at smclennan1010@gmail.com.