WINNIPEG - Like your punk rock served with a side of principled politics?

Then you'd have walked away stuffed from Propagandhi's sold-out show at the Garrick Centre Tuesday night, where the local act received a heroes' welcome from a wildly enthusiastic hometown crowd.

It's been more than a year since Propagandhi (then a trio) last played Winnipeg, and when they did, frontman Chris Hannah was almost sidelined by the flu, while bassist Todd Kowalski required stitches after slicing his leg on a cabinet.

By comparison, Tuesday night's gig came off without a hitch, though it was still fraught with the same impassioned fury that's made Propagandhi a worldwide phenomenon in punk and hardcore circles.

Opening with a few ominous guitar chords, the band (now a foursome, thanks to the addition of new recruit Dave Guillas) quickly launched into the fiery A Speculative Fiction, a track that recently earned them a SOCAN Echo Music Award for best song.

After that, they were off and running, juxtaposing both older and newer works with snippets of conversation outlining the global injustices that inspire their songs in the first place.

Hannah prefaced Bringer of Greater Things by drawing comparisons between wartorn countries -- where civilians "disappear" after being driven into the desert by soldiers -- and the province of Saskatchewan, where police have repeatedly come under fire for driving aboriginal men outside city limits in sub-zero conditions.

"They should be on trial for murder," he said of the cops there. "They should be convicted of murder."

The band dedicated Less Talk, More Rock to "American douchebag" Ann Coulter, referenced the Grassy Narrows blockade before playing ... And We Thought That Nation-States Were A Bad Idea, and lamented the state of modern punk with the bitter Back to the Motor League (sample lyric: "F--- off, who cares?").

Hell, they even got the capacity crowd to pay attention while a speaker from Sage House -- a local resource centre for sex-trade workers -- explained her organization's plans for expansion.

So how did they sound? In a word, awesome, especially with Guillas adding welcome heft from centre stage, while managing to dodge the steady stream of crowd-surfers who kept launching themselves back into the mosh pit from right under his nose.

For someone who claims to dislike performing -- not to mention crowds -- Hannah again proved himself a fully commanding stage presence, as did Kowalski, who shared growly vocal duties on tunes like F--- the Border.

Even drummer Jord Somolesky got in on the action, giving frequent shout-outs to the "Portage freaks" in the crowd (the band hails from just west of here), and allowing one fan who bum-rushed his microphone to make a plug for the next Critical Mass rally.

Has the band mellowed with age? Maybe -- they somewhat surprisingly played their best-known "hit" (Haillie Sellasse, Up Your Ass) last night, plus they came back for an encore, which some would argue wasn't very punk of them.

But if their still-vitriolic between-song banter is any indication, they're in no danger of ever losing their edge.

4 SUNS out of 5