“Wish I’d met you when I was 17,” Lake Street Dive siren Rachael Price sang as her band performed “Seventeen” at Jordan Hall on Thursday as part of New England Conservatory’s 150^th anniversary kickoff celebration. And sure enough, the song sparked memories of when Lake Street Dive’s four members attended NEC. Price noted drummer Michael Calabrese wore pleated khaki shorts when they first met, while trumpeter Mike Olson described Calabrese as long-haired and “exuberant.”

A decade later, a more classy and matured brand of exuberance was evident as the school’s leading new ambassadors – who’ve gone from scrawling the name Lake Street Dive on the board of an NEC practice room to headlining such major venues as the Wang Theatre and Radio City Music Hall – came home to play. They even ribbed Olson that his “other band” scored that elusive Jordan Hall recital.

Lake Street Dive made the most of its long-awaited Jordan Hall appearance, as did dozens of NEC students who sporadically backed the group on horns, strings and vocals — plus the sold-out audience that took it all in for two and a half hours. And while Price and Olson were nattily attired for the occasion, Calabrese still favored bare feet and a Springsteen-circa-’84 headband to complement his suit jacket.

After an opening fanfare by trumpeters and vocalists (with Price joining the NEC Gospel Ensemble), Lake Street Dive commanded the stage for an hour on its own, quickly flashing—on “Stop Your Crying”—the power-harmony vocal blend that’s become the band’s signature more than its minimalist instrumentation. Bridget Kearney plucked a gusty bass solo to preface “When You Were Mine,” but Lake Street Dive’s sparse mix of jazz, soul and pop came across as clean and restrained as ever in the setting until they loosened up to finish the first half. Olson squeezed a gritty solo in “Seventeen” more akin to Jimmy Page, while Price roughly brushed her hair back with a Robert Plant-like flourish on “You Go Down Smooth” while taking liberties with ascending and descending vocal swoops between the lyrics.

The bright-voiced Price’s jazz chops were likewise shared in a second half where she deftly tackled “God Bless the Child” with the NEC Jazz Orchestra and “Angel Eyes” with the lush Philharmonia Strings, all conducted by Ken Schaphorst (the first number had been arranged by onetime NEC professor Jaki Byard, the latter by former NEC president Gunther Schuller). And Schaphorst’s student charges brought textural heft to Olson’s “Godawful Things” (which opens Lake Street Dive’s major-label debut Side Pony) and Kearney’s “Bad Self Portraits.”

When the four band members emerged for an impromptu encore and huddled around a single mic while Price sang of lovers heard through her Jamaica Plain floorboards in “Neighbor Song,” Lake Street Dive returned to bare-bones roots – and memories of youthful innocence. The group may be relocated to New York (though busy locally with upcoming festival dates at Levitate on July 9 and Green River on July 15), but there was still a lot of love floating around Jordan Hall.