Luna, April 13, 2015 at the Echo

I became a Luna fan in the ‘90s, probably around Pup Tent, mostly because they were well-regarded in the indie-music mags I was obsessed with, rather than having heard them somewhere and going to them. I dutifully bought the albums but generally kept them on in the background, never getting to much out of them, or at least as much as I heard others did, though I got a greater appreciation for them overall when Bewitched really moved me.  Even with a minor interest in them, I had never seen them in concert, though from music that worked so well in the background, there wasn’t much promise that they could bring much in a live setting. They had even played early on at the Hollywood Knitting Factory, at which I had a very short internship at the time, and I still didn’t get out to them. Then they broke up but I didn’t follow them to their prodigious solo projects (even after finding out their bassist was the singing voice of Jem, from Jem & the Holograms). But when they got back together, I figured I could be in for a ticket, if I could get one, and if I couldn’t I probably wouldn’t bring myself to be upset about it. More than anything it was out of a sense of obligation, that if I had enough interest in them to have most of their stuff, that I should at least get out to see them, if it wasn’t a significant effort. By the time the tickets went on sale, they still had only the L.A. show and one in New York, and both in super-tiny places, even for them, so this was suddenly a hot ticket. I had probably greatly lucked into the pair but that was enough for me. This show, on a Monday night, was the first of three (then four) consecutive nights of shows, a coincidence they were happening all at once, but I won’t deny that it could have also been a challenge to myself to hit that many concerts, especially while doing full days at work on the Westside. Though the biggest obstacle for the week was Carla suddenly coming down ill, which meant I had to do something with my extra ticket(s). The biggest frustration with getting rid of this ticket was that while I was able to get face value (about $40) for it after getting there early and hanging out at the front, I probably could have gotten 10 times that if I had put it up in advance. (A guy I asked while going in said he’d paid a steep price for his ticket and had flown in from Chicago for the show.) I don’t know what the logistics are for a band playing such a tiny space -- whether it was because of their schedule (even with months in advance) or keeping modest expectations after being away for so long or rewarding the biggest fans who had waited for so long or just knowing their sound was better in a more intimate setting -- but it's rare that you get a show with a band of their (relative) stature so close-up. They ran a tight set, as if they had never broken up and this was just another show on just another tour, which held with it some detachment but also not too much preciousness that a spell of dreamy rock could be broken. If they had real hits they would have played them, so instead they went through what seemed to be the crowd favorites, such was the reaction from the fans that had waited so long or had to go through so much trouble (and probably money) to be there. I didn’t know what to expect, but I thought maybe they would run through a few obscure but familiar covers, at least one by Serge Gainsbourg, or change up some arrangements but they pretty much went through the songs like they’ve ever sounded, which could be frustrating since we’ve already heard them all that way, but it created a base, so that at least we’ve heard main versions before wishing for something off the track. As it was, that show and their reunion wasn't so much a seismic shift in indie-music culture, and maybe it was a cash-grab when every other ‘90s band were getting back together, but they had a good moment, in front of an appreciative group that kept interest alive enough that they would eventually reward by coming back. Alas, no "Mermaid Eyes," but the rest made up for it. They did another show later in the year at a bigger venue presumably as part of a full tour, but I can’t imagine being able to get more out their show than what they did that night in such a tiny space.

Luna's set-list:
"Slide"
"Chinatown"
"Sideshow by the Seashore"
"Malibu Love Nest"
"Going Home"
"Weird & Woozy"
"California (All the Way)"
"Friendly Advice"
"Lost in Space"
"Tracy I Love You"
"Pup Tent"
"Slash Your Tires"
"Bewitched"
"Moon Palace"
"23 Minutes in Brussels"
"Tiger Lily"

"Indian Summer" (Beat Happening cover)