Reviewed on Wednesday September 16
A reunited Luna returned to Sydney for the first time in 17 years, the ten years spent on hiatus doing nothing to hurt their methodical transcendence live. With the vinyl reissue of their albums still a few months away (and with it some long-delayed critical worship no doubt), the audience for this reunion was lacking on the newly devout millennials that such shows tend to attract. Instead, the place was filled with fans that loved Luna the first time around, and the band delivered a show that was nothing if not gracious to said fans.
Melbourne’s Sand Pebbles opened the show, pulled out of a hiatus of their own thanks to their friendship with Luna’s Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips. The small size of Newtown Social Club made their motoric psychedelia sound something akin to The Clean and other Dunedin Sound compatriots. Their locked-in grooves and the insider gossip by the former Neighbours writers was appreciated. The forced audience participation was not (it never is).
It’s been said many times, but if Yo La Tengo are the true heirs to The Velvet Underground’s indie-pop throne, then Luna have taken up the mantle of another classic New York band – Television. Over a churning, two-chord base ably provided by the rhythm section, the studied, weaving guitar interplay by Wareham and Sean Eden on display this night – and every night by this band, if reputation is to be believed – is of such fine quality that it simultaneously puts you in a trance and saddens you that such an art is so hard to find. Guitars in current indie music are a rarity; indie guitarists with some professionalism are almost non-existent.
The extended workouts played – ‘Friendly Advice’, ‘23 Minutes In Brussels’, ‘Fuzzy Wuzzy’ – all made good cases for Luna being the best guitar band of the ’90s (it’s them or Built To Spill, certainly). The rest of the crowd-pleasing set was made up of a sampling of their later albums, a few songs from their debut and the majority of their masterpieces Bewitched and Penthouse. The definition of ‘underrated’, here’s hoping they have a few tours still left in them.
