On Friday night, Built to Spill performed their 1999 record Keep it Like a Secret in its entirety at the 9:30 Club. The following night, Luna performed their 1995 record “Penthouse” in full at the same venue. Each night was a completely different yet thoroughly enjoyable experience in its own way.
Luna has embarked on a small tour in which they are alternating between playing their first three records (1992’s Lunapark, 1993’s Bewitched and 1995’s Penthouse) in their entirety. Washington, D.C. got Penthouse (listed by Rolling Stone Magazine as one of the best 100 albums of the 1990’s) by luck of the draw. Had I more time and money, I probably would have travelled to see the other two records performed, but no such luck this time.
Following a great set by the New York based Olden Yolk, Luna took the stage fairly early, at around 7:30 pm. Whereas Built to Spill mixed the record up the night before, Luna played “Penthouse” straight through in the correct album running order. Although playing a record straight through does lack an element of surprise, it’s a novelty that works well when the album is played as true to the original as possible. Luna sounded wonderful and super-tight.
Unlike Built to Spill front-man, Doug Martsch who hardly said a word the night before, Dean Wareham was quite chatty. Following a wonderful performance of the Velvet Undergound tinged “23 Minutes in Brussels”, Wareham drew the crowd’s attention to a couple of young children along the barricade with their parents and joked about how cool the children’s parents were to take them to an early show on a Saturday night. Wareham remarked that his parents only took him to see Leo Sayer. Bummer.
Following “Rhythm King”, guitarist Sean Eden told the crowd that they were making their way through the record, then Wareham jokingly noted that it had just dawned on him 24 years after making the record that there were not one, but two songs about snakes. Then, before launching into “Hedgehog”, Eden recalled that it was the “fast, aggressive one” that had to be a single, at least in the label’s eyes. Wareham said of the song, “I kinda like it now.”
Following “Freakin’ and Peakin'” which closes the record, Wareham announced, “That was sort of the end of the record, but we have this hidden track that we never played until Britta (Phillips) joined the band, and now you’ll see why” before covering Serge Gainsbourg’s “Bonnie and Clyde”.
That marked the official end of the record and now it was time to have some fun. They treated the crowd to five additional songs including the Bewitched track “California (All the Way)”, “Broken Chair” and “Malibu Love Nest” (both from 2004’s Rendezvous), the title track from 1997’s Pup Tent, before ending the main set with a cover of Beat Happening’s “Indian Summer”. They returned for a one song encore, “Friendly Advice” from 1993’s Bewitched.
Enjoy this video of Luna performing “Bonnie and Clyde”, as well as photos of both Luna and Olden Yolk performing at the 930 Club on October 5, 2019. All photos copyright and courtesy of Shantel Mitchell Breen.
