We Went There: Luna at the Cedar Cultural Center
Luna @ the Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis, MN – November 1st, 2017
Walking in to the Cedar Cultural Center Tuesday night as young band Soccer Mommy were playing, the room felt even more like a high school auditorium than it usually does, except for it was all chaperones and no kids. I guess it was to be expected, and the despite the, ahem, seasoned audience, the headliners delivered in every way you would expect from Dean, Britta and the gang.
Luna came to town on the heels of a covers album that had a five-song instrumental EP tacked on…not generally the formula to get you excited about if you are seeing a band with a fairly deep catalog. In the end, the new materials blended well with the classics, and the band played a spirited 70 minute set that seemed to please the devoted who had gathered on a cool fall night the day after Halloween.
The opening portion of the set combined the three stands effortlessly, starting with the gentle instrumental “GTX3,” followed by the outstanding “California (All the Way)” and wrapping with their cover of the Cure’s “Fire in Cairo.” For a band who play an aggressively mellow version of dream pop, they kept the pace brisk throughout the set. To me, the highlight was their cover of Mercury Rev’s “Carwash Hair,” which apparently Dean helped write, and actually seems like a perfect Luna/Galaxie 500 track.
I suppose the benefit of playing music that is lower on the energy spectrum means that as you age there isn’t much you risk losing. Luna weren’t running around stage or excessively gregarious, but then again that would have seemed a strange juxtaposition with their mellow gold songs. The chaperones who hired a babysitter to check out a band they loved “back in the day” all seemed pleased, and Luna proved they still have whatever it is that we all, across multiple generations, have found so likable about their low-key sound.
Writer / co-founder
