A Head Full of Wishes is a site for Galaxie 500, Luna, Damon & Naomi, Dean & Britta and Dean Wareham. With news, articles and lists of releases and past and future shows.
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Luna in South America in 2001
At the beginning of May, Dean, Britta, and Roger (the Dean Wareham Trio) are heading to South America for a few dates:
- 8th May 2026 Cordão da Bola Preta, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- 9th May 2026 Cine Joia, São Paulo, Brazil
- 12th May 2026 Niceto Club, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- 14th May 2026 Centro Arte, Alameda, Chile
- 16th May 2026 Aforo, Lima, Peru
It got me thinking about Luna’s visit down that way in 2001.
Now, I have been known to travel to see the bands I love but must admit that I wasn’t in South America in 2001, I enjoyed the shows through the proxies of the Internet and the Galaxie 500 Mailing List. I probably wouldn’t really have been in a position to post about this tour at all if Fernando hadn’t got in touch and sent me pictures and reminiscences of Luna’s visit to Brazil.
Here’s a little background to the tour Fernando filled me in on:
Firstly, I believe this Luna tour happened due to a combination of factors: a favourable exchange rate at the time, the role of the Trama record label — which was quite prominent then and was releasing and reissuing several alternative music albums — and also the Serviço Social do Comércio (SESC). SESC is a private institution funded by companies in the commerce, services and tourism sectors, which offers the public access to cultural, sporting, educational and leisure activities at affordable prices. Although it is not a public body, it plays a significant social role, with excellent infrastructure and a well-curated programme, and is widely regarded as a reference in Brazil.
At that time, there was a wave of international alternative artists coming to Brazil who benefited from this context. Alongside a local network of promoters and people connected to the scene, shows were expanded to other cities as well. As a side note, the Trama label was founded by João Marcelo Bôscoli, son of Elis Regina, one of Brazil’s most important singers of the 1960s and 70s.
In August 2001 Luna announced that they had planned a tour of South America starting with a date in São Paulo on the 18th September. A week before that first show the world changed (see 20 years ago in New York City for a round-up of how the events of 11th September 2001 played out on the Galaxie 500 Mailing List). This seemed for a while as if it might have an impact on Luna’s travel plans but the day before that first show…
The Brazilian Consulate in New York, closed since September 11, had finally opened for business, and Lee picked up the work visas for our South American tour. Expecting long lines and extratight security, the four of us headed out to JFK a good four hours before departure time, but check-in took a mere ten minutes.
Dean Wareham - Black Postcards
The tour involved twelve shows in thirteen days, ten in Brazil followed by one show in Uruguay and finishing in Argentina. The Days of Our Nights had recently been released in Brazil on Trama Records so squeezed into all of that was also some press/promotion work. The Trama release of Luna Live came with a bonus CD with three tracks that hadn’t been on the CD release elsewhere and it came about thanks to the urging of Trama’s Kid Vinil (a Brazilian rock legend who passed away in 2017).
As 2001 was before YouTube and social media the mailing list, and Luna and Britta’s websites, were the main sources of information. Fortunately there were a couple of Brazilian list members and a couple of folk got in touch with me via the website and sent me some pictures - I have long lost touch with all of these people (that’s where social media has failed… at the social bit), I hope they don’t mind me digging them out again.
Dean wrote in quite a bit of detail about the tour in Black Postcards… I’ll try not to raid that too heavily but as it’s pretty much my only primary source…
The first two shows of the tour were in São Paulo:
Five hundred people came to see our first show in São Paulo, which was a nice surprise.
[...]
Eight hundred beautifuk people came to the second show. We were stunned. I was also stunned by the small jolts of electricity from the microphone. They didn't seem to have the grounded three-prong plug there in Brazil, just the two prongs.
Dean Wareham - Black Postcards
One of the “beautiful people” at that second show was Carla who sent me these photos… remember this is 2001 when our tiny screens and dial-up internet meant that 400 x 262 was an acceptable size for photos on a website!
Next on to Belo Horizonte, these pictures were sent to me by Pedro:
There is also most/all of a show from Belo Horizonte that seemed to get broadcast on TV and can be seen on YouTube, they’re all a bit low-res and have occasional sound drop outs - I keep hoping a better version will turn up at some time - you can see all the videos but here they are playing 23 Minutes in Brussels:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZdYAcqAHzE
On the 24th September Luna appeared on Rádio Brasil 2000 for a couple of hours, being interviewed and playing some live songs. I’ve popped the whole two hour show on YouTube but here they are playing Weird and Woozy (a full six months before it was released on Romaantica).
On the 26th September they were in São Carlos and the whole of that show eventually arrived on YouTube - here they are playing Slash Your Tires:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Idnf-KaSGVg
The Belo Horizonte show was broadcast on the DirecTV cable channel. I didn’t have access to it at the time, but I managed to get a VHS recording from a friend, and I remember watching it quite a lot — as a way of reliving, in some sense, the Londrina show. I also remember that Weird and Woozy stood out to me during that performance, and I couldn’t find it on any recording at the time, so I ended up watching that show repeatedly until the release of Romantica.
Fernando
The last show in Brazil was on the 28th September in Londrina and this was the show that Fernando chose to go to:
The show itself was wonderful, with a setlist drawn largely from Luna Live, and including “Weird and Woozy”, which would soon appear on Romantica. I shared with you the photographs that were published at the time on A Head Full of Wishes.
At the end of the concert, the band came down for a meet-and-greet. Amid photos and greetings, Lee Wall spontaneously handed me his setlist — simply extending his arm and placing it in my hands without saying a word, with that calm manner so characteristic of him. That small gesture opened another dimension in my life: from that moment on, I began collecting setlists whenever I could.
Here are some of Fernando’s pictures from the show in Londrina
After the shows in Brazil the band headed off to Uruguay for a show in Montevideo…
…and then Argentina for a show in Buenos Aires before heading home.
Thanks again to Fernando for making this post much more than it would have been. If anyone has anything they think might be of interest to other fans please get in touch… I seriously can’t keep wittering on indefinitely :)