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.
Substack
Luna on tour with the Velvet Underground in 1993
This is not my work, and I never asked permission to republish… but, since it’s been on AHFoW for thirteen years now and no-one has complained I guess I’ll just post it anyway.
In April 1993 Luna were invited to open for The Velvet Underground on their reunion tour around Europe. Dean Wareham kept a diary of the tour which was published in the November 1993 issue of Alternative Press, I’ve just lifted that article and chopped it up into days and will post it here over the coming days - all without permission - if anyone (and I guess that means Dean) objects give me a shout. Also most of the pics have been lifted from various other sources, again with my gung-ho attitude to copyright!
31st May / 1st June
Justin, Sean, Stanley and I are taking the red-eye to Edinburgh via London Heathrow. The food is awful. I take a couple of muscle relaxants, a Midol P.M. and have a couple of drinks but I still can’t sleep. I guess I must be a little excited. It’s cold and raining in Edinburgh. We check into our hotel. right next to the zoo, and head for the Playhouse, a nice old theater which seats about 3000 people. Our dressing room has a little speaker in it, and we sit listening to their soundcheck†. It’s a very odd experience. We meet the production manager who assures us that Lou wants us to be taken care of, and in fact, we do get a nice soundcheck. I have rented a Fender Bassman re-issue and decide it sounds great. Then I look at Lou’s rig - it’s about the size of a refrigerator - two Soldano power amps, a couple of preamps, a stack of effects, with a space-age military-spec foot controller. I think you can actually put it in gear and drive around town with it. Back in our dressing room, we discover a case of beer, and learn that we are allowed to smoke cigarettes. There’s also a couple pieces of chicken, some ham and cheese sandwiches, and Scottish eggs. All right! Justin convinces Sean that Scottish eggs are actually sheep’s testicles.
Our show is fine. Nobody throws anything.
The Velvets are awesome. They open with “We’re Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together,” and play for about an hour and a half. My favorite is a really laid-back version of “Some Kinda Love.” Lots of hits, and some surprises, like “I Guess I’m Fallin’ in Love,” and “Hey Mr. Rain.” John Cale is singing Nico’s parts in “All Tomorrow’s Parties” and “Femme Fatale,” and he also sings his epic “The Gift.” They finish with “I Can’t Stand It,” and come back to do “I’m Waiting for the Man” (which Cale also sings) and “Heroin”.
† Doom & Gloom from the Tomb posted a recording of the soundcheck so you can listen to what Luna listened to on that tiny speaker in an Edinburgh dressing room.
2nd June:
We are well rested and perform better tonight. The Velvets show is very different. They play the same songs, but it is apparent that Lou is going to do a fair bit of improvising, playing with tempo and structure. Sterling Morrison is playing bass on some songs, rhythm guitar on most (and he’s a great player, all upstrokes), and a couple of great guitar solos on “Rock and Roll” and “White light, White Heat.” Moe Tucker is amazing. She stands over her unorthodox kit for two hours, banging away, or maybe playing only a tambourine, or just the cowbell (“Some Kinda Love”). People will tell you that a band is only as good as its drummer - this is certainly true of the Velvets. Moe’s stripped-down kit and style of playing are a huge part of the band’s sound (listen to 1969 Velvet Underground Live against Live at Max’s Kansas City, where Moe is absent, and you’ll see what I mean).
I’m sitting up in the balcony and the guy behind me keeps calling out for “New Sensations.” After the show we meet Sterling, Moe and Lou, who are all very friendly. Lou is especially funny in a very New York way, with a dry sense of humor.
I can’t sleep tonight, due to jet lag I suppose. Justin and I sit up late watching Red Sonja on TV, and then World Championship Snooker. I keep hearing funny noises-either it’s the seals in the zoo or else it’s Stanley and Sean next door. I never do find out.
3rd June:
We have our own show at the Borderline in London. I am tired and have had a bit much Guinness. The show is sloppy and the guitars are out of tune but I don’t think anyone noticed. After the show we go back to the Columbia Hotel and sit in the bar.
https://aheadfullofwishes.substack.com/p/luna-at-the-borderline-3rd-june-1993
5th June:
Tonight’s show is at the Forum in London, capacity of about 1800. Lots of celebrities, like Chrissie Hynde and Peter Gabriel. Wow. I was hoping for Mick Ronson. The Velvets do a killer version of “Hey Mr. Rain” which must be about twelve minutes long. They’re also doing a new song in the encores, “Coyote.” After the show, we go back to the Columbia Hotel and sit in the bar.
6th June:
Wembley Arena, capacity 12,000. “Hello, Wembley!” I hate stadiums and arenas, but I have a good time onstage. John Cale’s violas fall over onto Sean’s foot-pedals during our set, or did he kick them? I never find out for sure. Tonight the Velvets pull out “Pale Blue Eyes” for the first time. Sterling is playing lead and Cale the viola.
7th June:
Amsterdam, coffee shops, Chokomel. It’s good to be in Amsterdam.
8th June
The Paradiso, Amsterdam. Rumors that Luna will not be able to fit on stage turn out to be false. This is the smallest show on the tour with a capacity of 1200 and no air-conditioning, and there’s a heatwave here in Holland. We have a great show - the heat makes us sweat and look like we’re really rocking even though we’re standing still.
I watch the Velvets’ show from the balcony, right on the side of the stage. I’m very lucky I know. Lou is wearing a white cotton headband, and keeps pouring ice over his head. The highlight of the set is “I’m Sticking With You” - when Moe goes back to the drum kit after singing, I get that special feeling.
We briefly attend the after-show party. Lou exits via boat. We go to the Bob Marley Coffeeshop and eat space-cake. I find myself talking loudly about how Haile Selassie is a murderer, and then notice that people are looking at me.
9th June
Rotterdam, the Ahoy, capacity 10,600. A lot of people at this show, mostly Dutch people I think. Our show goes over very well. It’s too hot to sleep in the damn hotel rooms.
10th June
We travel to Hamburg via train. I am chilling out listening to Mazzy Star and drinking Chokomel. Chokomel all around. Sean doesn’t look too good today. That night we walk the infamous Herbertstrasse, then go to the Docks to see Alex Chilton but he has played already. Instead we see the Country Rockers from Memphis, TN. The drummer is about 65 years old and looks like he’s about to fall off his drum throne. He plays real slow.
11th June
Laundry day. I feel sick. The tumble dryers aren’t working properly. I walk about Hamburg, pick up a copy of “Moonshot” by Buffy St. Marie, and am starting to feel feverish. We’re playing another arena, the Sporthalle, capacity 7,000 or so. The Velvets play an extra long set tonight, two and a half hours. I sleep for about three hours and wake up drenched with sweat but feeling better.
12th June
The train trip to Prague. The food car ist kaputt. We buy some horrible Bratwurst and stale chocolate at the Dresden train station. At the Czech border Sean and I are ordered off the train because we don’t have visas - “Go to Berlin and get a visa” “But it’s Saturday and I’m playing in Prague Sunday night.” We spend four hours at the train station and finally negotiate our way into the country. The trip from the border down to Prague is beautiful, as the train winds along next to the Elbe. We stay at a fancy Western-style hotel up on a hill. They have a little bowling alley in the hotel. We eat cabbage soup, pork chop and chicken breasts, and drink BudweiserBudvar. Things are better now.
13th June
There’s a live Elvis concert on TV this morning, from about 1972 I guess. James Burton on Telecaster - what a guitar player. In the hotel lobby I hear a Czech version of “Three Kinds of Lonely” by Lee Hazlewood. James Burton plays on the original version of that too. It’s all getting very strange indeed.
Prague is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen. Tonight’s show is at a theater in the former Cultural Palace of the Communist Party. Sold out again (as it has been every night). A historic show, but a bit quiet. The VU get the usual standing ovations and are off to Vaclav Havel’s place for a party. Sean and Justin go to the Hotel Casino and lose all their per diems.
We’re on vacation for the next six days. Stanley heads off to Amsterdam with the tour manager, the rest of us head for Paris via the night-train.
19th June
Berlin. Berlin is a different city these days. Sean and Gordon (our soundman) and I are taken over to Oranienburgerstrasse in the former eastern part of the city. It’s just like the East Village, but Berlin always did remind me of New York, the same problems with gentrification and racism and lovely museums and burnt-out buildings and stuff. We run into Sterling Morrison at a bar called Obst and Gemuse (Fruit and Vegetables), and all go to the Knaack Club where kids are dancing to Deep Purple on one floor, and techno on another. We stay till about 4:00 a.m. I ask all the boring fan questions which Sterling is kind enough to answer. On the way back the cab driver is listening to the radio - it’s the Velvet Underground, a bootleg live version of “Beginning to See the Light” from Texas 1969, followed by another bootleg of “Sister Ray.” I feel funny.
20th June
I wake up at 8:00 a.m. and can’t get back to sleep. Tonight is the last show, at a club called Die Halle, capacity 2500. Time for photographs and autographs. Stanley has brought his original unpeeled Banana album. The VU are really good tonight. “All Tomorrow’s Parties” sends shivers, and Lou plays a great eight minute guitar solo to begin “Some Kinda love,” but again “I’m Sticking With You” is my favorite part of the show.
According to Oliver Stone’s Doors movie, Nico once went down on Jim Morrison in an elevator. I didn’t get to ask her about it (I ‘m sure it was a ridiculous figment of Stone’s libidinous imagination) but I did see La Dolce Vita again the other day at Theatre 80 St. Marks, and she’s great in that. It’s too bad she couldn’t make this tour. I remember when I was about 15 years old I used to lie on the carpet and listen to “Lisa Says” and “Over You” from the Velvets 1969 Velvet Underground Live double LP, still my favorite Velvets record, and the best sounding live record I’ve ever heard. The Velvets don’t sound exactly the same as they used to (partially because they’re now playing to thousands of fans instead of jamming in small clubs) but when they start “Venus in Furs” or “All Tomorrow’s Parties” it’s pretty damn close, and watching them night after night I realize that, despite the endless stream of Velvets inspired bands, no one sounds like the Velvet Underground - they were (are?) a totally unique rock band. I look forward to another tour in the year 2017.
… and that was it for the tour, and for the Velvet Underground. Luna, however are still going and have a tour of the US in the autumn.
I was at the London show at The Forum although my memories are a little vague. I do know I managed to miss the beginning of Luna’s set for uncertain reasons. I’ve had a recording of Luna’s set at that show (that also missed the beginning) that I re-discovered last year and shared on DIME - you can read about that and listen to Slash Your Tires from the show on AHFoW.