College-rock faves Luna have put the finishing touches on their first concert record, titled Live!, and are preparing to launch a series of gigs to promote it. The album, due February 6, pulls performances from three shows — a December 10, 1999, gig at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C., and a two-night stand on July 14–15 at the Knitting Factory in New York. The biggest challenge in pulling off the Live! album was maintaining the continuous feel and sound of a single Luna performance, frontman Dean Wareham said.

"There were several ways we could have gone, I suppose," Wareham said. "We tried to make it seem like one seamless show, what with the applause and all. We did that all in mastering, sort of cross-fading the applause [from show to show].

"Also, when we were mixing, we didn't want the two Knitting Factory shows to sound too horribly different from the 9:30 Club, 'cause they're pretty different-sounding clubs." The composite setlist featured on Live! draws from all five of Luna's studio albums, ranging from 1992's Lunapark to 1999's The Days of Our Nights. Six of the CD's 14 songs come from the group's acclaimed 1995 effort, Penthouse, including "Chinatown", "23 Minutes in Brussels" and "Sideshow by the Seashore." "Those tend to be the real crowd pleasers," explained Wareham, who said his favorite Live! track is "Bewitched", from their 1994 album of the same name. "For some reason, a lot of the songs from [Penthouse] seem to work really well live, and now we've added 'Bonnie & Clyde,' which we didn't used to do, because [bassist] Britta [Phillips] can sing the female parts." Stereolab's Laetitia Sadier dueted with Wareham on the studio version of "Bonnie & Clyde," a Penthouse bonus track sung in French.

Luna will also issue Live! as a limited-edition vinyl double album with four songs not featured on the CD version, "Bobby Peru," "California," "Indian Summer" and "Double Feature," a move that has some fans grumbling.

"People always complain, whatever you do," Wareham said. "So, you put out a vinyl with bonus tracks and [they say], 'Hey, what's that about?' Like you're pointing a gun at someone's head and making them go spend the extra money to buy the vinyl. They don't have to buy it." Wareham has just completed starring in an indie flick, "This Little Piggy," directed by "Buffalo '66" co-writer Alison Bagnall. Wareham intends to score the project as well, but made it clear he's not interested in branching out into acting full time. "Some of the time it was enjoyable," said Wareham, who plays an ex-junkie in the film, which is still in post-production. "Some of the time it was hellish. The stuff I had problems with was the things that are beyond my emotional scope, like crying. They kept trying to make me cry. I mean, did you ever see Clint Eastwood cry? I'd rather make music." Wareham says that he and his Luna bandmates have been making music and writing several new songs, including "Love Dust," for the their next album, which they will start recording in March and April.

Luna tour dates:

  • 12/30 - Boston, MA @ Middle East
  • 12/31 - New York, NY @ CBGB
  • 1/12 - New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
  • 1/13 - New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
  • 1/19 - Hoboken, NJ @ Maxwell's
  • 1/20 - Hoboken, NJ @ Maxwell's
  • 1/26 - New York, NY @ Village Underground
  • 1/27 - New York, NY @ Village Underground
  • 2/2 - New York, NY @ Knitting Factory
  • 2/3 - New York, NY @ Knitting Factory
  • 2/9 - Philadelphia, PA @ Trocadero
  • 2/10 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
  • 2/16 - Chicago, IL @ Double Door
  • 2/17 - Chicago, IL @ Double Door
  • 2/23 - Los Angeles, CA @ Knitting Factory
  • 2/24 - San Francisco, CA @ Fillmore