Luna Luna illuminates Friday night in the Constellation Room
Santa Ana, Calfornia - April 19th, 2024
Hues of purples and pinks set the mood at the Constellation Room in Santa Ana. There’s a light build up featuring a synth and some cymbals, until suddenly the music stops and the show begins with a simple “for you.” The crowd erupts once the beat drops and song realization hits, and there’s nothing but excitement in the air.
photo via Luna Luna
Indie Tejano band Luna Luna, composed of Kavvi (vocals), Danny Bonilla (keyboardist/vocals), Kaylin Martinez (drummer) and Ryan “Gordo” Gordon (bass), have become masters of bringing an ethereal feeling in every room they play in. With this being their third Santa Ana show sold out in their career, the relationship between Luna Luna and their SoCal crowds are special. Much of Luna Luna’s appeal to their audience is their shared cultural backgrounds. Many fans grew up in households that blasted Spanish music while also listening to Top 40 hits on the radio. Luna Luna’s funky, 80s-inspired synth pop style, blends with the laid back nature of 2000’s R&B, tied together with lyrics in both English and Spanish.
The set took the crowd through what felt like different eras of their career, starting with their first album For Lovers Only. The excitement brought by “For You” was carried into the next song and soon the crowd full of strangers almost instantaneously became one, jumping together to the retro-synth vibe brought by “80’s Tune.”
A near technical mishap happened before diving into the next set of songs, but Kavvi and Bonilla played it off jokingly with the crowd, who began chanting the Bob the Builder theme song. Once everything was settled, instrumentation for the next song began and Kavvi introduced the band one by one.
Almost, if not all of the audience, grew up with Tejano star Selena Quintanilla’s hits, so no introduction was needed once Kavvi sang the first line of “Si Una Vez,'' the crowd readily sang along. While Selena’s original recording is a blend of mariachi fused with elements of cumbia, Luna Luna’s version slows down the tempo, allowing listeners to let those lyrics about unrequited love to really hit and sink in. Replacing traditional mariachi trumpets with synth pads, Luna Luna’s production pays homage to the song's originators while also making it their own.
The newest EP from the band, L.L., stands out in their discography. While previous albums give off a dreamy, almost psychedelic bedroom pop, L.L. gets listeners ready to hit the club. The opening track, “Candy Duro” perfectly transitions into lead single “Solo Tu”; the Spanglish song has an irresistible, sensuous beat and tone that makes it difficult to stand still. And it’s safe to say that no one was.
Soon enough, the band floated into “Flower Moon” and it was time for Bonilla to take the mic keeping the upbeat vibe with “Golden.” Building up to the pre-chorus, “They can’t talk about me/You’d be bored without me/And I got a whole-ass team around me/Talk my shit politely,” Bonilla strut across the stage radiating confidence, even hitting a note reminiscent of Prince at the end of the song. They then slowed it down with 2018 track “Fro” with fans waving their arms side to side. “We wrote that song about getting high,” said Kaavi, sparking laughs from the audience.
The night continued with another cover, this time with “Sure Thing” by Miguel once again gaining excited cheers from the crowd. Jokes kept coming nonstop from frontman Kavvi, sarcastically claiming they wrote the song. “Miguel pulled up, it was crazy,” Kavvi and Bonilla bounced off each other and with members of the crowd about the imaginary moment. The energy in the room was always lighthearted, even when music wasn’t in the air. “Shoutout Miguelito!”
A new, unreleased song, titled “Una Vez Más,” orchestrated Luna Luna’s signature melodic style, transitioning into a Latin percussion heavy chorus, featuring timbales and a güria, along with an attention-grabbing bassline from Gordo that is hard to forget. Needless to say fans should be counting down the day for this catchy, upcoming release.
The band jokingly walked off stage as if the set was over, shouting “¡Otra! ¡Otra!” Bonilla then came on stage solo and said “We’re going to watch Xavi,” whose sold out show was happening at the same time in The Observatory’s main room. “Wouldn’t that be crazy,” he laughed, followed by him singing an excerpt of the singer's “La Diabla.” Bonilla continued to joke with the crowd as the rest of the band came back on stage for the encore, “Nah we’re just here to pack up, we’re still leaving.”
Of course, everyone knew that wasn’t the case. Bonilla began singing fan favorite “Daydream,” a slower, lo-fi romantic tune. The first verse and chorus was sung almost entirely by the audience. Kavvi and Gordo wrapped their arms over each other's shoulders, Danny encouraged the audience to sing louder, and Kaylin mouthed the lyrics and swayed gently in the back. “You made me daydream/Only wasted lovers/Love that we uncovered/Love that’s in the night,” belted hopeless romantics and long-term partners alike. The crowd's voices practically took over Kavvi and Bonilla’s mic’d vocals.
The band wrapped up with a song that potentially brought much of the audience in the first place. Kavvi teased the audience with lyrics any Luna Luna fan can recognize: “Eso es lo que siento y siento tu belleza/Si te alcanzo y ya que tú me estresas.” Back in 2020, the band posted a snippet of the bridge for “Commitment” on TikTok, gaining thousands of listeners overnight and likely introducing many to the world of Latinx Indie Pop. Phones shot up from the crowd and heads were bobbing to the bedroom-made hit.
There’s something so uniting and magical about seeing a crowd of strangers swaying to their favorite music, and Luna Luna makes that kind of stage presence look easy. You couldn’t help but smile at the two best friends who were dancing and jumping to upbeat hits like “Talk Too Much,” or couples holding each other like they’re the only people in the world to a swooner like “Daydream.” The band has undeniably created an environment of comfort with each other, shown through their instrument exploration and unapologetically adding more Spanish songs to their discography. But that community expands out to their fans, recording videos on stage from fans' phones and staying well after the show ends, ensuring everyone was met and every story was heard.
A Luna Luna show is a celebration of love: romantic love, platonic love, unrequited love, love for your heritage, love for the strangers around you. Like Bonilla said to the audience that Friday night, “We’re all here to love each other.”