The last night of any tour is always a special occasion and L.S. Dunes’ final night of the Like Magick Tour was indeed magical. The band visited Phoenix’s Crescent Ballroom for a packed house of diehard fans and gave Arizona everything they had to end the run on a high note.
Joey Vannucchi is the face and voice of From Indian Lakes and his brand of pop-acoustic-indie-rock and everything in between is as fresh today as it was at the project’s inception. Vannucchi is reticent onstage, preferring to duck behind saturated lights and the shadows of his baseball cap brim pulled low over his eyes but he lets the music do all the talking- and there are plenty of stories wrapped within his lyrics. The audience stood at rapt attention and allowed themselves to let loose on “Breaking My Bones” and “Spilling Over”. The set was short but impactful and brought FIL’s time on this run to a bittersweet close.
L.S. Dunes prefers not to be called a supergroup but the amount of talent drawn from other projects and funnelled into this one is undeniably super. Singer Anthony Green, guitarist Frank Iero, bassist Tim Payne and drummer Tucker Rule were joined by Evan Nestor also on guitar for an array of incredible musicianship on the Crescent Ballroom stage. Green is a natural leader onstage, moving the audience with the sway of his arms and high-fiving every outstretched hand as the crowd pushed towards the front.
The band is celebrating the release of Violet, translating this latest album into a live show that gives the work a vibrant new color and connects with the fans in a visibly special way. Every member was a whirlwind of pure energy- so much so that the casual observer would never know this was the culmination of five grueling weeks on the road. From the opening “Like Magick” to “Past Lives” and the final notes of “2022”, L.S. Dunes was relentless onstage, moving to the beat of Green’s symphonic direction.
Humble gratitude was expressed to all the bands on the tour, the members of LSD and the countless fans who attended the shows as the group made their way back onstage for a disco ball-tinged encore of “Paper Tigers” and “Forgiveness”. Despite their exhaustion, everyone was all smiles by the end of the night as Phoenix’s energy carried this tour to a perfect conclusion.
