For a band with multiple New Zealand connections, Luna sure have taken their time to play in New Zealand.
The New York indie rock outfit is finally headed here for a show in September, 11 years after splitting.
The New Zealand connection? The band's frontman, Dean Wareham, was born in Wellington before his family emigrated to the US via Australia while he was a child. Luna's original line-up also featured former Chills bassist Justin Harwood, who left in the late 90s.
Wareham formed Luna after the demise of his late-80s outfit Galaxie 500. Luna released eight studio albums of its Velvet Underground-influenced dreamy guitar rock between 1992 and the group's split in early 2005.
Wareham and his bass-playing partner Britta Phillips have played here before as Dean and Britta at the New Zealand Festival of the Arts and on a later tour, playing Galaxie 500 songs.
This time Wareham is bringing a reformed Luna line-up of himself, Phillips on bass, guitarist Sean Eden and drummer Lee Wall.
The band play in Auckland at the Great South Pacific Tuning Fork beside the Vector Arena complex on Saturday, September 19.
Tickets go on sale today.
In other tour news, Chicago punk outfit Rise Against - last here supporting the Foo Fighters at Mt Smart Stadium - is set to return later this year for a headline show at the Auckland Town Hall on December 8.