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Miki Bereny Trio

Jun 10, 2024 By Matthew Berlyant Photography by Matthew Berlyant Web Exclusive

Eight years after Lush reunited and played shows in the U.S., Lush singer/rhythm guitarist/co-leader Miki Berenyi FINALLY returned to the U.S on a short tour, and though it wasn’t ideal, she and her band, featuring guitarist Rob Conroy (of Modern English and Berenyi’s other post-Lush band Piroshka) and bassist Oliver Cherer, made it work. With no live drummer in tow and using a drum machine despite the presence of two legendary drummers as their support act, they still managed to make stone-cold Lush classics like “Light from a Dead Star” (my pick of the night), “Stray Love,” “For Love,” and others alongside more recent Piroshka material and their brand new single “Vertigo” sound utterly fantastic on this beautiful Saturday evening.

Berenyi’s voice in particular shined on this evening, as did the interplay between her and her bandmates despite missing guitarist and (alongside Conroy and drummer Justin Welsh) Piroshka bandmate/husband KJ “Moose” McKillop (unable to tour due to a fear of flying), making up, at least by and large, for whatever deficiencies there could’ve been, perceived or otherwise.

That said, only Lush’s “Ladykillers” (from their 1996 swan song, the recently reissued Lovelife) felt like something was missing and it started as a bit of a mess, but by halfway into the song, they had seemingly gotten it together and the power of the catchy sing-a-long made any defects at the beginning a thing of the past. After this, they came back out (after a fake “encore” break) to play Moose’s “Suzanne” (introduced as the “original shoegaze” song as Moose was the first band to be described as such back then by the British press) as a tribute to McKillop. Following this, openers Lol Tolhurst and Budgie came out to play drums on Lush’s “Baby Talk,” capping off a special evening.

As for Tolhurst and Budgie’s opening set, it was, to be fair, a bit odd. Playing material mostly from their 2023 album Los Angeles (recorded with superproducer and former Compulsion guitarist Jacknife Lee as well) alongside some AI-generated imagery and tapes full of ethereal-style wordless vocals, it was perhaps better to listen to than to watch, though it was apparent that Budgie was having a ball up there, even singing and dancing before the start of one number after getting up behind his drums. The highlight was a rendition of Lol’s old band The Cure’s classic 1980 single “A Forest,” pleasing many of the aging and younger goths and post-punk fans in attendance alike.