Luxury, Live on Facebook

According to Opus, the last time I saw Luxury perform live was at Cornerstone 2001. If you would’ve told me back then that I’d watch them again nearly two decades later, and on the internet no less, I would’ve said you were crazy. And yet here we are in 2019, and I spent about half an hour last night watching Luxury tear it up on Facebook.

They played a mix of their oldest (“Flaming Youth Flames On,” “Pink Revenge”) and newest (“Parallel Love”) material, and it all sounded fantastic. Making the experience even more poignant, several Facebook friends with whom I saw Luxury perform at Cornerstone back in the day were watching the Facebook feed with me. It wasn’t as cool as a generator stage set up alongside one of the festival roads, or one of Cornerstone’s sauna-like tents, but it was still pretty great. Heck, it’s probably the closest thing I’ve had to a Cornerstone-like experience since the 2007 festival.

Honestly, it feels like a near-miracle every time I hear something new from Luxury. For starters, the band was in a horrible car accident back in 1995 that could’ve claimed their lives. Then there’s the fact that the band’s members are spread across the United States these days, with three of them now busy as Orthodox priests. That they still get together to make music, and sound as good as ever (if not better)… like I said, a near-miracle.

On a related note, guitarist Matt Hinton’s documentary about Luxury’s career, Parallel Love, has been garnering acclaim at various film festivals, including the St. Louis Film Festival and the Covellite International Film Festival, where it won the top prize. Hopefully, this means that an official release date isn’t too far off now.