Photos: Tune-Yards, Avid Dancer at the Twilight Concert Series at the Santa Monica Pier

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Merrill Garbus of Tune-Yards leads the crowd in
Merrill Garbus of Tune-Yards leads the crowd in "Happy Birthday" at the Santa Monica Pier (Photo by Michelle Shiers)

The 2015 Twilight Concert Series at the Santa Monica Pier could hardly have had a more joyous finale than Thursday night’s performance by Tune-Yards. Singer-multi-instrumentalist Merrill Garbus and her gang of giddy rhythm- and melody-makers serenaded a big crowd on a steamy evening at the beach, and the frontwoman even took time out to call a friend who had moved to Africa and, cell phone raised to broadcast and capture the moment, led the crowd in “Happy Birthday.” L.A. quartet Avid Dancer opened the show, playing a sunset set that featured a new addition to the lineup, Kera Armendariz of Kera & the Lesbians, on bass.

Photos by Michelle Shiers, courtesy of Spaceland Presents