KB commenter Tom offers this review of Low in concert.

When I read Alan Sparhawk’s message that Low’s 2005 summer tour was cancelled because of his mental instability I was a little bit sad for him and his family, but I was a lot sad for myself. Low’s stop in Baltimore was going to be the one bright spot in my sucky summer. So I’ve been anxious for them to make it up to me by getting back on the road and coming to Baltimore. This past Saturday they came close: they played in DC at a stinky old night club called The Black Cat.

I was accompanied to the show by Kulturblog‘s own Ronan and by brain scientist and occasional KB reader, Brock, who both provided stimulating conversation when the opening act, the male soprano singer/songwriter Death Vessel, was less than stimulating. His Name is Alive followed Mr. Vessel with some really interesting, if sloppily played (the songs didn’t end, they just petered out), hypnotic alt-rock.

After a too-long delay Low took the stage around midnight. Sparhawk apologized and said something about Minnesota winters and needing to take off his long underwear. Sparhawk strapped on an acoustic/electric and they opened their set with . . . a song I didn’t know. Which wasn’t too surprising–there’s an album or two that I haven’t heard yet and I had read that they were going to be playing some new material on this tour. In all I think they played four new songs: two that had the standard Low sound and two that had the bigger sound of The Great Destroyer-brand Low. During the last of the new songs that they played Sparhawk stepped away from the mic and came this close to busting out an all-out Rock n’ Roll guitar solo. They only played three songs from The Great Destroyer (“Monkey,” “California,” “Pissing”) which was kind of disappointing because a lot of their strongest material is on that album. They played six other songs that I recognized from previous albums (“Lazy”, “That’s How You Sing Amazing Grace,” “Whore,” “In the Drugs,” “Laserbeam,” “Murderer”), and two or three more that I didn’t know. Despite the paucity of Destroyer stuff, it was a good bunch of songs.

Here are some moments from the show that have stuck with me:

During the chorus of a new song called “Dragonfly” Sparhawk repeated, over quiet accompaniment, “Maybe you’re right,” in a high falsetto that was strong and beautiful. The man has a smooth, mature, woodwind voice over which he displayed impeccable control throughout the performance.

Somewhere in between “Monkey” and “Pissing,” breaking through the menacing, down-tempo melancholy that pervades the Low catalogue came the bright opening hook of “California,” Low’s best pop song (out of only a handful). That sequence of five chords felt like a breath of fresh air, like a chance to relax and step into the light. What a sunny, happy riff that is!

As Sparhawk was strumming the rhythm of “That’s How You Sing Amazing Grace” he abruptly struck a loud, piercing note that was the beginning of a jagged solo in which he blended reverb and feedback in a way that was dissonant and unsettling, but ultimately beautiful. It was one of those moments that make Low Low.

The loud, extremely metallic, distortion-laden climax of the dramatic slow-builder, “Pissing,” was intense. As Sparhawk vigorously strummed and sang, as loud as he could, “Lovers sleep alone,” I thought, “This is why I came to this show.” No recording can approximate the experience of standing in a room full of sublime noise that’s being created just for you.