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The Side Door, St. Louis, MO
Saturday, 11 October 1997

I travelled to St. Louis this weekend to see Low play at the Side Door. As usual, it was very impressive. They played a somewhat shorter set, but I really enjoyed it. The choice of songs was great. The opening act was Nick Turner (guitarist for the Dirty Three). He had an interesting style...it was just him, a guitar, and an entire army of delay pedals. He would record a loop to a delay pedal, move to the next pedal and record another loop...and so on. This would continue until an entire song was "built." The effect wasn't unlike an orchestra tuning. It was very beautiful, but the novelty wore thin after a while.

During the opening set my friend left to use the restroom. While he was gone a man came up and asked me if the seat next to me was taken. I was ready to say yes that it was, then I looked up...it was Zak! Instead I said that no the seat wasn't taken, go right ahead! My friend was very understanding... I asked Zak about Songs For A Dead Pilot. He explained that it was shipped without any artwork from Kranky which has delayed it's release. It was supposed to come out today (10/14/97) according to him, but the stores here in Nashville still don't have it. Also, it's not a full length album, evidently it is just an EP. They played a couple of new songs which I assume are from the CD...the songs were wonderful. One that stayed in my mind went something like: "...the microphones pick up their soft words..."

After the show I had a brief conversation with Al and Mimi...as always they were very friendly. In fact, they were quite upbeat and talkative (they're usually pretty quiet). I took a picture of the two together. By the way, my photos will be posted on my web page sometime in the next couple of weeks. I'll send out another mailing when it's ready. A new T shirt is available. It's black with that small picture from the Venus single on the front. They have a long and short sleeve version...maybe I'll get one when I see them in Louisville, KY...

One more thing...I have to rant against talking at their shows. It's just plain rude...St. Louis is definitely bad about that sort of thing. I can't understand why anyone would pay money to see a show, and then spend the entire time tallking to their friends...they can do that sort of thing OUTSIDE for FREE...where it doesn't bother ANYONE. If you're a talker, please be considerate at the shows (not that anyone on this list would be so insensitive).

Chris Phillips
rein020b@yahoo.com


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