I'm not sure off the top of my head exactly which song was "Two-Step", though I remember one of the lines cited earlier -- either "and the light, it burns your skin / in a language you don't understand" and "are you a lion or a lamb?" -- as being in it, as well as the words "Two-Step".

As you can see, Low played a very short set (compare this with the Bowery Ballroom setlist!). Right before Will the Night Alan asked if they had time for one or two more, and then announced that they'd be cutting matters short because of the 12:30 curfew, which they'd already apparently passed...so as a consequence of Ida's great set, we got a very brief Low set, which I think was actually shorter than Ida's. (Wisely, but sadly, the crowd didn't even attempt to get an encore!)

How was it? Well, I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, the fact that I had never heard a full third of their setlist, and that they played only two pre-Pilot songs (though that was probably mainly a consequence of the curfew, unfortunately), put a serious damper on things, and it's thus hard to evaluate their performance based on that. Plus, on top of the cramped quarters, there was a little audience noise and background noise throughout the show -- not too much, but enough to occasionally distract. Furthermore, technically speaking, they played quite well, with LCYHM? and especially Starfire sticking out as especially "well-performed" songs.

But, I have to be a dissenting voice amidst the crew that went (all of whom seemed to love it), and say that overall, despite the fun I had, I was a little disappointed. There was something missing for me, something I find hard to quantify...but let me put it this way: Coattails is my favorite Low live song, hands down, and when they kicked into it, my knees practically went out from under me. But about a minute into it, I knew something didn't feel quite right. Maybe it was the people (a handful, admittedly) talking in the back, or maybe it was the Small Stone Alan used on his guitar on the quiet parts...but something felt more fundamentally off. I didn't feel Low's subtlety and understatement, or their delicacy, nearly as much as I had in the past, live and on record...and that made me sad. I hope that it was just some weird synergy of the sound, and the atmosphere, and the crowd/background noise, and not symptomatic of something likely to keep happening. (On the way home I even started speculating about whether Low would be breaking up soon. I still think that's very possible, but perhaps my concern was premature...still, see them while you can, folks, because they could break up any time now.)

The good parts, though, _were_ good. Lord etc. was engrossing, and Starfire was much more assured than it was last year (overall, Alan looked looser and more relaxed on stage than I've ever seen him). Immune is a real killer of a new song, and I've had it stuck in my head since the show; Two-Step is promising, too, and most of us already know how good Starfire is! On the whole, judging from what I've heard, Low's new songs are heading towards something I can only characterize as Long Division filtered through Songs For a Dead Pilot. (Alan jestingly said they were trying to put the "oohs" back in their music.)

Immune, for instance, sounds perhaps like the strange daughter of Violence (or Peanut Butter Toast & AB) and Condescend -- it's got a weird mix of ingenuousness and near-cynicism, adding up to a very irresistible song. Two-Step is harder to describe, but was equally...lilting?...and, as I recall, featured alternate refrains sung by Alan and Mimi separately, which was novel and quite charming. If your favorites are songs like Words and Violence, then you're definitely in for a treat with the new material, I suspect -- as long as you don't mind the strange weariness, almost irony, that's melded with these melodic, even poppy, new songs. (In fact, now that I think about it, a lot of these new songs seem to be very much musically and spiritually akin to Words.) I also have a feeling, if the Random Radio version of Immune is any indicator (and the Random Radio disc is HEARTILY recommended by yours truly, by the way), that we're going to see really good studio versions of these new songs, because they sure do seem to record well.

A funny moment: before 'Born by the Wires', Alan solicited requests, asking if there was anything anyone really wanted to hear. Amidst the ensuing tumult, the smiling, no-chance-in-hell look Tim Miller and I got from Zak when we called out 'Standby!' repeatedly was priceless. When someone later called out "Play the slow one!", Mimi asked "Who's the wiseguy?" and then as I recall told us they were "ready to fight".

(After the show, Zak told me that "Standby" was off-limits because they hadn't played it in so long that they would probably have screwed it up. He also, when I asked what songs they'd never played live, cited "Lift" as another impossibility...which was another song I'd called out. ;-)

Finally, we now have the final line to 'See-through', straight from Mim herself: "tended, none the least." (I'm remembering that correctly, right, Scott? :)

So to sum up, while I was not completely happy with the show, I did have a great time overall. It was pretty cool meeting a lot of the listfolk whose names had never had faces 'til then! Despite those things I felt I missed in Low's set, the whole thing was worth it, and I'm glad I went...

...and I almost forgot to mention, taped the whole thing on my little cassette dictaphone, which actually sounds quite good. I got everything, and the only cut is at the start of 'Uptown', where a change of tapes was in order. Otherwise, it's all there! If anyone wants to trade, let me know...I'm really busy, but I'll try to fit folks in, particularly if they have something cool to offer.

So I guess that's it...enjoy your shows, all!

(By the way, I reserve the right to change my mind about ANY of the above pending further reflection, including, and especially, my comparisons of the new material with the old stuff...those comparisons may not wear well when the new album comes out, and when I have more time to listen to my tape. :)