The reverence paid to Low is something few people might understand, certainly anyone not inside The Sage tonight to witness this rarest of shows might query the worship at least. Low, the trio of Alan Sparhawk, Mimi Taylor and Steve Garrington are so unassuming on stage and beguiling whilst creating such minimal music, so sparse it's paradoxically weightier in expectation.
The 'quietest band' ever tag has followed, even plagued, them throughout their career and as a direct response to this, to losing long time former bassist Zak Sally and perhaps commentating more overtly on the 'noise' of modern life with all it's horrors and doubts their recent albums, 2005's 'The Great Destroyer' and 2007's 'Drums and Guns' saw the amps turned up and buzzing, sampled undercurrents flowing throughout.
It's from Drums and Guns that the backbone of tonight's set is compiled. 'Dragonfly', 'Murderer' and 'Sandinista' stand out as the pitch perfect vocals spar with the visceral music. But it's certainly not the doom and gloomfest any unfamiliar listener might expect, Sparhawk in particular is on jocular form dealing with the occasional request for a 'hit' shouted from a darkened corner. It must be difficult to be held in such high esteem where fans have such a breadth of favourites that you can only cull from the set.
Still there are many songs cherry picked from the many other great albums spanning Low's 15 year career which are included. Seminal album 'Things We Lost In The Fire' gets a good airing, 'Sunflower', 'In Metal' and the ultra minimal 'Laser Beam' are sublime and when 'Dinosaur Act' Kicks in there's a warm glow around the gathered crowd. Other gems include a lengthy version of 'Pissing' full of foreboding and dread and the simply beautiful 'Lion/Lamb' and whereas I could happily sit through a few more hours at least I have to concede to being sated enough and after one encore the sermon is over.
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