LOW performed last night at the Knitting Factory club here in New York City, and what a show it was! I had arrived early to claim my tickets, so I was sitting up in the balcony during the first 2 bands (Sanora Pine, Spinanes). I was sitting right in front of the door to backstage, and every 20 minutes or so either Zak or Alan would peek out from the door and take a few paces into the room to see how the crowd was developing.

11:00 pm, LOW took the stage. Their show was mesmerizing as always, despite an embarassingly noisy New York crowd. As a matter of fact, Alan's first words to the audience of the evening were a very quiet and sincere "Why are you talking?" In any event, the show went on without hesitation and setlist was as follows:

- Down
- Venus
- new song (unsure of title)
- new song (unsure of title)
- Over The Ocean
- Shame
- Starfire (new song, about Alan's pirate radio station/ambulance driver friend)
- No Need
- Will The Night (new song)
- Coattails (encore)

After "Will The Night" ended, LOW left the stage briefly and the crowd was their noisiest of the night, stamping and hollering, demanding an encore. LOW came back out onstage and considered which one to play. I could hear people standing around me yelling "The Plan!".. "Lullaby!!".. Alan's response: "We'll let Mimi choose it." After discussing with Alan and Zak briefly which one they should do, "Coattails" won the toss-up over "Words", and the audience still appeared more than satisfied with their choice as there was a roar of applauds when they hit the opening 4 striking chords.

The highlights of the night for me personally were the outstandingly sparkling renditions of "No Need" and "Shame". Other highlights included a rather drunken audience members who continuously shouted loudly to the band in between songs finally getting their attention before the encore. He yelled "Do Stars!! Do Stars!! I saw you guys in Philadelphia and I sat right next to you!!" The audience and the band laughed at the whimsical and drunken spectacle. Alan responded ever so sarcastically, "Oh that was you.". Mr. Drunken Stupor went on to yell, "You played Stars in Philadelphia, I'll do anything if you play it!!" Mimi took advantage here of her opportunity for sarcasm, responding with "Will you talk some more if we play it?" Alan finally resolved the issue by saying, "Well, we just did a new song with a pretty heavy Stars sound on it, so, we'll do Stars next time we're in Philadelphia." And so, on they went into "Coattails" to end the night.

The other cute little highlight was Alan's 8 bar rendition of LOW doing "Black Hole Sun" complete with vocals at an audience member's request. :) Also at one point in the show, Alan announced "Ok, this next song is from the upcoming ep" at which point someone yelled out "Fear!!". Alan responded smoothly, "No, that's not on the new ep...although we *are* afraid." All in all it was a terrific show as expected, I am only sorry that the band had to deal with a somewhat inconsiderate few people in the audience. They are a magnificent and moving presence.

Anonymous

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