The Low show last night was great. In an obvious sop to the four people in the crowd who weren’t undergraduates, the band took the stage promptly at 10:30 and rocked out for most of an hour. They played both of my favorite songs – “California” and “When I Go Deaf” – along with a bunch of other stuff, some of which were pretty much just glorious waves of feedback. Alan Sparhawk, the excellently named lead singer (that’s more or less him above), gently teased the crowd, telling them, among other things, that they were probably in kindergarten when Low started out (in 1993 – which makes the math just about right), and that the song “Murderer” was an attempt to provide good advice to the “young ones.”
In between and during the music, pretty much everyone in the crowd talked nonstop. This was annoying when they were obscuring the lyrics (“When I Go Deaf” isn’t just a song, it’s my goddamn life!), but I did overhear some good stuff emerge from some of the best students in American liberal arts colleges (or at least those who hit Thursday-night rock shows):
- Dude in reversed baseball cap, talking to the girl next to him: “Jane Eyre is totally overrated. I haven’t even read it and I know it.”
- One woman, talking to another: “I’d rather, like, have, like, the shittiest job in California than, like, a really good job here.”
- Three guys, all in reversed baseball caps and, tellingly, St. Olaf t-shirts, greeting each other: “‘S’up, bro? ‘S’up, bro? ‘S’up, bro?”
- One girl, taking her leave after two songs (ca. 10:45): “I gotta go. I have the 11 to 1 shift.”
Ahh, youth.