Low lately

I saw Low the other night.  They were great.  I feel like 12 years ago or so I saw them about twice a year, but their touring schedule & my life schedule has made seeing them much less common.  Somehow I think this was only my second time seeing them in 10 years.  So anyway, there were a few things I noticed.
(1)    Mimi plays drums sitting down now.  She said it’s cut down on her getting tennis elbow.
(2)    Alan has two super small guitar amps (I’d guess ten inchers), but one was actually used for the drum machine (pointed straight at Mimi, which is a great help as I’m sure any live drummer who has played with pre-recordings or drum machines can tell you).
(3)    For years they have opted to have a soundman as their extra person on tour over a merchandiser.  I never really noticed how important the soundman (Tom Herbers) was before this show.  He really is the secret to them being able to sound as they do, changing the reverb on the vocals from this song to that, transforming the floor tom into a bass drum.  Blending everything together.  I thing for music that is subtle & minimalist having their own soundman is really necessary & I wonder if some other bands I’ve liked over the years could’ve been a lot better live if they’d made the same choice to have a soundman with them.
(4)    This tour they were playing two sets with no opening band & relatively early shows.  I’ve noticed a few bands at their level doing this & I think I like it.

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One Response to Low lately

  1. TripleP says:

    Thanks for the review. It has been many more years for me since I saw them at the 40 Wstt. Do you think he was using a real low wattage tube amp?