Everything's swirling
It's what I am.
Just Like Christmas - Low in London - Christmas 1999
I love Low, in the 90s I loved them more than most bands. We drifted apart - it was definitely me, not them, they kept on developing and I wanted them to be the same, they also got too big for me, it didn’t feel right watching them in 1000+ seated venues when the band I fell in love with played dingy indie rock clubs. But, I never really stopped loving them.
When Mimi Parker passed away last month it really hit home just how much I loved them, and made me feel sad for the years of distance between us. The last time I saw them live was at The Shepherds Bush Empire in 2007 … it was beautiful but … too big.
The best Low concert I was ever at happened in November 1999 at Dingwall’s - it was just after they released their Christmas EP and the set was heavy with seasonal favourites. Now, in many years of experience of seeing bands at Dingwalls (I first went there in the early 80s) it has always seemed a hard venue to silence. The bar always seemed loud and the layout practically encouraged talking on th terraced areas. But my memory of that show is just how completely Low controlled that. It was almost, appropriately, church-like.
A Facebook post, in the wake of Mimi’s passing, got me thinking about the show and I discovered that the Internet Archive has a brilliant recording of the show which as well as giving me a lump in my throat, confirmed my memories - this was unquestionably one of the greatest shows I was at. I didn’t take a camera (I so rarely did in the days before phones) and I didn’t take a recorder (which I sometimes did) but thankfully someone else had, so I didn’t have the usual things that trigger my memories
What I did have, however, was The Galaxie 500 Mailing List, which at the time acted like a musical diary for the more active members, often with little or no link to Galaxie 500 (obv Low did have that link though!). Here’s what I posted to the list on my return:
Date: Thu, 11 Nov 1999 00:15:23 -0000
From: "Andy Aldridge" <andy@aald.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Low in London
Despite a crappy cold and having no friends with any semblance of musical taste I braved a night out in the company of Low.
The last time I was at Dingwalls, Damon & Naomi had a really hard time coming to terms with the place and with the extraneous noise it seemed to encourage - this didn't bode well for a Low gig so I entered with a great deal of trepidation. I hadn't seen a bad Low show and didn't particularly want to start now.
I needn't have worried, they were entrancing, I hardly noticed anyone there, they took me in and rubbed Vicks on my chest and sent me home warm and happy and cold-free.
They opened with a gorgeous "Long Way Around The Sea" and proceeded through a set containing a nice chunk of the new album and a few extra gems from elsewhere "Starfire", "Blue Christmas", "Over The Ocean", "Weight Of Water", "Joan Of Arc" etc. Highlights were a spellbinding "Two-Step" and an achingly beautiful "Words".
A couple of strange little pieces included "The Lice Song" and an encore of "Just Like Christmas" with a couple of guests a guy from the band Penthouse and Tom (from Minnesota (I think)), at the end of which Alan said "Now you see why we play slowly".
A quite, quite beautiful evening, and a cure for the common cold.
--Andy
---
Galaxie 500 - Luna - Damon & Naomi
http://www.aald.demon.co.uk/galaxie/
So … a Christmas after Mimi will never be a Christmas without Mimi - she will always be a part of my Christmas.
The top pictures in this post is by Tom Herbers and has been lifted from the excellent trustlow.com the other pictures are from the show at the SBE in 2007 - by which time I was occasionally taking a camera to shows.
Everything's swirling / last build: 2024-04-03 11:39