Last Wednesday, I had a chance to see Low at the Metro in Chicago again. I've seen the band several times over the years now but it felt even more special after a gap of so long and also because my going to any shows has been severely limited.
I discovered Low around 1999 during a huge transition in my life. I would be graduating from University and moving halfway across the country from Rochester, NY to Chicago. Many things were uncertain (they always are) and I was spending my college allotment of funds on records over food (I have more money for food now so things have gotten better!). I started listening to bands who could do much more for me than the ones I was raised on (like The Beatles). Just as I was packing up my bags on leaving in 2001, “She’s leaving home! Bye bye!” Low released Things We Lost in the Fire and my life was changed. Low was one of the first live bands I started seeing when I came to Chicago and I always stuck around in those days long enough to say hi to Alan Sparhawk among other things like “You’ve saved my life!” I must tend to gravitate towards really wholesome patient sorts of people who don’t take these things the wrong way.
The thing is, I learned the truth of reality and aging as I grew older. I always thought that adults sort of had things figured out and that one day all of the problems from my youth would just vanish with one click (not a mouse, but more like a brain twitch) What I came to realize is the big secret that this is actually a lie. Adults do NOT know what they are doing at all. We are making it up as we go along, pretending to be so mature that we’ve figured out all kinds of problems that occur with out of control politics that worsen poverty and racism and well, all the isms. All those bad things you thought that the adults have control over? We don’t. And, these last two years were a testament to that. Danger alert…there are humans in control with white hair and look the part who absolutely don’t have a clue of what they are doing and it only seems to be getting worse.
So, how do we cope with our ever changing existence where we aren’t in control of injustice and inevitable doom? I asked a friend who is a neuroscientist once…why is it that when we are depressed, we listen to music that is the opposite of cookie cutter pop music but will make us continue to think deeper? Maybe it is the vestiges of hope or maybe one of the only things keeping us living is the idea that we’ll get to hear the next album from Low or we’ll get to see Low again next time they tour so we best be staying alive. Yes, that must be it!
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