You might think that Low’s sparse, glacially paced music would make for poor holiday cheer. True, songs like “Long Way Around the Sea” and “If You Were Born Today” — taken from their excellent 1999 Christmas EP — are a good deal more melancholy than your usual holiday fare. However, I’d argue that they also contain a whole lot more grace and reverence, while also realizing that, for many folks, the most wonderful time of the year also has a dark side.
Since that 1999 EP, Low have released a few more holiday songs — most notably, 2016’s “Some Hearts (at Christmas Time)” — so it seems only fitting for them to perform an honest to goodness Christmas concert at St. Paul’s Fitzgerald Theater.
As you can see, the setlist features a nice blend of original Christmas songs, classic Christmas carols and covers, and even several recent album cuts (e.g., spellbinding renditions of “Lies” from 2015’s Ones and Sixes and “Fly” from 2018’s Double Negative).
Overall, it’s the sort of amazing performance that only Low can deliver, and more proof that they’re better than ever, three decades into their career. And in keeping with the holiday spirit, the concert recording can be downloaded for free from the Internet Archive.