Review Wed Nov 05 2014

Slowdive & Low Flowed Steadily into The Vic

By Julian Ramirez

Slowdive made their return to music after nearly 20 years of absence. It says a lot that a band with only three albums to their name has ad as much attention and fervor associated with their reunion. You could chalk it up to nostalgia of a better time, but their sound has a much more eternal quality. I am almost certainly on the younger end of Slowdive fans considering my newborn status at the time of their formation, nonetheless I've been enchanted by their dreamy sound for years. Their return fills me with unfettered joy and stands a chance for their songs to get the due they richly deserve.

The reunion tour has placed Slowdive with a really apt pairing, placing Low's softer and mellower music as a lead in to Slowdive's more expansive wave of sound is one of those perfect transitions. This past week's show at the Vic was Slowdive's second time playing in Chicago this year, following up the amazing performance at Pitchfork Festival this summer. With a closed and more sound-pleasing venue, Slowdive simply couldn't, and didn't, disappoint.

Low opening for Slowdive seemed a little strange for a moment or two in my head. They started up as a band right around the time Slowdive was making their exit, and stayed active far longer that Slowdive was. If anything the lineup to me felt like a co-headlining show on paper, but in reality that was not the case. Low could have easily stolen the show with their delicately slow songs that saunter along with confidence, but rather than upstage the headliners they produced a well-crafted nine song set. Although Low has 10 albums under their belt, their short set pulled heavily from their last album, The Invisible Way, which ended up being very appropriate considering it was recorded in Chicago with the assistance of Jeff Tweedy. The deviations from that album were absolutely welcomed, like "Last Snowstorm of the Year" and "Starfire." Low ended their set as humbly and quietly as they started, making way for the return of Slowdive.

During the incredibly long wait between sets, the stage took a slow transformation. Low had played on a black cloth-covered setting, no frills nor excesses to point away from the band. Huge structures were revealed as the moments passed, a collection of square monitors patterned across the back of the stage. After what seemed like a life time and the sold out crowd had finally squeezed into the Vic, the lights when dark to the tune of Brian Eno's "Deep Blue Day." Rows of bulbs flash into the crowd, placing the band's arrival on stage in a hollow silhouette as they begin playing their eponymous song, "Slowdive."

Slowdive's amazingly lush sound was captured in spectacular fashion with the mammoth background display. Each of theirs songs was punctuated with apropos images that sucked the audience in even more than they already were. The oscillating circles tunneling through the crowd in the opening moments of the show were a mere glimpse of what was to come. "Blue Skied an' Clear" was accompanied by beatific clouds drifting through the monitors. Creepy shots of doll eyes mixed in with actual eyes put "She Calls" under a new weird light, while the incandescent bulbs that flickered during "Dagger" made the songs soft and dim nature all the more meaningful. The visuals were truly hypnotizing and enhanced the music, embodying it and adding another layer to Slowdive's already deep tones.

The setlist throughout the reunion tour has been the same and that really garners no heavy complaints from me. The heavy emphasis on the early EP songs and Souvlaki is completely understandable. This was the band at their highest points. "Catch the Breeze" and "Rutti" were the only songs representing the albums the appeared on, Just for a Day and Pygmalion respectively. Slowdive has aged incredibly well over the years, performing with the finesse you would have expect from them in their prime. As the final droning moments of "40 Days" rang to a close, I could only hope this was the beginning Slowdive's return.