Low @ Classic Grand, 17 May

As bodies steadily and audibly spill into Classic Grand, super-soft Belgian duo Sleepingdog manage, with no small amount of effort, to maintain their concentration and open tonight's show. Theirs is the kind of set that requires real attentiveness on the part of an audience and – somewhat understandably – that was never really going to happen as a capacity crowd gradually arrives, stumbling across the venue towards the bar for their first drink before trying to find a space to settle.

A converted “adult cinema” is a far cry from Low's usual insistence on playing churches (converted or otherwise) whenever possible. Maybe it’s coincidence, or maybe it’s divine providence that tonight's show pales in comparison to the Minnesotans' quite astonishing previous visits to the renovated church that is Òran Mór. The proximity of Classic Grand's busy bar to the stage and crowd means the delicate music is clumsily interspersed with the percussive clatter of tills and empty pint glasses. As a result, the band visibly fails to warm to the occasion the way they have previously and the atmosphere never quite clicks.

When they toured previous album Drums and Guns, the sparse recordings burst into life in the live arena. This time around the lush production on brilliant new record C'mon falls slightly flat live, with only Mimi-led Especially Me really weakening the knees the way it should. A fine performance, but – through no design of their own – by Low's own frighteningly high standards, tonight isn't up there with their best.