Lowertown Bring Loud, Sweaty Energy to Berlin’s Urban Spree
Urban Spree was almost sold out when Lowertown played Berlin on 18 September, and you could feel how many people had come to see them. The room was packed, hot and increasingly sweaty as the New York duo of Olivia Osby and Avsha Weinberg worked their way through the set. It was one of those shows where the crowd seemed to get more energetic with every song. The gig was part of Lowertown’s European and UK tour, with local support Shybits opening the night.
Before Lowertown took the stage, Berlin-based trio Shybits got the room moving. Made up of Liam on guitar and vocals, Piero on bass and vocals and Meg on drums, the three friends brought a fuzzy mix of post-punk and ’90s garage rock. Their sound is often described as a combination of “Beach Boys suntan nostalgia” and Beatlesque bedroom pop, and their set had that same relaxed but slightly scruffy feel. As a local band, Shybits were a natural fit for the night, warming up the increasingly full room without trying to overpower it.
Lowertown’s European and UK tour started in Dublin on 1 September, before moving through Leeds, Glasgow, Manchester, Bristol and London. From there, Lowertown continued to Paris and Amsterdam, arriving in Cologne on September 15 and Hamburg on 16 September, just two days before the Berlin show. The duo even mentioned how good the Cologne show was from the stage, a small detail that made the packed tour schedule feel very real.
The band are touring behind their new album, Ugly Duckling Union, released on 22 May through Summer Shade. The record deals with friendship, growing up, creative frustrations and the experience of feeling like an outsider, while also looking at the communities people build around music and the internet. At Urban Spree, those ideas didn't need much explanation. The crowd already seemed completely invested.
The live show was much more physical. A fog machine periodically filled the stage, while Osby and Weinberg kept things loud and energetic. They played two songs from Ugly Duckling Union, ‘Big Thumb’ and ‘DIPSH*T’, fitting the new material naturally into the set rather than making the show feel like a straightforward album launch.
The crowd was just as active. Several mosh pits opened up, with people splitting into two sides before dancing around the space between them. With Urban Spree being a relatively small venue, the whole thing felt close and immediate. By the middle of the set, it was properly sweaty, but nobody seemed particularly bothered.
The Berlin show came just before Copenhagen on 19 September, and there are still five dates left on the tour: Schorndorf on 22 September, Aarau on 23 September, Torino on 24 September, Milano on 25 September and Rome on 26 September. After almost a month on the road, Lowertown still have plenty of opportunities to bring the same loud, sweaty energy to the final stops of the tour, don’t miss your chance to catch them.
