After nearly a decade and a half of being put to rest, legendary post-punk outfit Swans, lead by Michael Gira and a revolving door of other musicians, has returned with a new album and a reinvigorated live presence.
Swans gained notoriety in the early 1980′s for their vicious no-wave sound, and ear-shattering, vomit-inducing live shows, but after deciding to bide his time with other projects(most notably Angels of Light), Gira dissolved the band. Early this year, however, a new Swans song emerged on Gira’s label Young God Records and soon after an announcement of the latest album and a tour followed.
The show was opened by Baby Dee, who is quite an interesting character herself. A harp-playing singer-songwriter, transgendered Baby Dee got into the music business through circus band leading and street performing in Manhattan. Joined by a cello player and a violinist, her songs were slow and sometimes disturbing, sometimes humorous. Soft melodies were often interrupted by swift bangs on the bass strings of the harp, with the other members often providing some dissonance. Her between-song banter of describing the subject matter of the next song was often somewhat humorous as well, if not slightly awkward (“This next song is a crowd pleaser because it is about slugs. Every audience always has a few people who love slugs”).
As Baby Dee exited the stage, one of the tech crew came and placed a guitar over an amplifier, filling the room with feedback. While they set up for the rest of the band, this feedback continued to play at a very high volume, which would have probably caused discomfort to many, but it didn’t seem to affect anyone in my sightline, mostly because this is the sort of thing people were hoping for.
About 15 minutes later, multi-talented percussionist Thor Harris (He looked like his name implies) took the stage, playing a foreboding church anthem over the feedback. He played for about two minutes before the band took the stage. Suddenly blasting, beat-driven noise burst through the speakers as members of the band beat on their instruments in unison. The only person who didn’t seem to work up a sweat was long-time member Norman Westberg, who was very visibly aged (and looked like a cross between a painter and a serial killer), who was unable to engage as much in the theatrics of the event, but was still fully capable of pulling his weight when it came to producing sound.
Clad in a bright white light, Gira strummed his instrument furiously as his band, drowned by red beat furiously. During parts of songs without vocals, Gira would open and close his mouth, looking as if he were in prayer, and between songs he would pace back and forth between the colored and white lights, almost as if he were trying to display a pull between good and evil.
One thing was sure though, Gira was in full control of the performance. The other musicians were constantly starting at Gira for cues, and you could see him stare and nod at the other performers to continue with the next part of their performance, to retune (which he did for several of the members throughout) or to cease. Indeed, nearly every song ended with the firm wave of his hand. Sometimes it even looked as though he were punishing the members of the band, as Thor was forced to perform an intense, beating roll on the crash symbol, becoming visibly tired, drenched in sweat, and breathing heavily as Gira eyed him to do it again and again.
The show was short (less than a hour and a half), but was a decent mix between the 80s and new album. Classics like” Sex God Sex” and “Beautiful Child” (the highlight of the show) made an appearance next to new ones like “No Words/No Thoughts” and an unreleased version of “Eden Prison.”
The show had little banter, but at the end he let a little bit out, which I feel shows that Gira does not quite take Swans as seriously as he once did and definitely not as serious as his fans. It involved a woman in the crowd yelling that she loved Gira, and him responding not to say that because then she would have to suck his cock. He then immediately apologized claiming it was rude, then somewhat sarcastically asked if the audience was hot (when the audience responded yes, he laughed and said “Good”). After that he asked if he should remove his clothes, to which some people cheered, but he declined claiming that “he looked like ice cream on a stick”. The humor was a nice departure from the otherwise intense display of power.
The Swans show was a moving experience, definitely meeting most of my expectations. In the end it still wasn’t one of the 80′s performances that Swans is known for, but I don’t think they’ll ever be like that again because Gira doesn’t seem to want that. However it was loud, it was abrasive, while still extremely musical and moving. I surely hope this is the first of many more tours to come.
8 Golden Eggs
