Live Review: Swans at San Francisco’s Regency Ballroom (4/17)
Seeing Swans live is something of a theatrical experience. The vibrant sound and pulsating guitar drones melt through your skin and rattle your brain. The sound waves are incredibly intense, with much of the volume from the band’s set being too much to handle – even for the earplugs I was wearing that night. Thankfully, I managed to get used to the incredibly violent, loud, aggressive, and snarling sound as the show went on.
The Regency in San Francisco presented a nice backdrop of elegant decor and ballroom floors, a fitting match for the night’s opener, Angel Olsen, but was hilariously out of place for the horrifying sound that Swans brought to the stage later that night (albeit enjoyably so). The group’s 61-year-old frontman, Michael Gira, showcased a vital stage presence. His yelps and bone rattling screams into the mic were felt all throughout the crowd. Each time he shredded a droning, repetitive, yet almost entirely captivating guitar riff everybody in the venue stood in awe and shock. Their reaction was almost as if a minor earthquake struck the area. It wouldn’t seem odd for a person to have asked their acquaintance next to them, “Whoa, did you feel that?”. Gira’s vocals seemed to range from tribal chants to utter lyrical gibberish, such as on the band’s performance of one of the highlights from their outstanding new album, To Be Kind, “Just a Little Boy (For Chester Burnett)”. Alongside Gira was a shirtless Thor Harris who pummeled his tubular bells and electric vibraphone throughout the set; as well as Christoph Hahn, who performed violent shredding on his lap steel with avant-garde techniques (at one point he used a comb from one of his pockets to pluck the strings).
Even though Swans have been making music since roughly 1982, they haven’t seemed to day an age. Their current “post-reunion” lineup is slightly different than the group of rockers who brought us albums such as Filth, Holy Money, and Children of God, but their spirit is still clearly present; mostly due in part to frontman Gira, whose been with the band since the very beginning and is one of the last original members. People seem to prefer the band’s 3 post-reunion records (My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky, The Seer, and To Be Kind) to their original 15-year run, leaving much of their earlier material to be somewhat forgotten. Swans, in 2015, showcase the legendary experimental rock band moving forward and redefining themselves. With each song they performed that night in San Francisco, they helped add a new piece to their never-ending puzzle of musicality and nuance. The set’s opener, “Frankie M,” a staple of their recent live shows, was one of the best songs of the night. With each member coming onstage one-by-one and performing each of their respected instruments perfectly, the band finished off the near 18-minute opener (!) in true Swans fashion – with a noisy and brutal climax.
The band undoubtedly featured the chemistry and musical finesse during the concert I attended. Each performance felt like one more ripple in a pond of dark, disgusting, and murky water. The brutality of the band’s sound is entirely justified by their masterful performing and orchestration. At times, it felt like the entire building was about to fall down to a mighty crumble. There were definitely a few moments throughout the night in which the many chandeliers above our heads (yikes!) began to flicker and wobble uncontrollably due to the massive, massive sound. At one point, what seemed to be a chunk of the ceiling fell down into the standing audience below (luckily, it didn’t seem like anyone was hurt). Christoph Hahn broke a string on his lap steel. A fabric pad on one of the band’s several amps began to peel off. It was as if Swans were providing what was essentially the soundtrack to a mini-earthquake; it all sounds just as awesome as it really was that night.
Swans’ sheer intensity and musical velocity which they bring to stages and concert venues all across the world is simply outstanding. As I’m writing this review, the band are currently preparing for a followup concert on the second weekend of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California. This is just mere hours after Swans performed one of the most jaw-dropping and masterfully theatrical live performances I’ve ever seen up in San Francisco. What gives Swans the energy to perform a near two-and-a-half hour concert nearly every night and with the same vital finesse intact is simply a mystery to me.
There were few songs performed that night (there were 6 in total), yet I don’t think a single one of them went under the 10-minute mark. Much like their recent albums, Swans’ live shows consist of extremely long, repetitive, yet enticingly hypnotic rock songs which progress to an awe-inspiring, loud, and abrasive climax. If one of the songs they performed last night lasted around 30 minutes in length, every single second was worth it. There was not a single moment in their entire set in which I was bored or tired. Each performance was alarming and mesmerizing, showing once again that Swans are a band that have trained and practiced such incredible performances for years. I’m glad that I have finally gotten to see just how they perfect and master their very craft of sonic ability. Their set was loud, gut-wrenching, terrifying, catchy, brutal, and ear-piercingly bonkers. Much like a good movie, each and every scene of their film was entirely justified and worthwhile.
Setlist:
Frankie M
A Little God in my Hands
The Cloud of Unknowing
Just a Little Boy (For Chester Burnett)
I Forget
Bring the Sun / Black Hole Man
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