edit: Swans was tonight!
Hoo-boy. Glad I did my research on Reddit and heeded the ear plug warnings. I’ve probably heard louder (MBV, Sleep, Sonic Youth) but these folks were right up there. The ear plugs didn’t seem to muffle anything, especially when the amplitude vibrated throughout my frame. But the folks really made their volume work. I don’t think I was ever put off by it and I know I was certainly turned right on by some of the effects they were achieving. It was so cinematic and in a way that I hadn’t been expecting. Ethereal but challenging. Hard and haunting.
It didn’t make me sad or depressed which I thought might occur based off of the fact that some of the lyrics I had heard leading up to the show kind of bummed me out. Although I hardly moved more than 3-4 times throughout the show, it was still cathartic. It wasn’t ever (in the ballpark of) pretentious; not like the cliche No Wave/ New York Avant Garde band cliche I conjure up when No Wave pops into my head.
They are definitely one of those bands like the Birthday Party that I have mostly steered clear of because of their withering reputation and my preconceptions about them. I may have to give the Birthday Party a first-look since Swans transcended my prejudices so satisfyingly.
Michael Gira seems like an older musician that is grateful to receive the praise that he has acquired over the long, long years of slogging away in the name of scratching an itch. Norman Westberg was opening the show when I got there. He was great as well-loud and electronic, almost like William Basinski with a guitar. The rest of this line-up of Swans all did a hell of a job making a beautiful racket. Some people actually care about the work that they do. That’s who Swans are. Glad I went.