Before seeing Swans live, I had certain preconceived notions about how they were in person. Some say it would be vomit inducing noise, others would say that it would be a mind blowing event. I'm not going to lie, I was excited but afraid of what to expect seeing them live.
Before I begin, yes, I did use earplugs. And yes, I do think they were necessary and helped me enjoy the experience. The started off the set with a new song, Frankie M. Swans is known for experimenting with new songs and writing them as they perform live, so don't expect to go to hear the hits or their older music. I could feel the immediate vibration of all the sound and instrumentation going through my body, a sort of all encompassing sensory experience.
At times, frontman Michael Gira would become the grand conductor, carefully going up to each band member to bring out the intensity of the sounds they produce. Occasionally, it felt like a battle between sounds, as Michael would aggressively play his guitar next the bassist or lap steel player. He would alternate between his guitar playing and vocals, a primal howling that would send shivers down my spine pierce through my ear drums (I think his mic was louder than everything else actually, lol). It's interesting because despite the wall of sound, you can also choose to be an attentive listener and clearly listen to each and every individual instrument and nuance if you wanted to. So I would go in and out of focusing on certain band members, whether it be the intense cat strangling sounds of the lap steel guitar or the cascading tension of sound from the gong and percussionist player (Thor Harris).
There were three songs that were about 30-40 minutes of continuous playing, including the epic Bring the Sun/Black Hole Man medley. That song was absolute madness live. It's inspiring and captivating to see the musicianship of these guys, as you can see the intensity and physical toll it takes to play entire pieces of music for such long periods of time. It's through this struggle and absolute pain that they seem to achieve some sort of out of body experience, a catharsis. The listener is then transported into this world of absolute noise for these extended periods of time that messes with your consciousness. I found myself often closing my eyes, trying to feel the music. After two and half hours of this experience, I found myself coming back to Earth, to the material world.
This wasn't simply a concert. It has become a pivotal moment and memory of my life, something I can't even begin to explain. I woke up the following morning in a daze, as if I had just come back from the dead. But I didn't, I came back from Swans. I came back from a spiritual experience.