What is it like to see Swans live? I'll be seeing them in Chicago. Are they MBV loud? Louder? How are the people who show up to see them? Aggressive?
>>64159592
>Swans fans
>Aggressive
my sides, my fucking sides
13 year old girls lining up to see their flavor of the month boy band are far more aggressive and threatening.
>>64159592
Michael Gira has always hated moshing so I wouldn't worry about the crowd. I've never seen MBV but I've seen Swans. They like it loud but I think they've toned it down. I believe they were at their loudest on their farewell tour for the first iteration of the group. Still, I would suggest bringing quality earplugs. I decided not to wear mine because it didn't feel visceral enough without the high frequencies that the plugs reduced. Have fun.
>>64159592
>Aggressive?
Expect a pretty rough circle pit, you should be fine if you stand in the back. Lots of Swans fans are diehards and will crowd the front of the stage before the opening act even hits the stage. It might seem safe to scooch up front, but be careful because when the Swan drops it's gonna get real crazy real fast.
I legit lost some of my hearing after a Swans concert. I hear way less in my left ear. It's fucked up. I also feel vertigo at least once a day. Please don't make the same mistake as me and bring earplugs.
>>64159762
yeah. I saw swans twice. once for the seer tour (fairly late into it), and once very soon after to be kind dropped. I wore earplugs both times and the second time I definitely felt like I missed the higher frequencies, wasn't as good as the first. Depends what they play I guess and how they setup their equipment. I took out the earplugs though at both shows and although it was already fully-body shaking already, it only drove the point more that it was dumb loud
>>64159592
>How are the people who show up to see them? Aggressive?
Swans audience at this point consists largely of teenagers and early 20s indie kids who read Pitchfork and shitpost about memes and waifus on /mu/, their 80s/90s audience of scumbags and junkies has either died or stopped giving a shit.
Seeing a band with such a long and credible history get turned into a meme upon their resurfacing in the post-Internet age has been quite interesting.
>>64159592
wear earplugs and stop being a pussy
>>64159592
Just don't let Gira shake your hand.
It has been described as the most unpleasent experience of ones life
Love the Swans. Would love to fight gira to the death. The cunt.
>>64159674
suck my fucking dick you fucking retard
>>64160126
Big fucking nonathletic monkey who fought hippies for street creed.
Head up.
>>64160152
what happened to you to make you want a blowjob from a retarded man?
Thats pretty sick, man
>>64160100
I know you're referencing Tony Visconti being a puss but Gira has uncharacteristically huge hands and a firm grip. His handshake will make you feel like a small child.
>>64159592
They're loud but not MBV loud. BRING EARPLUGS! The crowd won't be aggressive at all, Gira doesn't allow moshing and their current fanbase is mainly harmless college kids.
>>64159674
>Flavor of the month boy band
>Swans
The bait is so hard, but yeah....Shut the fuck up.
>>64160507
>>64160152
Learn to reading comprehension holy SHIT.
>>64160453
Pretty much this. The new material isn't really moshy anyway. Might be some dancing with A Little God..., but other than that not much movement. But yeah, they are loud as hell.
>>64159592
Seen them last year.
People are not aggressive, just still and bobbing their head mostly.
It's loud. Some people doesn't have earplugs and don't give a shit, but I do. but yeah it was pretty great.
They simplify sometimes the songs live, it's kinda sad, but hey it's quited hard to recreate perfectly what's on the CD.
Also, on their last tour there were playing mostly new songs so it was a really weird experience to not remember live what they were playing, but on this last tour, they're gonna play The Glowing Man so it's gonna be pretty awesome.
>>64160507
Either you didn't read my post, or didn't catch my meaning.
Swans fans might have been aggressive 30 years ago, (and even then, nothing compared to the crowd Black Flag or Fear would draw) but now their fan base is characterized by soft indie kids.
You really do stand a far greater chance of injury coming between a dozen preteen girls and their idol then you do spitting in a stereotypical Swans fan's face
>>64159674
"bait"
>>64160623
do not, i repeat DO NOT
wear the FUCKING EARPLUGS
gira spat on my friend for wearing them, despite - GET THIS - despite everyone in his fucking band having them too
>>64159592
>What is it like to see Swans live?
Incredibly boring.
>>64160850
>not wanting based gira spit in your face
I bet you fucking wiped it off too, you imbecile.
>>64160850
I'd let Gira spit in my face
>>64160850
I don't believe you. I saw Swans a couple of years ago, almost everyone in the front row had earplugs and Gira didn't spit on anyone.
>>64160850
That's not why he spit in his face.
I stood under his music stand the whole set wearing earplugs and dropped by the merch booth after the show to say hi. He was nothing but nice to me.
>>64160988
It could be true. When I saw them people were trying to mosh and were also texting and had earplugs. Gira bent down and shook his head and yelled a few times for them to stop and when they didn't he spit at them a good 2-3 times.
>Swans fans
Mostly skinny whitebois. I was one of the very few darkies at the show. They seemed awfully fond of standing still with their arms crossed.
>>64161051
> people were trying to mosh and were also texting and had earplugs
>trying to mosh and were also texting
Yeah, it was the earplugs that pissed him off
>>64160988
i'm not lying
this was in 2014, gira was shouting at the band, and telling them they weren't playing with enough energy and passion, even though it all sounded normal to me.. he bullied the bass player the most and told him to hit the chords and bend them with more energy (?) and the bass player was pretty annoyed after a while and it was so awkward
and then he shouted at my friend "HEY EVERYBODY! this kid is wearing earplugs!" and the band stopped playing and Gira just stared at my friend with the dirtiest look, before he spat in his face. he also fucking threw a WATER BOTTLE at some poor guy in the crowd, to this day i don't know why
but i suppose that's nothing compared to what he did before. he supposedly bullied everyone and beat the shit out of audience members back in the 80s
he is so fucking conceited he feels that a swans concert is worth massive negative impact on the rest of someone's enjoyment of music
>>64161001
Honestly he seems to behave pretty erratically from show to show. Like the only real crowd interaction he did when I went was approach a guy with a camera at the front row and shake his head at him, rest of the time he just played the songs without giving a shit.
MBV is louder
>>64161135
>and then he shouted at my friend "HEY EVERYBODY! this kid is wearing earplugs!" and the band stopped playing and Gira just stared at my friend with the dirtiest look,
Now I really don't believe you.
>>64159592
wear earplugs if you are concerned about your hearing. i didn't wear any and i'm fine but maybe i got lucky with the venue/soundsystem
as for fans, they're all either fashionable young people or older people and everyone is pretty docile
you will be fine
>>64161137
I mean that guy was on the road around the entire world for fourteen months for the TBK tour. I'm sure he has good days and bad days. He was just particularly nice to me.
>>64161184
no, youll be fine
>>64161189
Yeah, I'm glad he didn't do anything awkward when I went.
When I saw Swans there was a neckbeard in the audience with a Trout Mask Replica shirt.
>>64161209
he'll be fine
>>64161209
what have you done
>>64161135
I saw Michael Gira at a grocery store in Los Angeles yesterday. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything.
He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?”
I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “I SEE IT ALL I SEE IT ALL I SEE IT ALL” and flexing his muscles in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying.
The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter.
When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.
I have seen Swans twice, and as a fucking idiot I didn't wear earplugs, at the second show I put pieces of the programme pamphlet in my ears like a real retard. The shows were fucking awesome tho
>>64161209
nooo anon you can't say things like that
>>64161355
STOP SAYING FUCKING MILKY WAYS YOU DAFT UNFUNNY PRICKS
>>64161298
>/mu/
>>64161636
I saw anon at a grocery store in Los Angeles yesterday. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything.
He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?”
I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “STOP SAYING FUCKING MILKY WAYS YOU DAFT UNFUNNY PRICK” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying.
The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter.
When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.
>>64162513
I saw anon at a grocery store in Los Angeles yesterday. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything.
He said, “I saw anon at a grocery store in Los Angeles yesterday. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything.
He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?”
I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “STOP SAYING FUCKING MILKY WAYS YOU DAFT UNFUNNY PRICK” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying.
The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter.
When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.”
I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “STOP SAYING FUCKING MILKY WAYS YOU DAFT UNFUNNY PRICK” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying.
>>64159592
I've seen em live in Chicago before. The crowds pretty diverse. kids, old folks young adults, the lot. As for swans they will play for about 2 to 3 hours so your feet will kill you if you just stand up here the entire time. They're loud so bring ear plugs. Everyone will be wearing them including me so Dont be embarrassed about it. Enjoy!
Should be illegal to play that loud.
>>64162738
>your feet will kill you if you just stand up here the entire time.
>can't even stand still for 3 hours without your feet killing you
Sounds like you need to get out of the chair, american.
>>64162738
>>64162887
or buy some insoles
>>64159592
Not as loud as MBV. MBV makes a sustained 20 minute wall of gray noise that you can live inside. Swans has extremely aggresively loud contrast peaks from the guitar and pedal steel and a long set.
The crowd was really pleasant in contrary to the music. Typical post-rock crowd, lots of shoe staring, only a few crusties head-banging. No pit.
Gira was really nice, it seemed like he was apologising for putting us all through such an exhausting experience and that he wanted to have a chat downstairs and sign some CDs and remind us that he loves us all but has a funny way of showing it.
