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Customer Reviews for Swans

Swans

Read Swans concert reviews and post your own reviews and ratings.

Average rating:

4.1

(18 Reviews) 18

Rating Snapshot (18 reviews)

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

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14 of 18(78%)customers would recommend this to a friend.

Swans Fan Reviews - Ticketmaster

Review 1 for Swans

5 / 5

Most devastating/uplifting 3 hours of my life

The Fonda Theatre @

- Hollywood @

, CA @

- Tue, Sep 11, 2012 @

Favorite moment: Jamie punching the theremin/ Michael Gira spitting on his own face @

Opening act(s): Xiu Xiu @

Posted 09/13/2012

by Aartdina

Location:Los Angeles

Featured Review

Swans melted my face and transported me to the astral plane in one fell swoop. It was like I wasn't even in a room full of sweaty goths. Plus Jamie Stewart (Xiu Xiu) was the ideal opener and played a heart-wrenchingly honest and passionate set including a great Smiths cover on electric dulcimer. GO SEE SWANS & XIU XIU

The Fonda Theatre @

- Hollywood @

, CA @

- Tue, Sep 11, 2012 @

Favorite moment: Jamie punching the theremin/ Michael Gira spitting on his own face @

Opening act(s): Xiu Xiu @

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Review 2 for Swans

5 / 5

Music Hall of Williamsburg @

- New York @

, NY @

- 02/07/2013 @

Favorite moment: The whole show @

Opening act(s): Devandra Banhart @

Posted 02/09/2013

by Anonymous

Incredible show from an incredible band. Swans studio output has always been daring, different, and the only predictable thing about them is to expect the unpredictable, and thats exactly what they delievered when I saw them. One of the most important things you should know before going to a swans show is that its not like traditional shows at all. If you dont have an appreciation for avant garde then odds are you wont enjoy it very much. I compare seeing swans to an art exhibit more so than a concert. Another thing to keep in mind is that they reinvent their songs almost entirely live so essentially you're with the band on a trip of exploring music. To some this can be annoying to not recognize all the songs but the experience of it all didnt make that a problem for me. Also their opening act, Devandra Banhart, was really good too, definitely someone to check out.

Music Hall of Williamsburg @

- New York @

, NY @

- 02/07/2013 @

Favorite moment: The whole show @

Opening act(s): Devandra Banhart @

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Review 3 for Swans

5 / 5

Heaviest non metal band in the land

El Rey Theater @

- Los Angeles @

, CA @

- 09/01/2012 @

Opening act(s): Xui Xui @

Posted 11/22/2012

by thejudge63

Location:Los Angeles

Have seen the Swans consistently on their passes through L.A. since a DT warehouse show with Sonic Youth opening back in the mid-ish 80's. They are as crushing as ever, if not more so. This band brings joy to my heart, the current lineup of three guitars, two drummers and a bass is tight and even better than the first pass through a year ago. Most extreme Metal bands would kill to be as heavy. It's an amazing sonic machine to behold. The El Rey is not my favorite venue, way overpriced drinks and an awkward viewing arrangement, but a packed house helps the sound and the house was packed. Really great show.

El Rey Theater @

- Los Angeles @

, CA @

- 09/01/2012 @

Opening act(s): Xui Xui @

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Review 4 for Swans

1 / 5

Was not able to see the show due to Hurricane

Bowery Ballroom @

- New York @

, NY @

- Sun, Oct 28, 2012 @

Favorite moment: Didn't get to see show based on emergency measures put in place due to Hurricane Sandy @

Setlist: n/a @

Opening act(s): Love Devendra- wish I could have gone to the show! @

Posted 11/04/2012

by Anonymous

I VERY MUCH wanted to see this show. I have been a fan of the band for years. The concert begun after all the subways were closed in all of the NYC area due the Hurricane Sandy. I was not able to make it due to this. It is unbelievable to me that the Bowery Ballroom did reschedule or cancel the show. I love the band, but will probably think about this next time I consider buying a ticket to this venue. It is clear now how serious the storm was and I believe it was irresponsible and unfair to people who live in the city to not postpone the show.

Bowery Ballroom @

- New York @

, NY @

- Sun, Oct 28, 2012 @

Favorite moment: Didn't get to see show based on emergency measures put in place due to Hurricane Sandy @

Setlist: n/a @

Opening act(s): Love Devendra- wish I could have gone to the show! @

1 of 2 found this review helpful.

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Review 5 for Swans

5 / 5

Incredible

Paradise Rock Club @

- Boston @

, MA @

- Thu, Oct 11, 2012 @

Favorite moment: The Apostate @

Setlist: To Be Kind, Avatar, She Loves Us, Coward, The Seer, Nathalie, The Apostate @

Posted 10/13/2012

by Coma323

Location:Southeast CT

So good, I felt violated by Gira and crew. Michael is a madman on stage and the new songs were played violently throughout the 2+ hour set.

Paradise Rock Club @

- Boston @

, MA @

- Thu, Oct 11, 2012 @

Favorite moment: The Apostate @

Setlist: To Be Kind, Avatar, She Loves Us, Coward, The Seer, Nathalie, The Apostate @

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Review 6 for Swans

5 / 5

Amazing

The Fonda Theatre @

- Hollywood @

, CA @

- Tue, Sep 11, 2012 @

Favorite moment: The entire show was great and was like a soundtrack not a set of songs - it was auricular bliss! @

Opening act(s): MIssed XIU XIU - but picked up a cd and nifty t-shirt - not expensive. @

Posted 09/14/2012

by Bajafilm

Location:Los Angeles

Beautiful pumping ecstatic rhythmic love, great!!!

The Fonda Theatre @

- Hollywood @

, CA @

- Tue, Sep 11, 2012 @

Favorite moment: The entire show was great and was like a soundtrack not a set of songs - it was auricular bliss! @

Opening act(s): MIssed XIU XIU - but picked up a cd and nifty t-shirt - not expensive. @

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Review 7 for Swans

5 / 5

Swans - Henry Fonda Theater, LA

The Fonda Theatre @

- Hollywood @

, CA @

- Tue, Sep 11, 2012 @

Opening act(s): someone terrible @

Posted 09/13/2012

by Dagobert

Location:Long Beach

Incredible! Two hours of blistering, bone shaking noise. Gira is still the most uncompromising musician out there and he puts all of himself into his shows. They played songs from the new album, with "Coward" being the only song from their older era. If anyone doubts that this reunited Swans still has the power of the old band, their live show will remove all doubt.

Gira describes this new album as the culmination of every Swans release up to this point and their current tour certainly supports that. I like to think of a Swans show as hypnosis or meditation through brutality. They created a wall of sound that far surpasses any band I've ever seen.

Go see them, you won't forget it.

The Fonda Theatre @

- Hollywood @

, CA @

- Tue, Sep 11, 2012 @

Opening act(s): someone terrible @

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Review 8 for Swans

5 / 5

2012 tour, SEE IT.

Henry Fonda Theater @

- Los Angeles @

, CA @

- 09/11/2012 @

Opening act(s): Xiu Xiu @

Posted 09/13/2012

by Anonymous

Location:San Diego

The Seer. I haven’t weighed in this record yet. Two CDs (or three LPs) worth of impenetrable self-indulgence! Michael Gira lost the plot.

No, not at all. I can understand the criticisms. I’m not drinking press
release kool aid, it really does encapsulate about everything he’s done with this band over the course of thirty years. As for me, I have as much love for the disgusting industrial onslaught of “Filth” as the gothic folk gems on the mid period releases and everything after including Angels of Light, whose own body of work should NOT be overlooked. I love how with each release, going back through thirty years of storied albums there’s one unified aesthetic; how the players might change and Gira’s approach to songwriting has developed in every direction yet to my ears it all undeniably –sounds- like Swans. The trance I fall into from listening to Swans’ music is unlike any other band that attempt bludgeoning repetition to similar affect.

That being said, with no attachment to any period of the band’s history I couldn’t have been more thrilled to finally see them live last night. Crowd at the Fonda was all ages and brought about a very unlikely mix of old goths, young hipster types and some kids who looked like they had nothing better to do on a Tuesday night than enjoy two hours of Pitchfork approved noise. Opener Xiu Xiu wasn’t for me. It was nothing but the singer pared down to a very interesting arsenal of instruments (a theremin, synth, autoharp and believe it, a slingshot) and it’s hard to remember in recent memory a performance making an audience so uncomfortable. Success?

Swans right on time at 10:00. They begin with an unrecorded song that sounded like it’d fit fine on the Seer, followed up by the recognizable “Avatar”: a standout from the record with its triumphant build of galloping drums and orchestral bells. Gira’s intonations of “your life, is in my hands” was one of the best moments of the night. While on the drum topic, percussionists Phil Puleo and Thor Harris were downright incredible, Harris being a real showman and bringing a large part of the band’s sound with him. During the performance he jumped from drums to violin to some around-the-waist dulcimer thing to clarinet to those haunting bells I mentioned before. “Coward” was the lone relic of old Swans’ music. It sounded as stark as the ’85 recording and obviously great with four guitarists and two drummers attacking it with that much force.

Huge body of the set was the title song from The Seer and “The Apostate”, my personal favorite from the album. As pretentious as it sounds, I think there’s something very cerebral in the miniscule changes that happen over the course of these fifteen to thirty minute compositions. His talent at crafting a huge monolithic song is in how natural the movements all sound together, whereas celebrated post-rock bands like Mono often take the same amount of time and evoke really saccharine feelings like you’re watching some Hallmark channel movie. Swans shed anything calculated about the genre (of which they don’t really fit, but have been a powerful influence) with these two pieces and use relentless martial drumming and monotonous chords to their full capacity. During one of them, Christoph Hahn, the lap steel guitarist shredded two of his picks into dust and wrung his hands out like he just punched a hole in the wall. During the last few minutes of “The Seer” Gira turned into a dancing shaman, which brought some light into how punishingly dark the rest of the piece is.

In summary, everything I could ever hope a Swans live experience could be considering the age and experience of the players and how their music has evolved over the years.

Henry Fonda Theater @

- Los Angeles @

, CA @

- 09/11/2012 @

Opening act(s): Xiu Xiu @

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Review 9 for Swans

2 / 5

should have just listened to their albums at home

Music Hall of Williamsburg @

- Brooklyn @

, NY @

- Tue, Sep 27, 2011 @

Favorite moment: the encore was short, and michael gira told the audience he felt like he wanted to give them a lecture. @

Setlist: monotonous sounds for half an hour, a song, monotonous sounds for an hour, song, monotonous sounds for another pretty long time, song, etc. @

Opening act(s): sir richard bishop @

Posted 10/02/2011

by etotheipieplusone

Location:brooklyn

I really liked all four of the songs they played during the several hours they were on stage. The rest of the time, that chord that they played was pretty cool.

It's hard to tell if they even wanted the audience to like what they did. It looked like they hadn't played together since the last time they came out with an album and they decided to just make some noise and see if they could get that old feeling back, which they tried to talk themselves into believing they had, but had to admit in the end that they couldn't. It was an honest performance, but it was not entertaining. I'm not sure what I mean by that.

They do seem like they could still put on a good show, they just didn't this time. I have a feeling it was below average for them. But christ, just play some songs. I don't want to stand in one spot for 2 hours and watch everyone play the same note over and over again as if each time it becomes more intense.

Music Hall of Williamsburg @

- Brooklyn @

, NY @

- Tue, Sep 27, 2011 @

Favorite moment: the encore was short, and michael gira told the audience he felt like he wanted to give them a lecture. @

Setlist: monotonous sounds for half an hour, a song, monotonous sounds for an hour, song, monotonous sounds for another pretty long time, song, etc. @

Opening act(s): sir richard bishop @

2 of 5 found this review helpful.

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Review 10 for Swans

5 / 5

Music Hall of Williamsburg @

- Brooklyn @

, NY @

- Wed, Sep 28, 2011 @

Posted 10/02/2011

by Anonymous

Swans is always one of the best experiences that touches upon a psychedelic experience

Music Hall of Williamsburg @

- Brooklyn @

, NY @

- Wed, Sep 28, 2011 @

0 of 1 found this review helpful.

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Review 11 for Swans

4 / 5

No swim down memory lane

Variety Playhouse @

- Atlanta @

, GA @

- Fri, Sep 16, 2011 @

Favorite moment: At one point, Gira announced they would have two more songs and noted that it would be an 'ordeal.' @

Setlist: Intro, No Words / No Thoughts, Jim, The Apostate, I Crawled, Little Mouth, Eden Prison, instrumental encore @

Opening act(s): Sir Richard Bishop @

Posted 09/19/2011

by V001

Location:Atlanta

Michael Gira may be getting older, but he's proving - again - that he's no oldies act. With 'My Father Will Guide Me up a Rope to the Sky' (released last year) and a live album with newer material coming up, Swans are not reliving the past. After disbanding in the 1990s as Gira worked on other projects, the group is back blazing new turf. Some older stuff is mixed in for these shows, but even that's re-invented. Yes, they can still be as aggressive and brutal as ever. The songs are expanded and stretched beyond their original boundaries, Earplugs are still advised for those who cannot handle loud music. In that respect, Swans haven't changed. Even if you don't like what they play, they still demand your attention.

Variety Playhouse @

- Atlanta @

, GA @

- Fri, Sep 16, 2011 @

Favorite moment: At one point, Gira announced they would have two more songs and noted that it would be an 'ordeal.' @

Setlist: Intro, No Words / No Thoughts, Jim, The Apostate, I Crawled, Little Mouth, Eden Prison, instrumental encore @

Opening act(s): Sir Richard Bishop @

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Review 12 for Swans

4 / 5

SWANS was absolute chaos...

Variety Playhouse @

- Atlanta @

, GA @

- Fri, Sep 16, 2011 @

Favorite moment: Anytime Michael sneered at audience members for attempting to steal the spotlight @

Opening act(s): Sir Richard Bishop @

Posted 09/18/2011

by PMQ1

This show was incredible: intimate, insane, and incredibly loud. My only complaint is directed at the Variety Playhouse...why was it so ungodly hot? Those of us near the stage nearly fainted!

Variety Playhouse @

- Atlanta @

, GA @

- Fri, Sep 16, 2011 @

Favorite moment: Anytime Michael sneered at audience members for attempting to steal the spotlight @

Opening act(s): Sir Richard Bishop @

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Review 13 for Swans

4 / 5

El Rey Theatre @

- Los Angeles @

, CA @

- Wed, Mar 2, 2011 @

Posted 03/05/2011

by Anonymous

Was on my wishlist for a long time and they did not disappoint.

El Rey Theatre @

- Los Angeles @

, CA @

- Wed, Mar 2, 2011 @

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Review 14 for Swans

4 / 5

Early Swans Style Show

El Rey Theatre @

- Los Angeles @

, CA @

- Wed, Mar 2, 2011 @

Favorite moment: Intro song melding from electronic drone to punishing body blows. @

Opening act(s): Devendra Banhart - Bit of a non sequitur, this bill. I think he just wanted to see Swans for free. @

Posted 03/04/2011

by Alfalfa323

Michael Gira's latest iteration of the Swans is very much a "wall of sound" endeavor. Situated close to the stage you as much felt the sound as you heard it. As a caveat, this band is far closer to the early eighties "no wave" Filth / Holy Money noise rock band than the melodic goth Burning World line up from the late eighties/early nineties.

And it is loud. Bring ear plugs.

That said, this was a fantastic show. Gira has said that his idea was to beat the audience down physically, and lift them spiritually, and he accomplished that. The show played like avant garde symphony, with the amps turned to 11. Be forewarned, I have heard rumors that Gira has the air conditioning turned off to create a "sweat lodge" atmosphere, and that seemed to be the case at the El Rey.

El Rey Theatre @

- Los Angeles @

, CA @

- Wed, Mar 2, 2011 @

Favorite moment: Intro song melding from electronic drone to punishing body blows. @

Opening act(s): Devendra Banhart - Bit of a non sequitur, this bill. I think he just wanted to see Swans for free. @

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Review 15 for Swans

5 / 5

swans.

El Rey Theatre @

- Los Angeles @

, CA @

- Wed, Mar 2, 2011 @

Favorite moment: michael gira smiling at me. i almost fainted @

Setlist: no words/thoughts, jim, sex god sex, eden prison, encore: little mouth (with crazy set up) @

Opening act(s): wooden wand, devendra banhart @

Posted 03/04/2011

by klydeFrog

Location:long beach, ca

we missed wooden wand, but they are dope you should check them out. pretty much everyone on young god is awesome. devendra played like 2 and a half songs, and my friend was pissed cause she paid 70 bucks to see him hahah. but he is still awesome, check him out too. swans. blew. my. mind. I had been waiting ten years to see them live, and they totally delivered. it was 2 days ago now, and my neck is STILL sore from banging my head to their heavvvyyy sound coming out of the Orange amps. oh wow.

El Rey Theatre @

- Los Angeles @

, CA @

- Wed, Mar 2, 2011 @

Favorite moment: michael gira smiling at me. i almost fainted @

Setlist: no words/thoughts, jim, sex god sex, eden prison, encore: little mouth (with crazy set up) @

Opening act(s): wooden wand, devendra banhart @

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Review 16 for Swans

3 / 5

Devendra needed to play a longer set

El Rey Theatre @

- Los Angeles @

, CA @

- Wed, Mar 2, 2011 @

Setlist: Devendra: Charles C Leary, A Sight to Behold, Quedate Luna, Bad Girl, At the Hop @

Opening act(s): Wooden Wand @

Posted 03/04/2011

by badgirl926

I drove 40 minutes and waited one hour to see Devendra on play for 20 minutes. While I knew the show had the Swans as headliners, I was hoping that Devendra would play as long, if not longer than the opening band, Wooden Wand. Devendra put on a good show, but it was cut way too short.

El Rey Theatre @

- Los Angeles @

, CA @

- Wed, Mar 2, 2011 @

Setlist: Devendra: Charles C Leary, A Sight to Behold, Quedate Luna, Bad Girl, At the Hop @

Opening act(s): Wooden Wand @

0 of 1 found this review helpful.

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Review 17 for Swans

4 / 5

So much bombast

The Regency Ballroom @

- San Francisco @

, CA @

- Tue, Mar 1, 2011 @

Posted 03/03/2011

by Unwoman

I love the Swans, and their sound did not disappoint, however their set was light on actual songs. It was full of droning and wankery, more than I would normally sit through, but I put up with it because they pulled it off with conviction. They played for a solid 2 hours, then came out for a short encore set. The song they played last, off their upcoming album, with lyrics something like "I am free from this choking hold that began in Eden -- prison" was very strong.

The Regency Ballroom @

- San Francisco @

, CA @

- Tue, Mar 1, 2011 @

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Review 18 for Swans

3 / 5

Meh

The Regency Ballroom @

- San Francisco @

, CA @

- Tue, Mar 1, 2011 @

Posted 03/03/2011

by velvetcowgirl

Location:San Francisco

So I will say upfront that I am more of an Angels of Light fan than the Swans, but I was just not thrilled with the show. Actually we left about 40 minutes in; Too loud (even with earplugs, my ribs were vibrating ) and too monotonous. Maybe it is because I saw Godspeed You Black Emperor and Prince also this week, I may just be concerted out. So, if you are a huge Michael Gira fan and LOVE the Swans, go...otherwise go see Godspeed....

The Regency Ballroom @

- San Francisco @

, CA @

- Tue, Mar 1, 2011 @

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