Swans -To Be Kind - Available to pre-order

[doommeow]

Dammit doommeow, you're really not helping with how excited I am about going to see them.

First time? Regardless, you're in for a treat.

Looking at the schedule, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they add (ATLEAST!) one more NY date for 2014. Just bought my tickets to see them in New Haven in July. Definitely worth the drive.

[Swordfishtrombone]

Dammit doommeow, you're really not helping with how excited I am about going to see them.

First time? Regardless, you're in for a treat.

Looking at the schedule, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they add (ATLEAST!) one more NY date for 2014. Just bought my tickets to see them in New Haven in July. Definitely worth the drive.

Yeah, it'll be my first time. Everything I've seen people say about their shows makes it out to be amazing, so I'm sure I'll love it. Not only that, but possibly being able to witness Michael Gira's dancing in "Oxygen" makes it all totally worth it.

And from what I've seen in my feed on FB, it seems like they don't ever plan to end this tour so it seems like that may end up happening.

[DarkAxel]

My copy just arrived in the mail, hopefully will listen to it when I come back from the rehearsal tonight! stoked!

[kbit]

Been listening to this all week. I dont love every second of it but the majority is awwwesome.

[DarkAxel]

done with side one and so far i'm IMPRESSED

great atmosphere! awesome sound aesthetic really happy so far

edit: oh my fuck, those electric piano tones are just amazing
edit 2: SHIT this was awesome really glad i decided to preorder

also

[themeanreds]

It's so fricking good. It gets a bit lost up its on conceptual arse for a spell in the middle, but it's a monster of a record overall.

[Swordfishtrombone]

Bringing this back...

So I just got back from seeing them. Xiu Xiu opened up. They made noise on a modular synth + some other stuff that I couldn't see for 20-30 minutes. Wasn't my kinda thing but whatever.

Swans came on at about 9pm and played til about 11 (turned phone off when they started so I'm not totally sure). They were amazing. Played a new piece too!

I was standing right in front of the stage. I was no more than 5ish feet from Christoph Hahn and Michael Gira's mic stand. Christoph was interacting with me throughout the set. He made eye contact with me and nodded towards the spazzy guy that kept bumping into me and made fun of him for using his phone while they were playing (pretending to push buttons on his lap steel, rolling his eyes and he chuckled about it). That one's pretty amusing so I thought I'd mention it. Michael took someone's phone away cus they were using it (they weren't even taking pics, they were resting it against a monitor and typing on it or something), and gave it back a little later.

Got to chat with most of the band (I didn't even see Phil Puleo and Norman Westberg didn't say much to me) and all but Phil and Chris Pravdica signed the copy of "My Father Will Guide Me..." that I bought (Chris said he didn't have a marker or pen, but we chatted for a few minutes). Christoph was incredibly nice when I chatted with him. He asked me for my name, wrote it down and told me to come back tomorrow and he'll get me on the list so I can see them again. Michael didn't say much (we only got to say a few words to each other + shake hands. probably cus there was a long line waiting to talk to him + get autographs) but said that he'd change the date to '14 from '11 on the album. Thor was ridiculously nice and said that he could see that I was really enjoying myself when they were on. I also asked him about that weird, home made, violin thing with three strings that he plays. He said that it's based on viola cus he plays that too, but didn't get to say much else cus someone else asked for a pic with him.

I'll stop going on at all of you guys about how awesome it was and I'll just post the pics of the stuff I got.

[DarkAxel]

Sweet! I'll definitely pick up the shirt when i have the chance, too! They'll be playing here in October, can't wait!

Good venue, too, the stage is curved, almost a half circle... I think that might really fit them

[Swordfishtrombone]

It was really silly. Some guy in a Neubauten shirt came up to me and this other guy I was chatting to. He asks us what shirts we got and both of us told him we got the Filth shirt. This leads to a short convo about why Filth shirt was the only real choice + me and guy in Neubauten shirt talking about music for a bit.

Yeah, a curved stage would fit them well I think. The stage at this venue was really tiny. At one point I was kinda worried that Gira might end up falling on me because the stage was so tiny and he was constantly kicking his guitar cable away from his feet + getting it tangled up around his leg.

[hatshirt]

ordered my ticket for the roseland show in portland on september 6th!

[doommeow]

Seeing them again on Sunday!!!!

Xiu coy is the opener. Worth catching?

[Swordfishtrombone]

Xiu Xiu guy went onstage late and toyed around with a table of synths and stuff when I saw them. I didn't like it much, but I watched anyway since I was too close to risk losing my spot.

Edit: His set didn't last very long either (probably partially due to him going on late). I don't think it was necessarily worth paying attention to, but it definitely wasn't unbearable or anything.

[sylnau]

In Quebec City!!
They where awesome!!

SWANS-2014.JPG (65.29 KiB) Viewed 1779 times

[doommeow]

Poor sound at the venue but still a great show. New material still developing - longer, heavier, but also more concise. Apostate still kills - with something almost approaching a steel solo. Just a little boy was insane - puleo is a god. Best rhythm section since Miles fucking Davis was playing. Michael smiling more than I've ever seen. No new shirts. Got the only poster - thanks to Eva at the merch table for the hookup. Picked up a solo cf by Norman - haven't had a chance to spin it yet but didn't know such things existed must kmeo. Think I'm going to have to miss the September show. But the tour is supposed to go into 2015.....

[Swordfishtrombone]

Yeah, Just a Little Boy is fucking intense. Let me know how the Norman CD is when you listen? I saw it when I was at the merch table, but decided to go with My Father Will Guide Me... instead.

And with what you said about Apostate, I noticed that I was really digging their longer stuff live a lot more than I did when hearing them on album before. Super intense and really feels like it's consuming you when those longer ones are experienced live.