Good Morning. Hello. How are you? #1579
Swans at the Paradise.
There’s this 1987 VHS video tape, The Kings of Independence. It chronicles a 1987 gig in Hamburg, Germany by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Crime and the City Solution and Swans. I rented it from Tower Records on Newbury Street in 1993 or so, Macrovision defeated, I was renting everything I could from there and making copies.
I remember vividly Michael Gira during “Kill the Child,” just sort of standing there, bobbing his head up and down through the entire song. A sort of slow, rhythmic head banging. Other than that, he barely moved. He woulda been 33 at the time.
He is 71 now, and last night I swear to god he had more energy and moved a bunch more than he did in that 1987 performance. More than he did the first time I saw them, in 1992, at the very same venue I got to see them at last night. In what will probably be the last time I ever get to see them.
I love the Paradise so much. I have seen so many shows there, hundreds of shows. So much history. I had my 30th birthday there. The Barbarian Group had two, three of their annual holiday parties there. Radiohead, INXS, Bob Dylan, Coldplay — Giant acts in a small room. And crazy rarities: Scritti Politti, Brendan Perry, Pale Saints. Spiritualized four times.
This was my third Swans show in that room. I have seen Gira in rooms three times as big, I have seen him in rooms a third as big, but this is my favorite room to see him in. This will be the last time, he tells us. Maybe not, maybe not. But he is 71. But he’s still go the chops. It won’t be Swans, though. Maybe there will be an Angels of Light farewell tour. I wouldn’t say no to that.
The crowd was fascinating. Mostly kids and maybe a third old farts my age or older. Almost no one 30-50 years old. A U-graph. These kids, I don’t know for sure how they’ve learned about Swans. Maybe it was Marco Posia’s 2019 documentary about them, Where Does a Body End? Still, though. It was fantastic. No one on their phone, everyone just in the moment. I think these kids are so lucky to see Swans before they are done. I love that feeling of generational baton-passing. Didn’t feel like Boston.
Definitely a few Zizians in the crowd, I’d wager.
I wonder how many people at that show were also at that 1992 show. That show was so good. I have two core memories from it — the giant bass drum, mounted on its side. There is still a giant bass drum, but it’s about a third as big now. They must have gotten sick of lugging that thing around.
And I remember two lesbians, absolutely gorgeous femme lesbians, front and center making out the whole time. A blonde and a brunette. I had been in Boston two years at that point, and I had never seen them at any other shows. In fact, that 1992 show had the same crowd energy: this doesn’t feel like a boston show.
Anyway front and center last night were two middle aged ladies, one blonde, one brunette. I like to think they’re the same two women, they’re still together, 32 years later.
Lotta history in that room. Saw a few people I dated, saw people from old bands I used to play with. Saw my friend Jon, accompanying Little Annie Anxiety, whom I missed open the show because she had to go on so early.
I was standing in the exact spot I met her, in 1995 or so, when a certain notorious, recently cancelled Boston musician walked by. The exact same spot, 30 years later. Weird.
Seven songs. Two hours.
It was one of the hottest shows I’ve been to. A real sweat lodge. Part of me thinks Gira did it on purpose, part of his shamanistic phase he’s been in this last decade or so. It worked. I wore my black Truewerk shirt, I knew it would be sweaty. People really underestimate the appropriateness of Truewerk wick-away construction-site clothing for club wear. Works great. Truewerk goth 4 life.
The ebb and flow, the orchestral noise, the atomospheric drone. Just lovely. Cathartic. There’s a newish tune that is a raggae dub jam with three lap steels. It makes no sense for any band, let alone Swans, but it totally worked and I am so glad I saw it.
I had been skipping the last few tours. I like this phase of Swans but it hasn’t been my favorite phase, I’ve always mostly been a Love of Life/White Light kind of guy but this totally worked for me last night. I am super glad I made the trip, glad I got to see them one last time. They will be missed.
Sean and I did a little tour of Allston nostalgia after that, stopped at the Silhouette and the Model, missed our friend Dave who had just gotten off shift at the Silhouette. Then we popped over to Man Ray for their Karaoke night and Sean did a Freezepop song which is hilarious and I have it on film at his insistence but I will keep that to myself for now. I made some Real Wild Child logistical plans with Lindsey, who will be cooking up some great Christmas-themed mocktails for the kids. I am excited.
And we were home well before 2.
And I got like 7 full hours of sleep. Almost eight, actually.
And I got these words done before my work meetings begin.
And my flight is in three hours.
Oh and before I went out, I watched this gem. Had been a while. There was one I didn’t even remember, the water-skiing one. Real slice of a better time on the internet, Fenslerfilm.
See you tomorrow!
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