Soul-uplifting and Body-destroying

When something is "soul-uplifting and body-destroying", what do you interpret that as? This description is a perfect summation of my experience from seeing the band, Swans back in early March.

Now, I haven't been to many gigs but after seeing another live performance from a band that are legends in their own right back in mid January, I had the feeling that it wouldn't be topped. How wrong I was.

My inspiration comes on the rainy night of March 1^st, at the Regency Ballroom in San Francisco. It started out rather unspectacular, to be honest. There is always support before the headliner. Personally, I feel sorry for them because I sure wouldn't want to be the lead in for this band. After about some 30 odd minutes, they finished up and we waited. Some people I talked to who had seen Swans before their deformation were rife with anticipation and surprisingly, a bit fearful. 

Where was the band? A loud drone filled the air and the lights above circled hypnotically. This continuous drone continued to build and grow louder for about 20 minutes. Finally, a band member came out and added to the drone, it was a deep and piercing note from a steel pedal guitar. It continued like that for some time until another appeared and started playing tubular bells. A guitar came into the mix, followed by pounding drums and a thunderous bass that vibrated the ballroom. The incomparable Michael Gira then took center stage and seemed to be in a swaying trance as he began to play.  

With a massive stomp of his foot, the sound was complete. This man is in his mid fifties but displayed an intensity that no one could predict. Men half his age couldn't hope to muster this kind of control over the audience. The music was so vibratory and loud that earplugs were practically irreverent and it stayed that way for over 2 hours.

What can I say? What's my inspiration? It was life changing. Something I'll never forget.

We were a worm on the anvil and Swans was the sledgehammer.