April 1, 2012

Swervedriver played Bowery Ballroom



The 1990s were alive and well last night at Bowery Ballroom as Swervedriver came to New York for their most recent round of reunion shows. Armed with an extensive, and somehow under appreciated, discography, the U.K. quartet made the most of the venue's pristine sound system and delivered a stunning performance. While the group was originally associated with shoegaze acts such as My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, and Ride, their eye contact with the crowd and blend of dreamy/psych-rock with early alternative allowed them to really expand their sound on later records. Kicking things off with Mezcal Head classic "Last Train to Satansville", the band unleashed walls of sound that were complemented with rocketing solos and scratchy, washed out video clips blanketed the band during their hour and a half set. With little words to the crowd, the band powered on submerging their vocals in a haze of guitar and touched upon moments that reached all the way back to their terrific debut, Raise. Even before returning for a three song encore, the crowd was erupting with cheers for some of their quintessential anthems and proving that while they might not be met with the same love as those other shoegaze legends, Swervedriver still left their mark on the scene.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love Swervedriver the most out of all the shoegaze legends so not sure what you are on about.

Anonymous said...

Saw them in Portland the other night. Great show. It's a shame they've been lumped in with other bands in the shoegazer scene. That label has always been the lazy press' way of stamping a time and place on music they have not really cared to do careful listening to... They were/are different than their contemporaries.