Another night at the top-notch SWG3 in Glasgow, this time to see – surprise – three bands I’ve not encountered before. At the urging of our photographer Angela, who also hails from Switzerland, I set aside a few hours to see what all the fuss was about.
But first… the . It was a fairly eclectic mix with openers Desolated being the closest thing to a local band, travelling up from London to lay down some no-mess hardcore. They hit the stage at bang on 7pm, which was when I thought the doors opened so unfortunately I missed the start of their set. By the time I arrived the main hall was already half full and bodies were flying over the barrier.
Chucking down heavy riffs and stomping about, Desolated seemed as blown away by the crowd as they crowd were by them. In typical hardcore fashion, each song was angry and brutal, and didn’t overstay its welcome. Neither did Desolated, and they left an audience that had already begin to get a sweat on with two bands still to look forward to.
The main this evening were deathcore stalwarts The Acacia Strain who were making their first appearance on these shores since 2016. A long time to wait for a band as well known as they are. Like Desolated they wasted no time in pounding out some heavy tunes and the audience dutifully obliged by throwing each other over the barricade, kicking off pits and generally behaving in a friendly, violent manner. As you’d expect.
As stated earlier, beyond the name I’m not familiar with The Acacia Strain so I’ve lifted track names from setlist.fm! They played a generous 40-minute set, and spent a sensible portion of it engaging with the screaming hordes between making loud, scary noises. I’ll be honest, their style of deathcore isn’t really for me, but I was only one person in about 1000 and the rest of them were certainly up for it. I’d call that a win for the band. Certainly they were entertaining to watch and I didn’t begrudge the time they were on stage, partly as it was fun counting the crowdsurfers as they piled over the barricade. According to the little clicker that the nice lady manning the exit in front of me was holding, they were well over 30 by the end of the third song which is pretty good by anyone’s standards.
Despite not being to my taste, their set seemed to buy quickly enough and from the satisfied smiles around me I’d say they’re worth catching next time they come through town if their music is to your taste. They definitely put on a no-holds-barred performance.
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And on to our headliners who were playing to an upgraded venue after Slay sold out. Judging by the size of the audience tonight, tickets continued to sell well so the decision to upgrade was very much warranted. I’d guess the 1250-cap hall held 1000+ by the time Paleface Swiss came on stage… and the chaos began once again. It pretty much didn’t stop for the entire time they were on stage either.
Paleface Swiss are predominantly deathcore, if you go by labels on websites, but they mix in a lot of other influences from song to song. There were raps, ambient moments, and one or two little dancey bits, but I don’t know if they’re part of the original songs or something they mix in exclusively for the live show. Either way… pretty cool.
Their music invites action, whether it be a circle pit or a wall of death, and there were plenty of both. A few songs really stood out (“My Blood On Your Hands”, “The Gallow”, “Please End Me” and “Love Burns”) but what really sold me was the band themselves. For the umpteenth time this year I’ve seen a headliner I’ve not known in advance, deliberately not known their material and just let the night wash over me. This has really helped me focus on other things – it’s easy to get caught up in the buzz when you’re going mad to your favourite songs.
Paleface Swiss are genuine. They’re great entertainers, their music slays and they’re obviously absolutely buzzing about the size of the audience they’re playing to, and getting gifts from. Top marks to the people to gave them a “Peely-Wally Swiss” Scotland flag that singer Marc Zellweger had to hop into the crowd to get translated!
It’s now quite common, and I love this, to hear bands promoting inclusion and openness about mental health in their sets and I cannot hear these messages often enough. Paleface Swiss were no exception with a couple of well-timed, well-worded statements about both. When adrenaline is running high at a gig you’re enjoying, I feel people are more receptive to messages like this.
Again a shout out to the wonderful Glasgow audience. I am very glad I made my home here, and I appreciate being told by one lovely lady at the end of the evening that she was impressed with an “older” guy giving it some for the whole headline set! Given that I reckon I had 20-30 years on almost everyone else on the dancefloor, I’m taking that as a badge of honour! Oh, and “hello” to Jack who I saw on the way out, who I met at the recent Motionless in White gig. Nice to see you again, dude!
While I doubt they’ll be headlining the Hydro on their next tour as Zellweger hinted, they may well be upping the venue size again if their growth continues… and it deserves to. If you missed this tour, keep an eye out for their next excursion and get plenty of cardio training in beforehand.
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Pics by Skull Lens Photography
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