In The Loop Magazine Swervedriver Prove Some Records Never Age As They Reignite Their Debut 'Raise' 35 Years Later In Chicago

Swervedriver Prove Some Records Never Age As They Reignite Their Debut ‘Raise’ 35 Years Later In Chicago

Aug 24, 2026 admin_bitlc Features, Music News, Reviews 0

By Jamie Jacobs

Swervedriver returned to Chicago Sunday night, bringing their “Raise at 35″ anniversary tour to Thalia Hall for a celebration of their debut album.

Those who came to hear the 35-year-old Raise weren’t looking for reinvention. The opportunity to hear Swervedriver play their 1991 debut from beginning to end was reward enough, and the band delivered. There was an easy confidence to the performance, the result of musicians drawing on years of experience to mould both sound and feeling.

Much has always been made of Swervedriver’s assortment of effects pedals, and guitarists Adam Franklin and Jimmy Hartridge didn’t disappoint, building the swirling layers of sound synonymous of the band. “Rave Down” was a particular highlight, as Franklin’s sweeping wah-wah guitar moved across the dense texture of Hartridge’s chugging rhythm to produce the movement and noise characteristic of Swervedriver’s sound.

While much is made of the band’s effects-laden guitars and legendary pedal collections, the rhythm section of drummer Mikey Jones and bassist Mick Quinn – also known for his work with Supergrass – was incredibly solid. Tight, loud and locked-in, they provided the foundation for the guitars to soar. That balance was particularly important with Raise, and hearing the album performed live made that especially apparent.

The band played Raise from beginning to end in its original running order, bringing 35 years of experience to the performance and displaying how well these songs have held up. After completing the album, the band returned for a second set that ranged across its history. Mezcal Head was represented by “Out” and “Duel,” while “The Birds” and “How Does It Feel to Look Like Candy?” drew from Ejector Seat Reservation. Marking the ends of the spectrum, the set included the 1990 b-side “Juggernaut Rides” and the considerably later “For a Day Like Tomorrow,” from 2015’s I Wasn’t Born to Lose You. Such a breadth of material covers a long and varied career that reaches well beyond a single album.

Perhaps the most interesting performance was that of the song “Flawed.” As the band described on their Instagram page, the song was “originally recorded in the band’s Camden rehearsal studio in 1990, the track has finally made its way out into the world, more than three decades later.” On a night devoted to revisiting the past, “Flawed” was a reminder that Swervedriver is not content to live in it.

Anniversary tours have become an increasingly common feature of the live-music landscape. There was a time when bands were expected to tour to promote a new release. Now, for artists with decades of experience behind them, the album itself can become the event. As long as audiences want to revisit records that meant something to them – and are willing to pay to do so – there is little reason for bands not to return to their past material in this way.

Sunday’s audience reflected that phenomenon. Thalia Hall was only around half full, and much of the crowd appeared old enough to have encountered Raise when it was new. That made for an unusually comfortable concert experience: there was room to move around the floor, change vantage points, and actually watch the band without spending the evening negotiating a forest of elbows. There was, however, a noticeable sprinkling of younger faces in the room as well. With shoegaze finding appeal with a new generation, this suggests that acts like Swervedriver aren’t surviving on nostalgia alone.

If there was anything disappointing about the evening, it was simply that more people weren’t there to hear it. An anniversary performance of a 35-year-old debut album may naturally appeal most strongly to committed fans, but Swervedriver sounded anything but like a band going through the motions. Instead, they were relaxed and confident playing these songs to an appreciative audience, proving that no matter the age they can still rave down.

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