Swanfest

w/ Dwellings, Body Thief, Within Destruction, Stolas, Rain City Drive, SIM, Set If Off, Saosin, Periphery, Dance Gavin Dance

Swanfest made its debut appearance on the East Coast. The festival this year took place at The Mann Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and included ten bands playing a variety of hardcore and rock music genres. The festival began with songs by Dwellings, who energized the crowd. The crowd was pumped up for the rest of the day's events. Body Thief, a band from Maryland, took the stage after them. In addition to original compositions, they performed a cover of Daft Punk's electronic music group's "Get Lucky." Within Destruction, who are Slovenian, took the stage next and was unquestionably the day's most metal act. In comparison to the start of the event, more mosh pits were forming, along with death growls and pig squeals. Next was Stolas. Along with Body Thief, they are the only two acts signed to Blue Swan Records, the imprint established by DGD guitarist Will Swan. With a lot of guitar solos, Stolas performed a special set. Next up was Rain City Drive, who kept the energy level high with their lively show. The next international band was SIM, a Japanese band that performed a high-energy mashup of several musical styles. SIM's excellent set combines hardcore music with reggae. As the event was coming to an end and there were only three performers remaining, Set It Off took the stage next and energized the crowd. Festival mode had been activated as the light was becoming darker. Lead singer Cody Carson once started crowd-surfing among the audience members. Saosin was the next to go, which immediately caused the crown to get even more giddy and made crowd surfing more necessary. Crowd-surfing opportunities were plentiful. The crowd was kept engaged until DGD took the stage by the following act, Periphery. When Dance Gavin Dance took the stage, beach balls and inflatable flamingos were all over the place.  

[Photography by Wes Shepherd]