Editing Swans (band) (section)

==== Live shows ====
One of the trademarks of Swans' early period was playing at painfully loud volumes during concerts, sometimes leading to police stopping shows. Gira was also notably confrontational with the audience, such as stepping on people's fingers resting on the stage, pulling people's hair and, notably, physically assaulting anyone caught in the crowd [[headbanging]], something Gira detested.<ref name="Interview with Seconds at swans.pair.com">{{cite journal|last=Moynihan|first=Michael|year=1996|title=Seconds interview|url=http://swans.pair.com/PRESS/int_sec.html|journal=Seconds|access-date=February 20, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150602061923/http://swans.pair.com/PRESS/int_sec.html|archive-date=June 2, 2015}}</ref> This lent a reputation to the name Swans which was one of the contributing factors in Gira's retirement of the band in 1997.<ref name="The Final Sacrifice: M. Gira retires Swans">{{cite journal |last=Mamone |first=Jordon N. |date=May 1997 |title=The Final Sacrifice |journal=[[CMJ]] |url=http://swans.pair.com/PRESS/art_CMJ.html |access-date=February 20, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121128143042/http://swans.pair.com/PRESS/art_CMJ.html |archive-date=November 28, 2012 }}</ref>

Since Swans' re-formation, Gira has made a point of maintaining the intensity of their live show, stating that it is at once "soul-uplifting and body-destroying". He has also sometimes turned off the air conditioning before Swans performed and compared the experience to a Native American [[sweat lodge]].<ref name="Michael Gira Interview on Crasier Frane">{{cite web|url=http://crasierfrane.com/interviews/michael-gira|title=Michael Gira |date=October 20, 2010 |work=Crasier Frane |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110110212348/http://crasierfrane.com/interviews/michael-gira|archive-date=January 10, 2011}}</ref>