Shoegaze pioneers Swervedriver play the O2 Academy Oxford on Cowley Road, headlining a club gig on their UK tour.
Swervedriver play the O2 Academy Oxford on Thursday 29 October, with Long Distance Runner opening. It's one leg of a four-date tour that also stops in Glasgow, Bournemouth, Birmingham and Leeds.
If you're not familiar with them, Swervedriver are shoegaze pioneers who formed in Oxfordshire in the late 1980s and signed to Alan McGee's Creation Records. They carved out a sonic identity that stood apart from Britpop and first-wave dream-pop by marrying roaring American alt-rock fuzz with psychedelic velocity, and their lyrics have long praised the nihilism of sports cars, racing and the open road. The Oxford date is a bit of a homecoming, then, for a band that started in the county.
Their live reputation was built on sticky-floored 1990s residencies at the venue, which was known as the Zodiac back then. While festival sets often dial back the sheer sonic weight, an indoor club gig lets them build towering walls of sound, and this is one of those nights. Long Distance Runner takes the support slot before Swervedriver take over as headliners.
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Doors open at 19:00, and the curfew is 23:00, so there's plenty of room for both acts. The O2 Academy Oxford is on Cowley Road.
