Swans, who recently announced their seventeenth studio album, “Birthing”, arriving on May 30th, 2025, via Young God Records/Mute, have confirmed a European trek in support of the highly-anticipated release, launching on Oct. 23 in Leipzig.
The tour, with the previously announced North American dates, will be the last “big sound” Swans tour, with a line-up of: Michael Gira, Kristof Hahn, Dana Schechter, Larry Mullins,
Phil Puleo, Christopher Pravdica, and Norman Westberg. European support comes from Jessica Moss with Little Annie & Paul Wallfisch opening on North American dates.
Tickets for all performances are on-sale now via the Young God Records here.
European & UK Tour Dates 2025:
October 23 Leipzig, DE Haus Leipzig
October 24 Neunkirchen, DE Neue Geblassehalle
October 26 Munich, DE Technikum
October 28 Prague, CZ Archa+
October 29 Graz, AT Halle Detroit
October 31 Ljubljana, SI Kino Siska
November 1 Zagreb, HR Boogaloo
November 3 Ferrara, IT Teatro Comunale
November 4 Milan, IT Auditorium di Milano
November 6 Paris, FR Trabendo
November 7 Leeds, UK Project House
November 9 London, UK Electric Brixton
November 10 London, UK Electric Brixton
November 14 Leiden, NL Nobel
November 15 Nijmegen, NL Doomroosje
November 17 Copenhagen, DK VEGA Store
November 19 Oslo, NO Vulkan Arena
November 20 Stockholm, SE Slaktkyrkan
November 22 Tallin, EE Paavli Kultuurivabrik
November 24 Vilnius, LT Kablys
November 25 Warsaw, PL Stodola
November 27 Berlin, DE Festaal Kreuzberg
November 28 Berlin, DE Festaal Kreuzberg
North American Tour Dates 2025:
September 4 Philadelphia, PA Union Transfer
September 5 Washington, DC The Howard Theatre
September 6 Norfolk, VA The NorVa
September 9 Dallas, TX Granada Theater
September 10 Austin, TX Mohawk Austin
September 12 Albuquerque, NM Sunshine Theater
September 13 Tucson, AZ The Rialto Theatre
September 15 Los Angeles, CA Lodge Room
September 16 Los Angeles, CA Lodge Room
September 17 Los Angeles, CA Lodge Room
September 20 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall
September 21 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall
September 23 Seattle, WA The Neptune Theatre
September 24 Portland, OR Revolution Hall
September 27 Denver, CO Bluebird Theater
September 28 Omaha, NE Waiting Room Showroom
September 30 Chicago, IL Cabaret Metro
October 1 Detroit, MI The Magic Bag
October 3 Toronto, ON Phoenix Concert Theatre
October 4 Montreal, QC Théâtre National
October 6 Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club
October 7 Brooklyn, NY Brooklyn Steel
A preview of “Birthing”, produced by Gira and recorded at Soundfabrik Berlin, can be heard via the recently released song, “I Am a Tower”,
Gira shared insight into the new album, as well as insight into the future of Swans:
“The material contained in this album was largely developed over the course of a yearlong Swans tour, during 2023 – 2024 (‘The Healers’, ‘I Am a Tower’, ‘Birthing’, ‘Guardian Spirit’, ‘Rope’, and ‘Away’), then recorded and further orchestrated and rearranged in the studio. Two pieces were created and performed in the studio (‘Red Yellow’, ‘The Merge’).
In all cases the material began with me sitting in my office with an acoustic guitar, singing and dreaming about what would become of these skeletal songs. I’m blessed to have such a stellar group of musicians to work with live, and through improvisation, endless revisions and an intensity of focus in performance (not to mention endurance), over the course of time the music morphed into what you generally hear on this collection.
This album, coupled with the recent live release, ‘Live Rope’, constitutes my final foray (as producer / impresario) into the all-consuming sound worlds that have been my obsession for years. We’ll do a final tour in this mode towards the end of 2025, then that’s it.
After that, Swans will continue, so long as I’m able, but in a significantly pared down form. Hints of that direction can be found in a few moments on the current album. In the meantime, my hope is that the music provides a positive and fertile atmosphere in which to dream”.
“Birthing” pre-orders are available here, with the album available on triple vinyl (in a brown chipboard sleeve), double CD (in a brown chipboard digipak), and digital formats. Initial pressings of the triple vinyl and CD editions include a bonus DVD featuring “Swans Live 2024 (Rope) The Beggar”, a concert film directed by Marco Porsia from the last Swans U.S. tour, plus Christopher Nicholson’s documentary on Gira’s 2022 solo tour, entitled “I Wonder If I’m Singing What You’re Thinking Me to Sing”.
Michael Gira founded Swans in 1982. Initially known for their brutal, high-volume onslaughts of sound and the extreme, abject imagery of Gira’s lyrics and his thundering vocals, Swans underwent a series of startling transformations over the next 15 years. After early punishing albums like “Filth and Cop”, they explored proto-industrial rock with Greed, atmospheric and martial elements on “Children of God” (1987), acoustic meditations on “The Burning World” (1989), and grand, melody-dense sonic whirlwinds with White Light from the “Mouth of Infinity” (1991) and “Love of Life” (1993), before becoming more dissonant and sharp-edged with “The Great Annihilator” (1994). Finally, the ultimate statement of that epoch of Swans, “Soundtracks for the Blind”, combined all of these elements across well over two hours of music. Gira disbanded the group, shifting focus to Angels of Light and his Young God Records label, fostering artists like Devendra Banhart and Akron/Family. In 2010, he revived Swans with “My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky” to ecstatic critical response followed by “The Seer” (2012) and “To Be Kind” (2014), with both earning critical and commercial success, leading to sold-out tours and multiple Billboard chart placements. “The Glowing Man” (2017) marked the end of that Swans incarnation, with “Leaving Meaning” (2019) and “The Beggar” (2023) continuing Gira’s work with an evolving lineup.
