When is a reunion not a reunion? When Michael Gira says it ain’t! A ton of great, late bands have been returning to existence, the road, and even the studio, fulfilling the dreams of older fans who’ve been missing ‘em for lo these many years, and younger fans who never got to catch ‘em first time ‘round, but instead only found them through the many bands that they’d influenced. But don’t call the return of Swans a ‘reunion’, as singer/songwriter Gira has brought the hugely influential post-punk outfit’s the name & material back as just another step forward, all to go along with last year’s brand-spankin’-new My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope To the Sky.
For those not in the know, the original Swans were born in the No Wave scene of early eighties New York (America’s answer to those pretentious Brits), but actually kept going (if you need a geographic/chronological contemporary, think Sonic Youth – QRO live review), with an impressive discography, which saw them evolve & invent without losing touch, and much-heralded (and loud) live show. Gira eventually broke up the band to focus on other projects in 1997, including his Angels of Light and the label he founded, Young God Records (who’ve given the world such diverse artists as Akron/Family, Devendra Banhart, and Calla). But in 2010, Swans’ MySpace page announced, "SWANS ARE NOT DEAD".
Not that this is a reunion tour. Gira has revived the Swans name for new material, not a rehash of the old, with My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope To the Sky – but don’t worry, the classics are still there in the live show, too. So catch the band on the western leg of their North American tour (with Young God artist Wooden Wand opening up) – not to mention dates Down Under, in Japan, Israel, and literally all across Europe:
2/18/11 – Austin, TX – Mohawk
2/19/11 – Dallas, TX – South Side Music Hall
2/20/11 – Tulsa, OK – Marquee Theater
2/22/11 – Denver, CO – Summit Music Hall
2/25/11 – Vancouver, BC, Canada – Rickshaw Theatre
2/26/11 – Seattle, WA – Neumo’s Crystal Ball Reading Room
2/27/11 – Portland, OR – Roseland Theater
3/1/11 – San Francisco, CA – The Regency Grand Ballroom
3/2/11 – Los Angeles, CA – El Rey Theater
3/6/11 – Auckland, New Zealand – Powerstation
3/10/11 – Melbourne, VIC, Australia – Forum Theatre
3/11/11 – Brisbane, QLD, Australia – The Hi-Fi
3/12/11 – Sydney, NSW, Australia – Metro Theatre
3/15/11 – Tokyo, Japan – Club Quattro Tokyo
3/17/11 – Osaka, Japan – Club Quattro Osaka
4/9/11 – Lisbon, Portugal – Aula Magna
4/10/11 – Porto, Portugal – Porto Casa da Musica
4/12/11 – Tel Aviv, Israel – Barby
4/14/11 – Athens, Greece – Gagarin 205
4/16/11 – Tilburg, Netherlands – Roadburn Festival
5/2/11 – Copenhagen Demark – Vega
5/3/11 – Arhus, Denmark – Vox Hall
5/4/11 – Malmö, Sweden – Babel
5/6/11 – Oslo, Norway – Rockefeller
5/7/11 – Drammen, Norway – Union Scene
5/8/11 – Stockholm, Sweden – Strand
5/10/11 – Tampere, Finland – Klubi
5/11/11 – Helsinki, Finland – Tavastia
5/12/11 – Tallinn, Estonia – Von Krahl Theatre Bar
5/13/11 – Riga, Latvia – VEF Culture Palace
5/14/11 – St. Petersburg, Russia – SKIF Festival Sergey Kuryokhin Modern Art Center
5/15/11 – Moscow, Russia – Avant Club
5/18/11 – 1 Leipzig, Germany – Central Theater
5/19/11 – Munich, Germany – Feierwerk
5/20/11 – 1 Graz, Austria – Explosiv
5/21/11 – Budapest, Hungary – Trafó House of Contemporary Arts
5/23/11 – Zagreb, Croatia – Teatar Itd
5/24/11 – Ljubljana, Slovenia – Kino Kiska Centre for Urban Culture
5/25/11 – Salzburg, Austria – Rockhouse
5/26/11 – Düdingen, Switzerland – Bad Bonn Kilbi Festival
5/28/11 – Barcelona, Spain – Primavera Sound Festival
