Swans, 17th November 2025, Store Vega, Copenhagen, Denmark

Photo: Jens Wassmuth for Swans

There is no one out there quite like Swans.

And that has been a fact for the major part of their more than four-decade-long recording career. They do things their way. While that is an overused expression, it is undeniably true when it comes to these experimental rock legends. And if you for some reason are not familiar with Swans, it’s fairly certain that they’ve inspired some of your favourite bands – whether they are doom, progressive, industrial, grunge, post-rock, or just about any other subgenre of rock/metal.

On the current tour, much like on their previous one, the band plays long shows but keeps the setlist to only a few songs – a big chunk of which are previously unreleased.

Last time around, the new songs they performed ended up on the band’s next studio release, this year’s Birthing. The two new songs played last night in Copenhagen will most likely be released on a live album, which is expected to come out after this tour concludes. It’s one of the ways Swans finance their studio albums.
The thing is, however, that the band’s leader Michael Gira has stated that Birthing was their last “big sound” album, with future releases taking a significantly stripped-down approach. Taking the nature of the two new songs into consideration, it’s hard to see how those would fit into that framework – so perhaps they will only be released as live versions.

If two new songs out of a total of five wasn’t enough, Swans tested the audience in several other ways during last night’s show at a packed Vega. For instance, they chose to open and close the show with new material – songs people hadn’t heard before. And the remaining three songs were not classic crowd-pleasers either, but rather one song from this year’s Birthing, one from its predecessor, 2023’s The Beggar, and a single track from 2014’s To Be Kind.
Furthermore, Swans rarely perform songs in their original versions, and each of the three older songs last night was, of course, delivered in an expanded, reworked form with plenty of room for improvisation.

All of it was conducted and strictly comntrolled by Gira, who at the same time came across as both a mad artist completely possessed by his own music and a conductor fully in control of everything happening on stage. It’s the dynamic that makes a Swans show what it is.

Throughout the concert it’s never quite clear where the band will move next, but whatever direction they take, it is dictated by the emotion the music and performance evoke in Gira. It flows softly through build-ups with hypnotic ease, balancing fragile beauty with frantic brutality – and everything in between. The improvisations add to the excitement and unpredictability, and it’s in these moments that the magic truly occurs. It’s where Gira can get visibly unsettled if he’s not happy with something being played one moment, and the next moment lose himself in a blissful smile and approving glance when the emotion in the performance matches what he feels.

Swans’ music and their live performances are something unique, and have been for decades. Yours truly’s first live encounter with the band was almost three decades ago, and even then they would pull out things like this – for instance closing the show with a four-times-longer version of “Blood Promise.” Still, it’s no less admirable that the band continues to do things their own way, regardless of expectations and regardless of the fact that in 2025 general attention spans have shrunk massively. What’s impressive is that, with all this taken into consideration, they still make it work in a way no other band can.

Add to all that the fact that they played the entire two-and-a-half-hour show with the house lights on, and that before the show Gira softly stated, “Good evening, we’re happy to be here. We ask of you only one thing – don’t use your smartphones,” and the crowd actually listened.

For the majority of the show Gira had his back to the audience, serving as a conductor and constantly keeping eye contact with the remaining six band members. The band members also maintained visual connection with one another, feeding off each other’s performance and energy. This results in an intense dynamic that adds to the vitality of the performance, ultimately pulling the audience deep into the world that emerges from a Swans show.

If this indeed is the end of “big sound” Swans, then Birthing is a strong finale, and last night’s concert was an outstanding farewell of that side of the band to the Copenhagen crowd.

If you get the chance to see them on this tour, do yourself a favour and go while you still can, for seeing Swans live is an experience unlike any other…

Because there is no one out there like Swans.

SETLIST:

1. The End of Forgetting
2. The Merge
3. Paradise is Mine
4. A Little God in My Hands
5. Newly Sentient Being