After recently confirming several North American dates in September and October, the band are set to hit Europe in late October, starting in Germany on Oct 23. They are scheduled to perform in Leeds and London – on Nov 7 at Project House in Leeds, and on Nov 9 and 10 in London at Electric Brixton.

We’re thrilled to announce the return of SWANS! The post-rock innovators will be performing pieces from their upcoming album ‘Birthing’ at Leeds’ Project House and London’s Electric Brixton this November.

Tickets available Friday 10am:https://t.co/MIneztITHl pic.twitter.com/sBPL46qy6N

— FORM (@formpresents) April 24, 2025

Frontman Michael Gira has confirmed the band members who will be joining for this tour: Kristof Hahn, Dana Schechter, Larry Mullins, Phil Puleo, Christopher Pravdica, Norman Westberg and Michael himself. The band has gone through several member changes through its career, with a ‘dynamic lineup’ that has only kept Michael Gira as a constant part.

The band, who’ve influenced countless musicians from Nirvana to Napalm Death, are set to release their seventeenth album, ‘Birthing’ on May 30, 2025. A preview of the album can be found with the recently released single, ‘I Am A Tower’, a hypnotic, haunting track that builds up in atmosphere as it goes along. Gira shared some insight on the new album, as he suggests he’ll be stepping down as the main producer and finding a new sound for Swans after ‘Birthing’ is released:

“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.”

Swans were formed in 1982 by Michael Gira in New York City. Both their lineup and their musical direction have changed many times, with their earlier 80’s albums like ‘Filth’ and ‘Cop’ featuring heavier, more dissonant textures. After that they explored different genres, such as acoustic styles on ‘The Burning World’ (1989) or alternative atmospheric sounds on ‘Love of Life’ (1993). Gira disbanded Swans in 1996, choosing to focus on other projects before reforming the group on 2010 with the critically acclaimed album ‘My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky’. Since then, the band has continued release records and tour.

All dates for the Swans 2025 European/UK tour can be found here. ‘Birthing’ is also available to pre-order here.

The tour is following on from their previous European tour in November 2019. The band planned to tour in 2020 but due to the pandemic, they were unable to. In a statement by Michael Gira on the website for his independent record label Young God Records, he said ‘’Hello There, Hope you are well and staying healthy in these trying and claustrophobic times. Around here stasis, and even entropy have set in, as the protracted waiting and isolation sees the walls grow a crust, and stalagmites perceptibly wind their way down from the ceiling, millimeter by millimeter. Nevertheless, joy is in the air! Though numerous Swans tours have been either cancelled or postponed, and the future remains uncertain, we have devised a few ways to keep things interesting and solvent until something opens up again and we can get back to making music.’’

Throughout the career of the band there have been many band members. 29 members have appeared in the band to later depart, including Singer and Keyboardist Jarboe, who was in the band from 1986 up until the band split up in 1997. The remaining band members of Swans now consists of Michael Gira, Kristof Hahn, Larry Mullins, Phil Puleo Christopher Pravdica and Dana Schechter. Michael Gira reformed the band in 2010, without many of its original members. The band continued to tour and release new albums as a reformed group. All of the Swans albums, since 1990, have been released through Michael Gira’s own record label, Young God Records. After Swans disbanded in 1997, Michael Gira went on to front American folk band, Angel of Light. Angel of Light were active until 2009, the year before Gira decided to reform Swans.

Swans were significantly busy during their first decade as a band. Recording six albums in the 80’s alone, overall the band produced 15 albums since their formation in 1982; Filth (1983), Cop (1984), Greed (1986), Holy Money (1986), Children Of God (1987), The Burning World (1989), White Light From The Mouth Of Infinity (1991), Love Of Life (1992), The Great Annihilator (1995), Soundtracks For The Blind (1996), My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky (2010), The Seer (2012), To Be Kind (2014), The Glowing Man  (2016) and Leaving Meaning (2019). Swan’s recurring lyrical content consists of meaningful and dark themes, such as Death, Religion, Sex and Power. The band are associated with an experimental type of rock music and ever-changing sound, exploring in genres such as post-punk, industrial music, Neo folk and noise rock.

The tour will begin on May 20 in the German city, Leipzig. The band will continue to tour around European countries and finalise the tour mid-June in the Netherlands.

Swans 2023 European Tour Dates:

20/05/2023 – UT Connewitz – Leipzig
21/05 – Imperial Castle – Poznan
23/05 – Kinoteatr Rialto – Katowice
25/05 – New Synagogue – Zilina
26/05 – Kino Siska – Ljubljana
29/05 – Teatro Duse – Bologna
31/05 – Le Transbordeur – Villeurbanne
02/06 – Primavera Sound Festival – Barcelona
04/06 – Culturgest – Lisbon
05/06 – Culturgest – Lisbon
06/06 – Teatro das Figuras – Faro
09/06 – Primavera Sound – Madrid
11/06 – Vrahon Theatre – Athens
13/06 – Moni Lazariston – Thessaloniki
15/06 – Bourla Theatre – Antwerp
16/06 – TivoliVrendenburg, Utrecht

To access tickets for the Swans 2023 European tour, click here.