i saw them in philly last night. it's been a pretty good year for shows, particularly this season -- highlights have included michael rother's hallogallo 2010 (nu-neu!), rangda, sleep and magma -- but swans captured the gold. the set consisted of four old songs and four new ones totaling an hour and 15 minutes, plus a nearly-two-minute encore that was half tongue-in-cheek and half brutal earhole violation. not one moment of dullness was heard, not one wasted note or breath. i expected nothing less from michael gira, and still, i was amazed at just how fucking good they were.
also, the new album is fantastic. i still haven't heard the new grinderman, but the rangda and swans albums are easily top two so far for me. swans haven't lost a step since 1996, but i never thought they would considering how aesthetically pleasing all the angels of light albums are. don't mistake 2010 swans for angels of light, though...this lineup in swans through and through.
review of philly:
http://howlinwuelf.blogspot.com/2010/09/swans-songs-philadelphia-9292010.html