Live music review: Swans played final big sound performance at Mohawk

September 24, 2025 Troy Gonzales 2977 Views concert, experimental rock, jazz, Little Annie and Paul Wallfisch, live music, Michael Gira, mohawk, post rock, Review, Swans

Legendary experimental rock band Swans returned to Austin on September 10 to play Mohawk for what is being touted as the group’s final full band tour in support of Birthing, their 17th studio album. Bandleader, Michael Gira has stated that the record would be the last “big sound” Swans album, with future releases from the band being “significantly pared down” and that it would mark his last album as the main producer of Swans. For music fans who made it to Mohawk earlier this month, it was a bittersweet moment from artists who have deeply influenced various experimental music genres since their inception in 1981.

Gira is supported on this last big tour by Dana Schechter (bass guitar/keyboards), Phil Puleo (drums/backing vocals), Norman Westberg (guitar), Kristof Hahn (lap steel guitar/backing vocals), Christopher Pravdica (bass guitar/backing vocals/Taishōgoto), Larry Mullins (percussion/melltron/vibes/backing vocals). Of the six songs that they play on this tour, most are new compositions that are currently works in progress that will reach their final form by the tour’s end, at which point they may be used for their next album.

The current tour isn’t the full aural assault that we saw at Paramount Theatre in 2023. Don’t get us wrong, the heavy, aural assault was present over the two-plus hour performance but the setlist ebbed and flowed more than their previous Austin appearance. Almost as if Gira was preparing Swans fans for what comes after he takes off his producer’s hat and the band focuses on the pared down material he’s mentioned is coming.

Little Annie at Mohawk Troy Gonzales Openers, the Miami-based Little Annie & Paul Wallfisch, brought their unique brand of jazzy cabaret to the stage to set the tone for Swans final swan song (sorry, not sorry) at Mohawk