This is a set of photographs from the gig of SWANS at Electric Brixton in 2025. Jessica Moss was the supporting musician for this gig.
Blaue Rosen ![]()
A night of industrial psychedelia and profound meaning
No other band has managed to hold the breath of an entire venue in their hands until the night of the third gig of SWANS in London, marking the end of this iteration of the band.
We all participated in a 2½ hr long meditative, industrial, psychedelic, emotional confession. Some of us did not leave our houses with any such expectation or desire…and yet this is exactly what happened to us because this band, with its powerful maestro, instigator, and Seer, managed to get through all of our defences to achieve an unforgettable result.
A band that is a sign of our times
Let me start by saying that the surfacing of The Sick Man of Europe at this point in time in London with a name that borrows the phrase attributed to Tsar Nicholas I for
describing the decline and weakness of the Ottoman Empire (and these days more often refers to Germany’s status quo), is some of the most inspiring news this year. I believe that The Sick Man of Europe is one of the most relevant bands out there. In times of multidimensional crises, emerging artists who are socially perceptive and can get valid points across are truly fascinating.
Can this country be perceived as the sick man of Europe of our times? I think it can, and it is, and the repetitive nature of this band’s message and rhythms works symbolically in many ways to get this message across.
Current 93 live at Union Chapel
It has been six years since I last saw you perform live, dear David, as Current 93 with Nurse With Wound at the release of ‘The Light Is Leaving Us All’. Many things have changed since then, but the magical energy that David Tibet is enveloped by and emits remains undimmed. I have been following C93 and attending their performance for 22 years, but I will never forget the first gig I attended in Athens, for the duration of which I was in tears. I have changed a lot since then, but the melodies, the lyrics and David’s delivery of them, still cut through all my layers of change.