Friday night’s Brooklyn Masonic Temple date was Swans’s first hometown show in 14 years. Haunting The Chapel organized it with the Blackened Music Series and ISSUE Project Room (it was the second show I’ve put together with Gira). The reactivated Swans are on tour with Baby Dee. We added Australian-born noisemaker Ben Frost to Friday’s lineup because we thought his icy sheets of sound would work as an ideal opening/welcome. Correct: The mix of spiraling guitar washes and laptop accents filled the space gorgeously, contrasting perfectly with Baby Dee’s quieter, sparer harp (and accompanying strings), before resurfacing via the extended drone/Thor Harris-chimed “No Words/No Thoughts” intro that ushered in Swans’s set. (When the other guys hopped on stage, it really blew up.) We’d been at the venue since 11:30 that morning assisting with sound checks and setups — by the time Swans (complete with Norman Westberg, horns) dug into My Father opener “No Words/No Thoughts,” I’d propped myself against a column in the back, watching as a spectator, someone who loved Swans as a teenager, loves them now. They didn’t disappoint: Their set — from intense start to intense acappella “Little Mouth” finish — will be difficult to beat as the best live show of 2010. This isn’t surprising: Gira’s been playing live music by himself and with a band for years, give the man an eight-piece and Swans material and … Samantha Marble captured the evening beautifully with her camera. Take a look at the pictures, the setlist, and make sure to catch Swans when/if they come to your town (or a couple towns over).

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In January I posted about Swans’ plans to reform, record, and tour. At the time, I had no idea I’d be helping to organize their biggest ever show in New York City. It’s an honor — Swans’ music/thought exerted a huge influence on me at a crucial time and the band’s remained one of my all-time favorites. I put together an acoustic M. Gira show at Housing Works a couple of years ago, but this is a different monster: Haunting The Chapel‘s teamed up with the Blackened Music Series (we did Alcest at the Studio) and ISSUE Project Room to present Swans’ first show in NYC in more than a decade. It takes place 10/8 at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple (317 Clermont Ave). It will be very loud. Michael Gira handpicked Baby Dee to open. Her performance will be keyboards accompanied by a cello. We have info on the Masonic Temple show and the rest of the dates.

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The transgendered cabaret harpist Baby Dee first bleeped on our radar via her associations with David Tibet and Antony a few years back, but it was her third album, Safe Inside The Day that’s resulted in the closest listening. It could be argued that it’s partially because Dee crammed the collection with indie-rock all-star guest spots (Andrew W.K., folks from Antony’s band, etc.) and that Matt Sweeney and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy produced, but it’s also because it’s her strongest collection from head to toe. It’s appropriately steeped in her Ohioan backdrop. As Baby Dee notes:

I was born in Cleveland Ohio. This album is very much about the street I grew up on. Where The Earlie King ruled without mercy. And Bobby Slot and Freddy Weiss invented the Dance Of Diminishing Possibilities.

In the video for “The Dance Of Diminishing Possibilities,” we get to meet Bobby Slot and Freddy Weiss firsthand as they do damage to a piano in front of a burning-building mural, exercising their special dance, as a little boy experiments with nail polish and a harp.

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