Gira solo

i always have a respect for solo musicians who dare to encounter their audience armed with nothing than their voice and a guitar… yesterday i saw michael gira, former front man of the swans, perform in the small upper room of paradiso, amsterdam… and it was an impressive and intense experience, not just laidback listening songs by an elderly veteran, but mr. Gira was at times shouting his lungs out and abusing his guitar… no wonder he needed gallons of mineral water and herbal tea and lots of throat sweets. he played of course various (new) solo tracks, but also some swans classics, like ‘new mind’, ‘blind’, ‘failure’ and ‘goddamn the sun’… the performance of support act devandra banhart could perhaps be called unusual or interesting…