Review: Geese at The Grey Eagle
When reviewing a performance of a much-hyped band who is touring on the strength of a breakthrough album, the possible response ranges between two poles of a critical reception. One option is to pursue the Emperor Has No Clothes route and say, “This band is not as good as the buzz would have you believe.” The extreme other end of the reaction spectrum is to go all Jon Landau and declare: “I saw rock ‘n’ roll future and its name is Bruce Springsteen.”
Geese performed at The Grey Eagle on Nov. 9, towards the end of a nationwide tour, fueled by the heat of Getting Killed, its third full-length album, released only six weeks ago. While this reviewer isn’t prepared to quit his job and start managing the band like Landau did with Springsteen, it’s clear that Geese is on the rise and building an audience to make a run at rock ‘n’ roll stardom.
Perhaps the band’s management underestimated the venues it should be playing on this tour as secondary markets for tickets were selling as high as $1,500 each in Chicago and Los Angeles. But then maybe this kind of scarcity helps build demand and makes the experience of those who actually get to see Geese perform even more elevated.
This was certainly the case in Asheville as The Grey Eagle — capacity 550 — never looked so full. Beyond having the tailwind of a growing fanbase behind them, Geese certainly demonstrated that it possesses the necessary presence and musical acumen to travel the Earth at high speed.
After a set of solid, competent ballads with the occasional whiff of shoegaze from openers Dove Ellis, “Husbands” started the headliners’ show with a slow groove as the band expertly generated power and built to a peak before flawlessly transitioning to the ferocious big sound of “Getting Killed.” This tandem gave way to the sexy feel of “Islands of Men,” illustrating that Geese can hold an audience through a range of different modes and tones.
While it was evident that the band has been honing its skills on the road, it was also refreshing that Geese doesn’t care much about guitar heroics, but rather emphasize a tight band sound centered on lead singer Cameron Winter’s vocals. Winter sports a singular stage presence. He’s not uncomfortable with the attention that comes with being a frontman. He was at ease talking with fans and interacting with one in particular. He even claimed, “I never do crowd work,” which seemed slightly disingenuous as he immediately introduced the bouncy, infectious pop sunshine of “Cowboy Nudes” as “one of our hits.”
The sing-along for the “Be my warrior” chorus of this self-proclaimed “hit” made sense since that song dates back to the band’s 2023 album 3D Country. Even more impressive was the crowd accompaniment during performances of tracks from the just-released Getting Killed. “Taxes” gathered force from its spooky complex groove to stimulate the assembled to yell the triumphant “Doctor heal yourself” line in union. And the crowd’s accompanying vocals during “Au Pays du Cocaine” started off lovely and sweet and flourished into rock and roll euphoria by the song’s end.
Geese’s rock band bonafides were certified with the closing number “Long Island City Here I Come.” Winter played a long, slow, yearning introduction on the piano before the band abruptly kicked into a polyrhythmic beat. This sudden transition resulted in a few grins from the band and its videographer. As the sample-based passage stretched out, Winter moved to the front of the stage, repeatedly chanting, “Here I come, here I come.” The bandmates once again showed how locked in they are as they double-timed the tempo into hardcore territory, and then doubled that rhythm once again and sent the audience into a near frenzy.
After returning to the stage for the encore, Winter said, “Aw, we were always coming back. It’s the charade of the encore,” and Geese kicked into the combustible tension-and-release zone of Getting Killed’s opening song, “Trinidad.” With that, an actual mosh pit opened up in the middle of The Grey Eagle floor. From an outside perspective, this may have been an unexpected outcome for a song that is slower than, say, “Long Island City Here I Come,” but it made perfect sense in the context of the performance as the band summoned a feeling of turmoil and danger. This sense of unease funneled into Winter’s screamed chorus of “THERE’S A BOMB IN MY CAR!!!” It was a climatic and — pardon the pun — explosive conclusion to Geese’s performance.
Everyone deserves the opportunity to witness a band on the rise, and for a reviewer who is, *ahem*, a few years older than the median age of the Geese audience at The Grey Eagle, it was gratifying to see that this younger crowd was able to experience a rock ‘n’ roll band with real lasting power in road-tested top form. Attendees will certainly cherish that they had this opportunity to witness Geese at a small club in Asheville before the Saturday Night Live appearance and giant venue performances that seem inevitable for a band this good.
(Photo by Kyle Berger)
