On their first trip to our nearby Atlanta, Geese delivered another one of the iconic live shows to an audience of around 200. Having gained some serious mainstream traction with their latest and most acclaimed LP, 3D Country, this could be one of the last shows the band plays in a small venue for quite some time. After the 3D Country Tour, the band will go on to play over a dozen shows opening for Greta Van Fleet, one of the biggest bands in the world at the moment, on their 2024 tour. With this opportunity in the spotlight, the band is sure to catapult into a more serious and well deserved higher realm of popularity, so I felt quite fortunate to see them at such an intimate location.
The night opened with Lip Critic, a New York group added to the bill just a few days before the show. Being a hardcore band at their core, Lip Critic shakes things up in more ways than one. No guitars; just two drums set opposite of each other with two samplers set up on a foldout table in the middle of the stage. For a band that seems to thrive on a shock factor element, their songs actually were quite catchy, once the audiences' ears adjusted enough to detect the melody under the stereo percussion coming from both sides. With sprechgesang style post-punk vocals all too familiar to fans of Geese and their predecessors, Lip Critic were an excellent way to open the evening and get the audience excited for what was to come.
Next up was Winter, the Boston-based indie rockers that had a multitude of shows across the eastern leg of Geese's tour. I have been wanting to see this band since I heard last year's LP What Kind of Blue Are You?, a record that was easily up there with some of the best shoegaze to come out in 2022. With a classic reverbed tone and some tasteful pop melodies, it was among my favorite rock releases from last year, and the live experience did not disappoint. Apart from a problem with the backing track on "crimson enclosure," which actually lightened the mood of the already easy-going set, Winter put on a brief, beautiful performance of their best hits. Frontwoman Sabrina Winter was even kind enough to give me her setlist. I have seldom attended a show with as stark a contrast between the opener and the second act, but it actually was quite enjoyable, and allowed us to check all bases before the main act took the stage.
After a quick set change, the long-awaited quintet took their places, greeted with thunderous applause from a crowd full of cheap cowboy hats. I had a front-row spot just to the left of frontman Cameron Winter, and after a brief little blues jam to warm up, the band opened with "Domoto." I found this an interesting choice as although it was one of my favorite tracks from the new LP, it's a bit rare to see a band open with a lesser-known B-side. Nonetheless, it was a perfect choice, and the band descended further into the madness and chaos of their own composition through various hits off of 3D Country such as "Mysterious Love" and the romantic "I See Myself" until the climax of the show which was the LP's intro track "2122." Here, the band absolutely loses themselves in what was anywhere from a 10 to 15 minute extended jam of what was already the albums most lively and energetic song, with blues and hard rock guitar going back to early Zeppelin, and a masterful vocal performance from Winter as always. Up until this point, the crowd had been lively, but this song really got everyone moving. Given the size of Purgatory, anyone inside the venue apart from the bartender was moshing for this song, and I couldn't help but enjoy being crushed up against the front of the stage. Genuinely one of the best and most insane performances of a song I have ever seen, it was hard for the band or the audience to match that energy for the rest of the show. Nevertheless, the rest of the set was full of highlights, especially during "Rain Dance," the only song from the debut LP Projector apart from the encore of "Low Era." Not only is it a great song, but it's always fun to watch a crowd stumble around trying to find the groove behind the staggering guitars that are in 3/4 while the percussion stays in 4/4. The band ended with the hits from the new record: the title track and "Cowboy Nudes," and closed out the night with the final track from the album, "St. Elmo," a clangy piano-focused ballad about love? Confusion? Like most of Winter's lyrics, I am unsure of any sort of meaning, and there may not be any. Like I mentioned, the group returned to the stage performing the iconic "Low Era" and closed with "Tomorrow's Crusades," a beautiful and graceful end to a set full of chaos.
It's easy to see why Geese has been known for their live performances since their inception, and despite the high expectations I was absolutely blown away. I had been waiting two years to see these guys, and longtime WEGL readers will remember them making an appearance in one of my first ever articles for our website. Hopefully I won't have to wait that long to see them again, because I am already counting down the days.
