On the last night of their three sold out nights at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, the Brooklyn rock band takes over the spirits of Los Angeles citizens, dead and alive. Starting right off the bat, the band riles up the crowd with their closing track of their latest album Long Island City Here I Come, with lyrics such as
You were there the day the music dies
And I’ll be there the day it dies again
He said, “A masterpiece belongs to the dead”
If you are unfamiliar with Geese’s music and Cameron Winters lyricism, then I must let you in on how themes of death, morality, and Christ are very common recurring patterns in their music, and will show up all throughout the night. It is almost as if the band is pointing at the fact that they are playing for a new born generation of rock music lovers, while also recognizing the music legends that are buried in this cemetery.
I feel as though our current generation wonders whether rock music is dead, or real community has died, we feel as though we do not have anything as captivating as Nirvana in the 90s, or The Beatles in the 60s. But as Cameron Winter sings so angelicly yet so painfully, Emily Green absolutely shredding her guitar, Max Bassin goes crazy stupid on the drums, and Dominic DiGesu plays the bass so fluidly, rock music has been brought back to life in a new light.
The band plays the first note of Cobra, and I completely lose it. Tears immediately. There is something so nostalgic about this song, though it has only been released for a year, it will always be a classic to me.
Baby, let me wash your feet, forever
Though it seems a strange lyric, I have always found it very intrinsic. Circling back to the band’s themes of Christ, it is as if Winters is alluding to the act of Jesus washing the feet of his disciple, Peter.
The storytelling and poeticism of their songs stands out to me equally as much as their unpredictable high-energy and ultra electric clash sound, and the duality is shown in the following tracks Husband, Getting Killed, and I See Myself.
I See Myself is the perfect example of Geese’s high volume live sound being, maybe controversially, better than their recorded records. As a Spotify user, I have only ever listened to the live version of I See Myself, rather than the original track, as it sounds more raw and lively. Hearing it raw and live directly into my ears only solidified that opinion to me as a fact.
To confess, this is not my first time seeing Geese live, I saw them perform in San Francisco over the summer at OutsideLands Festival alongside one of my family members of whom I tried to put onto Geese a few months earlier, to which she listened with disgust on her face. However, she agreed to tag along with me to see their set, to which she was then converted to their music as she turned to me saying, “They sound much better live. They are like a new Strokes.”
The band takes an ode to their sophomore album, 3D Country, with tracks such as 2122, Domoto, Crusades, Cowboy Nudes. As a Getting Killed Tour tradition, Winters stopped in the middle of 2122 to pull out his phone and play a song off Spotify, tonight’s song being I Love L.A. by Neil Young.
L.A. loves you too, Geese.
The people of Los Angeles come together as Geese blesses the cemetery with their hit tracks Au Pay du Cocaine and Taxes. Couples cling onto each other, friends jump around in the grass, inflatable glow-up geese are being thrown up in the air, everyone singing the lyrics back to the band. Community has never been so back than on this night. And just when you think it could never end, it does, and the band walks off the stage. The crowd screams for more, chanting “ONE MORE SONG!” over and over until we see the band back on that stage, where they belong, performing Trinidad as their last song of the night.
What better way to end such a magical night than screaming with Cameron Winters,
THERE’S A BOMB IN MY CAR!!!! There is no better way. That is the perfect way to end the night. This seems like it is only the start for the Brooklyn rock band, though they have been making music since 2016, their resurgence and rise in popularity only confirms this band has a long, successful career in front of them, and is paving the way for this generation’s rising love for live rock music.
