Music opinion: Geese review - Getting Killed tour storms through Manchester

Last September saw the Brooklyn-based outfit’s fourth album receive roaring acclaim, and on the back of solo successes for frontman Cameron Winter, the band found themselves headlining one of the most in-demand gigs of the year. 

Geese’s Getting Killed was something of a perfect storm; Winter’s eclectic Heavy Metal had slowly but surely captured the attention of the mainstream and, upon turning back to the company of his high-school compatriots, he seems to have capitalised. 

With UK dates also including Leeds, Bristol, Glasgow and London, their Manchester date seemed to have caused quite the stir. 

Drummer Max Bassin posed next to a large sign asking for Geese tickets just a day prior, and many seem to be licking their wounds at not capitalising on a venue upgrade. 

The concert was originally slated to take place in New Century Hall, but overwhelming demand saw the band take the stage in the O2 Victoria Warehouse instead, with similar instances happening across the country. 

Music News Blitz’s Freddie Thomas-Neher offers his thoughts on the gig. 

Getting Killed and Croc trouble 

It’s a hard distinction to make about whether Cameron Winter is laced with charisma or completely devoid of it, but whichever side you fall on, it works. 

The utter indifference that the 24-year-old frontman seems to have about taking the stage for such a night is quite entertaining in itself and as the Brooklyn-based five piece launched into their first song, crowd pleaser Husbands, his sunglasses stayed glued to his face. 

To clarify, they stayed there pretty much the entire time and with the band rattling off the entirety of their Getting Killed album and more across the gig, Winter seemed pretty committed to finding entertainment in his own way. 

Claiming his happiness at being surrounded by the ‘great stewards of Manchester’ upon a Croc being thrown on stage, presumably for him to sign, he rattled off a tongue-in-cheek story about a fellow band member's long-lost footwear, proclaiming that if at any point he loses “even a sandal” then the Northwest will be on the receiving end of a visit. 

Alongside his self-sufficient stage antics, he is undeniably quite the talent in a live setting. 

Lurching through their impressive catalogue, the band hammered through the titular Getting Killed, followed by a surprise addition of Mysterious Love from their previous album. 

Islands of Man (or Islands of Manchester according to the smirking Winter) turned into Half Real and it became increasingly apparent that the alarmingly young group had no intention of reprieve or, despite Winter’s humorous intentions, not giving their songs the representation they deserved. 

Drummer Max Bassin is simply unshakeable; arguably leaning on prog roots with his style, he simply did not put a foot wrong and lived up to claims of him being one half of the best rhythm section around. 

Bassin’s backbone gives the impression that the band have been playing together so long and so frequently that if you don’t know where they are in a song, they definitely do. 

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‘Fools Gold’ and 3D Country 

Not limiting themselves to just the new stuff, Geese also found the time to bring some of their classics to the Northwest. 

The aforementioned Mysterious Love was a welcome surprise and was one of four tracks from 2022’s 3D Country that found their way onto the setlist. 

The funk-infused pairing of I See Myself and Cowboy Nudes, both of which to great adoration, were quite the double header as time went on, with the guitar-led tracks allowing Emily Green’s brilliance to fully shine through. 

The big surprise of the night was the appreciation for Manchester music, and with the band all openly expressing their sadness at the passing of legendary Stone Roses bassist Mani, it seemed an inevitability that they would sneak something in. 

2122, a fan favourite for its snappy start, has become something of a hybrid with the band playing changing covers in the middle of each show.

Previous offerings have included Can’s Halleluwah, Black Sabbath’s Rat Salad and Pink Floyd’s Interstellar Overdrive, but this time it was the Roses’ legendary jam track Fools Gold that took the forefront. 

While the song elicited one of the loudest roars of the night from the attendees, it could show that playing a different song each gig with little rehearsal is potentially not the best idea. 

To begin with, Winter didn’t actually know the words or the guitar part and the drums/bass combination between Bassin and Dominic diGesu was the carrying force for the wayward cover. 

Eventually returning for the culmination of their own song, Winter seemed to chuckle at the botch-job, land the changes and carry on as normal, and with the crowd lapping up the familiar favourite, nobody seemed to mind much anyway. 

Westside Cowboy and technical difficulties 

A rather unexpected disappointment for the evening was, through no fault of their own, the up-and-coming Westside Cowboy, who played a homecoming show in support of Winter and co. 

Known for raw harmonies and their unique ‘Britainicana’ style, the band struggled against a slew of technical issues that muffled their effectiveness. 

Jimmy Bradbury could be in need of a new ax, a new guitar tech or both, with him even apologising to the crowd for his SG’s constantly falling out of tune throughout the set. 

Drummer Paddy Murphy also had a stray cymbal in need of attention after just one song. 

Bradbury eventually broke a string on their closing song and, seemingly to his own disappointment, had to keep pausing between tracks to assume his guitar/vocals duties for the four-piece. 

Personally, I’d seen the band for their headliner at The Quarry last year, and a very impressive headliner at that. 

Their strength then was quite clearly their smoothness between songs; they rarely stopped, rarely made mistakes and knew exactly where they were going, and with Bradbury unfortunately falling victim to technical issues, the wind seemed a little out of their sails this time around. 

Undoubtedly a small blip on an upward trajectory, the Cowboy will definitely be back down the line and hopefully with a visit to a luthier under their belts. 

An immense final three and closing with the opener 

Massively impressive up to the closing stages, the point was pretty comprehensively hammered home with the New York band’s final three. 

Viral hit Au Pays du Cocaine was another recipient of an ear-piercing reaction from the crowd, who had been nothing short of lively all evening. 

The track originally found fame online due to its simplistic, yet unexplainably heart-wrenching lyrics and once again served as quite the testament to Winter’s live talents, his voice pitch perfect throughout. 

Album single Taxes followed, once again to quite the response, with a long jam around Getting Killed’s final track Long Island City Here I Come serving as the closer for the night, featuring Winter on piano for the introduction. 

The inevitable encore followed, with one lone song from the band’s album yet to have been played, opening track Trinidad, a smashy war cry of a song implying that Winter has some rather suspicious possessions in his automobile. 

“There's a bomb in my car” was screamed by all attendees as they walked out again, with the frontman chuckling at the concept that he might just not play the song. 

Despite the suggestion, he did, the ground shook and the band left with a room of people still waiting eagerly to know their next move, whether it be a follow-up to Getting Killed, Heavy Metal or something in-between. 

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