Concert Reviews

Despite a whirlwind rise over the past year, Geese still performs with the rawness and hunger of a band trying to make it big.

Geese, with Gwenifer Raymond, at Roadrunner, Boston, Nov. 10, 2026.

Geese’s whirlwind rise to fame can be illustrated by a two-mile stretch in Allston.

Last November, the band performed at the intimate Paradise Rock Club, a venue with a capacity under 1,000. One fan mused that the performance was special because it “will never happen again.”

Sure enough, one year later, Geese performed down the road at the 3,500-capacity Roadrunner to a sold-out, pent-up Boston crowd that detonated at the first note of each song.

Despite it all, Geese maintains the humbleness of the high school band that they began as and with the same hunger as one without its prestige.

The band — vocalist Cameron Winter, bassist Dominic DiGesu, guitarist Emily Green, drummer Max Bassin, and touring keyboardist Sam Revaz — made their penultimate North American stop of the “Getting Killed Again Tour” on Tuesday, the first of back-to-back shows.

The band’s September 2025 album “Getting Killed” brought gaggles of fans into the indie rock, post-punk, and oft-experimental world of Geese.

Geese has spent the last year enjoying the fruits of that success and the highs and lows of stardom. Winter, 23, became one of the youngest people to headline a show at Carnegie Hall in December. The band battled psyop allegations in April. And, due to popular demand, Geese scheduled a tour redux for autumn.

Admittedly, the band isn’t for everybody. Some find Winter’s vocals the grating accompaniment to the band’s cacophony. Others, however, hail Geese as modern-day saviors of the genre. And after Tuesday’s show, it’s easy to understand the latter.

The stage is barebones — nothing more than lights, a microphone, and a platform for the drums. Seated at a piano in a white tee, Winter began the show with frenetic, digressive ramblings while the rest of the band kept up the anxious pacing of “Long Island City Here I Come.” 

The song, which details the wayward paths of life, has opened many shows throughout the tour, but it may have special meaning in Boston. 

The Brooklyn classmates-turned-bandmates planned to split after graduation. Winter was off to Boston University, and DiGesu destined for Berklee. Then, they signed a record deal.

Six years later, Geese has seemingly reached their Long Island City: a lively crowd sang every word to the performance’s second song, “Cobra.” Some in the crowd donned onesies of the namesake animal, while others carried stuffed animals. One even brought a goose statue to the pit.

“How’re we doing tonight?” Winter mumbles into the microphone. He doesn’t give time for an answer. Half a breath later, he jumps into “Getting Killed.”

It’s one sentence of a handful directed towards the crowd. Winter, for the most part, is mum. But, it’s fitting. Calling Winter the frontman is almost disingenuous. His vocals are just as much an instrument as Bassin’s chaotic yet controlled drumming, or Green’s energetic riffs. 

Throughout the show, Winter changes lyrics. Sometimes, the words lose coherency. Other times, it’s nothing more than a wail. But, the impassioned vocals serve as the band’s keystone, pulling the ensemble together in a neat bow.

That’s not to discredit the other four members on stage. And no song in the show represented each band member’s importance more than “2122.”

The song alternates between Winter’s a capella vocals and the band’s rowdy, playful instrumentals. Each member of the band seemingly took a turn as the lead, ad-libbing a fresh approach to the track.

The crowd swayed through Geese’s softer ballads, such as “Half Real,” where Winter croons about a desire to forget about a love interest. Soon after, the crowd bopped along to the funky “Cowboy Nudes,” which Bassin capped off with a thunderous solo.

After a trip through the band’s 2023 album “3D Country,” Geese closed the show with a four-track run from “Getting Killed.”

The repeated lines in “Bow Down” served as a type of sermon call-and-response with the crowd, in line with the album’s religious themes. But the crowd did not need a call for “Taxes,” as they roared the opening line in unison: “I should burn in hell.”

The subtle, celestial ringing of “Au Pays du Cocaine” evoked the feeling of holding onto something or someone, even if it’s damaging. Winter’s raw emotion bled through his trademarked nonchalance as if the song’s subject sat across from him.

The show closed with the raucous “Trinidad.” Crowd surfers began floating into the waiting arms of security guards. The band became more animated than it had been all night, whipping around their distinct, shoulder-length mop hair. And at the conclusion of the song, the band flapped off stage.

Gwenifer Raymond, a Welsh guitarist, opened the show with a 30-minute folk-inspired instrumental performance. Raymond’s emotive and haunting fingerpicking filled the venue, with the crowd cheering through each crescendo. 

Geese’s performance, which went for just over an hour, felt fulfilling. Yet, there was certainly an appetite for an extra song or two in the 15-song setlist. The band let the music speak for itself, but a dash of showmanship or light banter could round out an otherwise stellar show. 

But, Geese is a young band burgeoning into true stardom. Crowned the standard bearer of a genre’s tomorrow, a generation’s defining rock act, Geese will certainly evolve, and if Tuesday is any indication, the future is in good hands.

Setlist for Geese at Roadrunner, Boston, Nov. 10, 2026:

• Long Island City Here I Come
• Cobra
• Husbands
• Getting Killed
• 2122
• 100 Horses
• Half Real
• Crusades
• Cowboy Nudes
• Domoto
• Gravity Blues
• Bow Down
• Au Pays du Cocaine
• Taxes
• Trinidad

Geese returns to Roadrunner Boston on Wednesday, Nov. 11, at 8 p.m.

Brendan Nordstrom

Night Reporter

Brendan is a general assignment reporter for Boston.com, covering crime, education, courts, and more. 

Source