As part of their much anticipated UK tour, American punks Geese hit up Bristol’s record store and live music venue Rough Trade for a night of loud and angry music.
Opening the show was L’Objectif, from Leeds. These guys are certainly jumping on the indie-rock hype train that is currently sweeping the UK – and worlds – music scene by storm, combining wavy riffs, strong bass lines and softly spoken poetic words to be part of it. And these boys certainly do it well, with the almost matching dress code and great on stage energy.
My favourite song of theirs has to be Have Your Way, with its really solid beat and the heavier bass than most of their other songs, which matched front man Saul’s voice brilliantly. I really liked the bassist – Ezra – on stage energy, jumping and dancing around the stage like a mad man, and even going into the crowd for the bass solo of the final song!
And then it was onto the main act of the night. Even though they are a relatively small band over here, playing in the hometown of IDLES meant they drew a fair sized crowd at the show.
Right from the off, Geese brought all the energy they had with them, breaking into 2122 straight away. L’Objectif had done a good job of warming the crowd up, and it was needed as they went into the heavy, angry sound they are known well for. Just like Ezra, front man Dominic kept up the energy and dance moves throughout the set.
Most singers who don’t play an instrument normally choose one of two option on stage – awkward hand movements or dancing around like a mad man. Dominic certainly chose the latter.
After the third song, the stage lights all changed to pure red, an interesting choice and one I can’t quite understand, especially as it made the couple of photographers in the crowd a bit unhappy, but it certainly brought a certain mood to the show.
It’s a shame the crowd weren’t too into the show really, other than a few bobbing heads, all the energy was coming from the stage, and little reciprocation from the crowd. I think Geese were expecting a bit more from the people who came along, but sadly it just wasn’t there on the night. Even the attempts at a crowd clap-along were unsuccessful. For a busy gig that these people had paid to come to, it was a pretty disappointing reaction. As the set came nearer to an end, more people started getting into it, but sadly the room was pretty still.
And then that was it for the night, Geese put on a brilliant performance with plenty of energy and musical talent, and it was a shame the crowd weren’t as into it as they could have been. Maybe they were saving all their energy up for festival season?
Review and photos by Ted Stargatt
TrueStyleMusic 