“NEW YOOOORK CIIIIIIITY!” a packed crowd in Williamsburg, Brooklyn all screamed together. Facing them was a relatively barren stage: just a shaggy rug, a fog machine, a plastic Canada goose, a pair of bongos, and two massive drum kits adorned it. Luckily for Geese, they don’t need to hide behind spectacle. Their groovy, maximalist take on indie rock, coupled with their impressive ability to play, was more than enough to put on a captivating show. The scene had been beaming with energy for the past couple of hours, and Geese’s first of three nights in their home borough was off to an explosive start.

Last night was the inaugural day of 2024’s Geesefest: Geese’s annual hometown concert in New York City, which has now transformed into a three-night residency at the Music Hall of Williamsburg that features several emerging indie artists. “Celebration” was the word of the evening. The Brooklyn-based post-punk band just wrapped up their first stadium tour ever as the openers for King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard; the lead singer Cameron Winter was mere hours away from releasing Heavy Metal, his debut solo record; and yet another monumental year for the young band is about to end in the place where it all began for them, supported by Lip Critic and death’s dynamic shroud.

We were in for a loud evening. Lip Critic was first to rev up the audience, bringing their cut-and-paste sampling aesthetic, as well as their two drummers and hardcore rage, to the stage. death’s dynamic shroud came next, offering a dizzying electronica set complete with strobe lights, vaporwave remixes of old(ish) pop song samples, and a lot of reverberation. The crowd’s excitement reached its boiling point when Geese finally walked on. As they performed their genre-bending set—a post-punk-style rock song here, a lofi, minimalist piano solo there—dedicated fans kept up with unrelenting rigor, singing and thrashing along without missing a beat. From the start, the concert hall was in total harmony.

Most impressive was the jazz/jam band-like quality of Geese’s performance style. Sure, the recorded albums provide the basis for standard setlist. But on stage, the band revels in the process of physically making music, experimenting with their songs in real time. Geese adhered to one rule: never stop playing. No song properly ended; the band simply figured out how to seamlessly transition between them without anyone noticing until they played the first recognizable note. Throughout the evening, they frequently added new flourishes between verses and incorporated instrumental breaks to play with every track’s length. The performance of “I See Myself” (3D Country), for instance, piles more percussion onto the originally recorded track, reimagining its sensual, Funkadelic vibe as something louder, grungier rather than gospel-like, and at least five minutes longer. During his Heavy Metal single “$0,” which he performed before his band stepped on stage, Winter broke apart the song’s already loose structure, opting for higher-pitched vocalizations, ad-libbing a few phrases and some of the piano melody, and erupting into a rock band arrangement for the instrumental break rather than gently spilling into the original’s lofi piano one. The fluidity of the set allowed Geese to not only show their impressive technical skills, but also offer the audience a beautiful, unique experience. Though one might hear versions of the same songs, no night at Geesefest is going to be the same.

Even in a pair of jeans, slightly worn boots, and plain white shirt, Cameron Winter is a natural star. Watching him perform is perhaps what it must have felt like to watch Julian Casablancas sing with The Strokes back in 2001. Winter is cool and charismatic in a similar way, and his magnetism is driven by his meticulous care for the sound of his music—the polar opposite of the disoriented, melancholic persona he constructed for Heavy Metal. Winter has the ability to make the difficult task of improvising both vocally and instrumentally during an already complex rock song look like he’s done that exact version ten million times before. In fact, he executes his drawn-out, loosely-structured guitar solos as if he’s simultaneously planning how he’s going to tweak it for the next performance. Lastly, his distinct, gravelly voice united the otherwise chaotic and free-spirited music into a pleasant, coherent song. When he sang, fans listened, letting his rich vocals pour over their heads.

Halfway through their set, Geese finally paused. Winter soon cut the tense silence: “Oh, we’re just getting started…This is gonna go on for four more hours!” and exploded into the next song. While I knew he was joking, and there had to be a cut-off point to all the celebration, part of me still wishes that were true…

Geesefest continues on December 6 and 7 at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. Guerilla Toss and Cold Court are scheduled to open for the band tonight, and U.S. Girls and Fantasy of a Broken Heart will perform tomorrow. All three nights were completely sold out.

Words by Victoria Borlando

Order tickets for Geese HERE