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Getting thrilled? Geese play sold-out St. Paul show amid big national buzz

October 20, 2025

Geese performed to a sold-out crowd at Amsterdam Bar and Hall in St. Paul on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025.Darin Kamnetz for MPR

Sometime in the last week or so, I prewrote the headline “St. Paul goes gaga for Geese” strictly as a joke to myself. On paper, this outcome was written in the stars. Before the ascendant New York indie-rock band played a single note, their Saturday performance at Amsterdam Bar and Hall was cruising (or soaring?) towards legendary status based upon the hype alone.

The buzz took flight in late September when GQ’s lengthy, revealing profile dubbed them “Gen Z’s first great American rock band, the rare group in 2025 that reorients our attention toward rock’s future, away from its past.” This take aligns with the anticipation felt by fans following the band’s deservedly beloved 2023 sophomore album 3D Country and then Heavy Metal, the late-2024 solo debut from Geese’s enigmatic frontman Cameron Winter. Would new material follow the expansive, soulful rock of the former, or embrace the experimental triumph of the latter?

How about both. On Friday, Sept. 26, Geese released their third full-length album, Getting Killed. These songs set Winter’s profound and introspective vocals free to explore while his virtuosic bandmates focus on big beats, hooks, and anxious, rumbling noise. That same weekend, the Kenny Beats-produced collection received a glowing 9.0 (Best New Music) review from Pitchfork, and fans mobbed a free outdoor album-released show in Brooklyn. Then the band performed “Taxes” on Jimmy Kimmel Live, and The New York Times helped us tell them apart from their jammier band cousin Goose. (Now there’s talk Winter maybe covered Bruce Springsteen for an Xbox ad.) This is just a sampling of the clout Geese scored during the past couple of weeks. There’s a lot out there.

So did St. Paul go gaga? Often when a band sells out a Twin Cities venue that holds 650 people months in advance, especially on a desirable Saturday night, that show gets moved to a bigger room. Not this time. (Geese already had the tour routing printed on the T-shirts, OK?) This scarcity pushed perceived demand for the $27 face value tickets so high that resellers were asking $350 in the days leading up to the show.

The demand also passed the eye test. A little after the Amsterdam Bar and Hall’s doors opened Saturday night, a line snaked out the door and up five flights of stairs. More than a few curious local musicians and journalists were there early. Last fall, Geese opened for King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard at Armory, so this was a far more intimate Twin Cities stage to witness their unleashed manic energy.

Inside, the room was already packed for the opening band, Racing Mount Pleasant. Also young and prodigious, the Michigan-based seven-piece embraced a mix of shimmering chamber-pop and folk arrangements reminiscent of Broken Social Scene or Black Country, New Road. Frontman Sam DuBose often let his voice break, and the group leaned into the heightened mood, which evolved into a bit of a swoon-athon by the end. With emotions primed, this audience was eager to receive Geese, who arrived in the Twin Cities about a week deep into their Getting Killed Tour.

Geese performing at Amsterdam Bar and Hall — Cameron Winter. Geese performed to a sold-out crowd at Amsterdam Bar and Hall in St. Paul on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025.
Darin Kamnetz for MPR

Donning a red-and-black baseball cap, shades, and dark jacket, Cameron Winter emerged onstage resembling Liam Gallagher, or Grandpa Boy-era Paul Westerberg (more on that later). Guitarist Emily Green, bassist Dominic DiGesu, drummer Max Bassin, and touring keyboardist Sam Revaz quickly assembled around him and launched into the beat-heavy “Husbands.” The song brought out the first of many forceful, robust displays from drummer Max Bassin. Sweating, licking his lips, and coming back for another ferocious fill, Bassin spent the next couple of hours turning the room into a beating heart.

A natural at commanding the stage, Winter didn’t let his disguise keep him from connecting with the crowd and centering his bandmates. Outpourings of applause and hearty cheers came early and steadily until the end. On record, his vocals express amusement, anger, empathy, and paranoia. On Saturday night, he didn’t hold any of that expression back when embodying “Getting killed by a pretty good life,” and asserting “There is only dance music in times of war.” Geese performed all 11 of Getting Killed’s shapeshifting tracks with a handful of older songs tucked in between.

Geese’s confidence in their pacing showed with the tight groove of “Islands of Men” holding the second slot in the set. Like several of the night’s bangers, it built bigger once DiGesu’s bassline thudded into place midway through. Could this have been the song played last to send the crowd home happy? Absolutely. But for Geese, things were just getting warmed up.

Between songs, Winter wasn’t a big talker, at first. He seemed focused on making the show go off safely, though. During the muscular, keytar-enhanced 3D Country gem “2122,” he broke up the crowd’s rising intensity with a warning, and then later interjected again by playing the Replacements’ queer love anthem “Androgynous” off his phone. It redirected the energy to clapping and singing along. While there was moshing accompanying some of the heavier songs, the vibe in the room stayed communal.

Guitarist Emily Green faithfully brought to life Getting Killed’s most discordant arrangements, as well as the retro Strokes-ier “Fantasies/Survival,” the lone song from their 2021 debut, Projector. She nailed the dulcet notes leading into “Au Pays du Cocaine,” and, in case you are sensing a theme here, helped drive it to its wild finish. After this song, Winter bent to the crowd’s wishes and sheepishly started introducing the band, beginning with Green. The crowd immediately erupted in an effusive “Emily! Emily!” chant. An undeniable guitar hero, Green couldn’t help but let her body contort at the night’s most potent moments.

Over and over, Geese found creative ways to build and broaden their set. As soon as they reached one ceiling, they broke through and found new walls to climb. The dense coda of “Getting Killed” might have been the moment when everything seemed closest to falling apart, but they brilliantly pulled back together. “Half Real” was the show’s avant Velvet Underground moment, with Winter proving he can do so much with just a well-placed “ooh.” When he and the band didn’t lead with their instruments, they hit us harder with the words: “I’ve got half a mind / To just pay for the lobotomy / And tell ‘em / ‘Get rid of the bad times / And get rid of the good times too / I’ve got no more thinking to do.’” Catharsis doesn’t even begin to describe it.

After the sweet release of “Cobra,” the songs left in the night were a vigorous fireworks display. The impressive funkiness that Geese conjured for the recording of “Bow Down” was even more outrageous live. DiGesu’s bassline chewed up everything in its path, and Winter let out his fiercest guttural yells. During the set-closer “Taxes,” Winter’s eyeballs finally made an appearance. The crowd absolutely reveled in bellowing along, and were soon chanting “Geese” after the band left the stage.

For the encore, Winter shifted to keyboard for the slow-and-sentimental-to-rattling-and-reeling “Long Island City Here I Come.” DiGesu’s auxiliary bongo-playing was a highlight of the band truly firing seemingly everything they had left in their clips. And then finally, Winter announced, “This song is called ‘Trinidad’.” The mosh pit really opened up on this one, which has been the finale for much of the tour. Winter chucked his hat into the crowd. Again and again, the entire room screamed, “There’s a bomb in my car!” And with nowhere left to go, it ended.

I’ll leave the Genius annotators to parse out exactly what Geese’s music is all about. Every time I’ve heard the “Islands of Men” line, “Will you stop running away / From what is real and what is fake?” I’ve had a new theory.

What is real and what is hype? Coming out of Saturday night, for this observer, primal exhilaration was real. A diverse group — across culture, gender, and maturity — gathered, witnessed, and stayed mirthfully engaged with a substance-over-artifice show. Geese’s songs were expertly delivered with rising repetition, cunning melodies, and flat-out musical chops. There was an overwhelming feeling of gratitude in the room Saturday night. Rampant spontaneous hugging, even. The opportunity to be that close to such a generous group’s high-wire musical act only comes along only so often.

Geese

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