Live Review: Geese @ Metro Theatre, Sydney

Music fans rarely have the chance to be in the room as a band’s career blossoms in front of their very eyes.

Yet that was the privilege that Sydney punters attending the first Australian headline show of New York City wunderkids Geese had at the Metro Theatre on a balmy February evening – a side show for the band currently touring the country for the Laneway Festival.

Geese were one of the musical stories of 2025 – or more accurately, frontman Cameron Winter was, receiving critical acclaim for both his solo record Heavy Metal and his band’s latest LP, Getting Killed; its experimental and forward-thinking brand of alternative rock pushed the boundaries of accessibility right to the edge, and somehow won them a swathe of new fans around the world.

Mixing up the likes of Beck, Radiohead, The National, Nirvana, Deerhunter, and all manner of jazz into one hell of a weird cocktail, the adulation that Geese developed is both a surprise and a relief for music fans in an increasingly artistically stale Western music industry.

Accolades ranging from landing the number 1 spot on New Yorker music journalist Amanda Petrusich’s list for 2025 to appearing on Saturday Night Live and featuring on the Tiny Desk YouTube channel (their set was released the day of this show), there’s never been a better time to catch a band cresting a wave of popularity.

This show sold out months in advance, but that didn’t stop punters turning up when doors opened to try and snag any last-minute tickets. “We’re very, very sold out tonight”, said a security guard to a visibly distressed fan as the crowd filed past. Turns out, sometimes the hype isn’t restricted to TikTok – good old word of mouth is what has set this band ablaze.

So much was the hype that the Metro Theatre was packed to the rafters well before Melbourne post-punks Radio Free Alice took the stage as supports.

Gifting the crowd with 40-odd minutes of Joy Division and The Smiths worship was a good way to get things warmed up for what was to come (and also a reminder of the musical fads that led up to the emergence of the night’s headliners).

However, the crowd was appreciative – yet slightly restrained.

That all changed when Geese arrived onstage.

Led out by Winter, a now sweltering Metro Theatre lost its bowels en masse with the appearance of popular music’s strangest cool kids.

However, much like its music, Geese refused to pander to any sense of fanfare; this was its night to be delivered strictly on its terms.

While the screams of adorers split the air, Winter and co. calmly tuned their instruments, before glancing at each other, taking a collective breath, and sliding into a woozy rendition of Getting Killed track Husbands.

Listening to Getting Killed can be a challenge at first. The sheer breadth of musical flavours – all delivered with a humid, uneasy sense of tension – can feel sonically uncomfortable, and anything but anthemic.

It was all the more impressive then to see the Metro Theatre take up the lyrics as one, with punters raising their hands in twisted worship of the nihilistic noir folk filling the auditorium.

However, at its core, Geese is a really, really good rock band – and this was driven home by a scintillating rendition of last year’s album title track following the opener.

From there, the band delivered a spellbinding collection of its catalogue, with highlights including the uber-experimental Islands of Men, Cowboy Nudes, and a particularly euphoric rendition of Au Pays Du Cocaine.

This was a band firing on all cylinders, with no weak points. Winter’s tortured vocals – reminiscent of Thom Yorke and Mick Jagger without the private school pomp – soared above the mix in a heavenly fashion. At the same time, the rhythm section of Max Bassin (drums) and Dominic DeGesu (bass) was the glue that held the otherwise frantic arrangements together.

Bassin, in particular, delivered an exceptional performance, alternating between bursts of violence and deft percussive expression, more reminiscent of jazz maestros Jack DeJohnette or Elvin Jones.

However, it was the tones of Emily Green that elevated Gesse’s sound above the standard live rock band tonight; their tones alternate between beautiful textures and violent spasms, with the same dynamic breadth as Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead) or even Stuart Braithwaite (Mogwai).

Geese closed the main set with a stirring rendition of the 60s-infused, Woodstock off-cut Taxes, before returning for a barnstorming encore of Trinidad.

Winter’s shriek of ‘There’s a bomb in my car’ is the call to bedlam that the gaggle has been waiting for; the floor of the Metro erupts into a churning sea of limbs, with many a pair of Doc Martens and Clarks the victim of the melee.

It’s a stunning, chaotic close to one of the very best examples of a “I saw them before everyone else” show.

Some of the defining names of rock delivered early performances at the Metro Theatre – including Linkin Park, The Strokes, and Muse.

Whether Geese attain those heights, only time will tell (if they even care to push that far).

What is clear right now is that Geese is Gen Z’s first great rock band, pushing the genre forward and performing at a standard that leaves its much older and more experienced peers looking almost pathetic by comparison.

Geese is the story of guitar music right now, and 1200 Sydney-siders were lucky enough to see it up close.

It’s unlikely they’ll get a vantage point like this ever again.