It took more than five minutes after Geordie Greep’s band took the stage for him to walk up to the microphone and perform the first song in his set.
When the pre-show tunes faded at Black Cat on Saturday, Sept. 20, the crowd erupted with cheer, poking their heads over the person in front of them to get a glimpse of the stage, hoping to see Geordie Greep, the experimental rock phenomenon who carries with him a reputation for charismatic chaos and a cult-like fanbase, commence his theatrical performance of his debut solo album, “The New Sound.” Greep’s incredibly talented band, Charlie Schefft, Ethan Marsh, Dave Strawn, Cameron Campbell and Santiago Moyano, walked one by one onto the stage, and joined in a jam session that built with every new instrument added.
This delay would be a taste of what was to come for the rest of the set. Greep and his band were in no rush and had nothing to prove on the D.C. show of the “Geordie Greep: Live in the U.S.” tour. They let each song take on a new life in the live setting, with Greep changing melodic rhythms and adding in long solo breaks for each musician, even giving up the vocals to percussionist Moyano for covers of Willie Colón sung in Spanish. Songs were stretched out to twice their length on the studio recording, and the whole set was a continuous jam session lasting three hours.
Not for one moment did the music stop, even as musicians walked on and off the stage. And for fans of Greep who are drawn to him by his incredible musicianship, a display of joy surrounding complex music is exactly what they were looking for in a live set.
Originally gaining fame from his time with black midi, Greep ventured into his solo project by taking the eclecticism and pure musical talent that made black midi so popular and adding in his own personal flair, drawing on influences from Steely Dan to bossa nova. As Pitchfork’s Sam Goldner said in his review of the record’s lead single, “Holy, Holy,” Greep keeps the theatrics associated with his name from his black midi days through the compelling characters he describes in his lyrics and the complex, jazzy chords only an expert music student like himself would know how to include in a catchy song like this one, but ultimately simplifies the black midi chaos and proves “4/4 really can be one of the most exciting time signatures.”
Greep’s show had no opener, no draw other than the craze around “The New Sound.” His previous tour had skipped D.C. earlier this year. For his Washingtonian audience, he had a blank slate, but he nevertheless iterated on the setlist from his last tour. Repeat concertgoers noted additions like the black midi song “Dangerous Liaisons” and an unreleased song called “Snow Shoes.” He quoted the guitar riff from Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” in the middle of a solo, too, which raised cheers from the audience.
Most of the setlist was filled with songs from “The New Sound,” woven together by extended jams with impressive solos from every musician. Building on an already outstanding record, Greep reinvented his tales of morally gray characters using an expertly concocted mixture of his memorizable melodies and stunning solos. It was easy to lose yourself in the show because of the nonstop sound; the three hour set flew by in an almost transformative haze that pulled the audience into the world he created on “The New Sound.” Fans sung along to jarring lyrics about women giving birth to goats and checking one’s balls for lumps, dropped their jaws in awe at the neverending solos and danced along to the stretched out songs for the entire three hours.
Greep’s live show felt less like a concert and more like a victory lap, a celebration of expert musicianship from a group devoted to innovating in their art. To witness it was to bask in the talent of one of the music scene’s most skilled up-and-coming artists. Greep is unstoppable – he is one of the best modern examples of musicianship’s emotional power, and at age 26, he’s just breaking into his solo career.
Images by Ben Ackman