I didn’t expect to see Geordie Greep twice in one day. I certainly didn’t plan on it. Hell, I wasn’t even all that sure I wanted to even see him at all.
But once I did see him that first time as the headliner at Mohawk’s All Are Welcome day party, I decided I wouldn’t be too upset if I did see him again. And after weighing my other options for the evening, it was an easy enough decision to take in Greep’s second set of the day as part of that evening’s BME showcase at Palm Door on Sixth.
Backed up for his SXSW shows by Newcastle jazz combo Knats, Greep and his bandmates put on an impressive display of musicianship that had me thinking, “Holy shit, Geordie Greep is in his Spinal Tap Mark II jazz odyssey era!” And that, my friends, is a very good thing.
Closing out that show at Mohawk, Greep referenced his late Black Midi bandmate Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin and fondly reminisced about them playing SXSW a few years back around the release of his former band’s debut album Schlagenheim. They then launched into a snippet of that album’s first track “953,” which caused a few Black Midi fanboys who totally weren’t paying attention to his stage banter to freak out and rush closer to the stage.
Later that night, for round two, it was much the same set (minus the free jazz noodling the band engaged in during their soundcheck at Mohawk), but no less impressive, with numbers like “Blues” and “Holy Holy” standing out as the highlights.
Ultimately, Geordie Greep puts on quite the show – not only is he a talented player, he’s also just an interesting guy to watch onstage, coming off a bit like some 1930s troubadour who was somehow pulled forward in time and then fed a steady diet of Primus, King Crimson and Return to Forever. Good stuff.
