Show Review - Goose 10/29/24 Miami Beach, FL

A New Vibe

Goose played their first headlining Florida show since 2017 last night, debuting a new stage arrangement and packing an excellent two sets with numerous standout jams. Kicking off five nights in the Sunshine State, Goose came ready to play with the first of two at Miami Beach’s Fillmore – and the crowd more than responded with electric energy all night.

The band rocked through a typical opener of “The Whales,” multi-instrumentalist Peter Anspach fronting the tune from his new stage-right perspective. Drummer Cotter Ellis got his turn at the mic for “My Mind Has Been Consumed By Media,” his new side-profile perspective giving us a better look at his playing – and interesting attire, which included a coonskin cap last night.

Guitarist Rick Mitarotonda did a quick moment of delay noodling before handing the reins to Anspach for “Into the Myst,” marking the first repeat of this tour and an atypically short gap for the song. The band opened up the standard major-key space, but we were quickly taken in an atypical direction by Anspach’s reverbed-out clav work, adding an element of funk quite different from the usual bouncy Vintage Vibe.

From there, Goose locked in as one and galloped to a euphoric peak, Anspach once again shining – this time on marimba piano with heavy synth undertones thanks to the Moog Muse.

Eschewing the “warm-up” vibe that has been so prevalent in first sets of late, the band moved into “Borne,” unleashing one of the best versions of the song in recent memory and easily the top version of 2024. The key? THE SLOW JAM. There’s been a lot of chatter throughout 2024 about how the “2001”-style “Borne” jam can drag on a little long as the band can sometimes struggle to break into extended territory – but last night saw the revival of the spacier, slowed-down version that makes 4/25/23 and 6/22/23 so great.

Shuffling into the improv, Anspach brought in a low synth drone as he infused the space with drawn-out piano work, the band quickly coalescing into an egalitarian mode. Mitarotonda dirtied his tone and began to rip measured leads, increasing the chaotic undertones of the groove as Anspach continued to stay on the brighter side of things.

The dual-drum attack of Ellis and Jeff Arevalo was on full display last night – the new side view allows an amazing angle of the two of them locking in, and that’s exactly what was done as the energy of “Borne” began to reach a fever pitch, heavy drums combining with guitar to craft an amazing first peak.

Descending back into space from there, Anspach moved to dreamy Moog Muse tones as the OB-6 drone continued underneath, getting into an ambient mode that Goose seldom hits. Ellis took the initiative and began to push the tempo underneath the winding synthesizer and Mitarotonda quickly followed suit, beginning busier play atop bassist Trevor Weekz’ subtle envelope-filter work.

On a dime, Anspach switched from pleasant major-key riffs to unsettling and dark-tinged. Calling to mind the Fiddler’s “Madhuvan,” Weekz began to burst forth with deep hits around the hypnotic synth. Now firmly in the dark and charging motif that has shown up a lot this year (most notably the Westville “Rockdale”), Anspach began to lay into thick carpets of Muse tones while hitting some piano at the same time, locking in with Mitarotonda as they developed into a theme akin to the intro of “Factory Fiction.”

This became the drive to a final peak as Goose blew the roof off the theatre, all attendees dialed in right with the band as the band used some well-timed hits to finish things on a high note.

Anspach quickly capitalized on the energy by weaving some piano lines into crowd-favourite cover “The Way It Is” ahead of a set-closing pair of a “Duel of the Fates”-infused “Flodown” and a monster rocker of a “SALT” (yes, it’s called “SALT” again).

With excellent time management on their side, Goose had ample space to stretch out in the second set, beginning with a big “Pancakes.”

The jam quickly began to take off thanks to insistent double drumming from Ellis and Arevalo. Mitarotonda turned to some bubbly Mu-Tron tones as Anspach introduced some clav alongside his piano. The combination of sounds there locked in with the rhythm section as the drummers mimicked the keyboard hits alongside Mitarotonda’s soaring guitar work.

Coming down from the peak, things quickly got funkier thanks to Anspach’s clav and Ellis’ pivot into a tighter beat. Mitarotonda joined in on the wah antics with some frenetic vamping while Weekz initiated a new progression of a similar tone to the Fiddler’s “Jive Lee,” though a much more in-your-face vibe than the synth space of that jam.

Exploring this space for a couple of minutes, the band then smoothly transitioned into a new key, Mitarotonda activating his digital sauce pedal subtly to add a cool extra angle to the fiery peak. Maybe it’s the new stage setup, but it felt like there was a LOT of adventurous interplay last night – especially from Weekz, who is now right in the centre of the fray.

“Rosewood Heart” was tapped as a cool-down of sorts for just its fifth appearance of the year. The band took this one for a solid Type 1.5 ride through some cool descending progressions, but opted to keep it close to home rather than dive into truly uncharted waters.

We knew it was coming at some point in Florida, and “Butter Rum” emerged from the crunchy interlude for its first appearance in the Sunshine State since the infamous Joey Fatone performance at Disney World last summer (if you haven’t seen this, it’s a must-watch).

Mitarotonda returned to Mu-Tron land as the jam kicked off, locking in with Anspach’s thick Vintage Vibe hits, the keyboardist infusing a slow phased-out effect to highlight the major-key progression he started into.

What ensued from here was several minutes of good-time jamming – not in a casual or easy way like Goose can fall into sometimes, but a very intentional development of a theme much like last year’s Fox “Yeti.”

Anspach introduced a bed of synth as Mitarotonda took the reins and soared atop the rhythm section for an extended foray into some seriously glorious soloing before pulling things back to the islands for the conclusion of “Rum.”

From there, “Everything Must Go” offered another quick breather before jumping into another relatively brief bout of improv, this time a development of a moodier version of the SPAC “Drive” peak melody, nicely accentuated by Anspach’s piano work.

A relatively mellow conclusion led to a dance-party “Animal” set closer and a “Don’t Do It” encore that had the crowd roaring in approval.

One down, four to go – we’re back tonight for the second show in Miami before heading to St. Petersburg for Halloween, and I’m hoping that the band gets even more locked in on their new setup to build on the musical themes of last night.

Livestreams of the remainder of tour are available free for nugs subscribers.