Goose tour headed down the coast to California last night to begin the final weekend of their September tour in San Diego. While the band has a history of playing more fun and vibes-oriented shows in SoCal, they threw down last night with a flawless second set in both song selection and execution, perfectly setting up their 10th anniversary in LA tonight.
The night began with “Turbulence & The Night Rays,” an always-reliable opener that set the tone nicely for the evening before “Mais Que Nada” came in as a more familiar cover to some fresher faces in the crowd.
Drummer Cotter Ellis fronted “Draconian Meter Maid” for another relatively short 10-minute tune, continuing the solid set with a brief burst of major-key improv led by guitarist Rick Mitarotonda. A second of the new September songs came next with multi-instrumentalist Peter Anspach’s “One In, One Out” – I had initial hopes that the band would build on the excellent version played in Montana last weekend, but they opted to continue with the restrained nature of the set and moved into Radiohead’s “Weird Fishes” just short of the ten-minute mark.
Our first dose of jamming came with a rare first-set “Into the Myst,” Anspach diving into some punchy Vintage Vibe tones as the band built into the usual major-key space. Mitarotonda hung back on leads as the motif developed, the band showing off their late-tour form and impeccable listening as they built as one toward a joyous peak. Ellis was especially strong in this jam as he has been in “Myst” all year, pushing from a tom-heavy beginning to a ride cymbal-led party as the peak grew closer.
Mitarotonda evoked excellent emotion with his melodies as per usual, bringing the first-set highlight jam to a close as the crowd locked in and roared with approval. The band did an excellent job of catering song selection to the audience in the show, only playing one quieter tune the whole night – which helped to drown out the talkative demographic often found at shows in this area.
Coming down from the peak, the band drove into a thumping minor-key zone with Ellis seemingly all over his kit at once, Mitarotonda driving into a stop/start motif for a brief spell before pulling the band out of the jam and kicking into “So Ready.” It’s always fascinating to me how Mitarotonda will end a jam often when they get into a driving funk zone like this – it happens often and I’d love to know if there’s something about it he doesn’t want to explore further.
When “Madhuvan” opened the second set, it was clear we were in for something big. The band showed remarkable patience from the get-go with a space-out into a serene landscape, coloured by heavy reverb from Mitarotonda and a low OB-6 synth drone. I did expect Anspach to make an early switch to keys from here as he does so often, but he stuck to guitar instead, fluttering around the sparse jam until Mitarotonda brought things back to earth with some calming riffs.
Ellis began to push things forward as bassist Trevor Weekz piped in with some gorgeous melodic work, the whole band coming together on a beautiful major-key theme. Two-guitar Goose has been rare on this tour, so it was an extra treat to get to experience Anspach’s excellence on the instrument, supporting Mitarotonda’s leads with some off-kilter and slightly dissonant textures. Weekz continued to play a very active role in the jam as all five musicians on stage locked in together, Anspach finding a progression with echo-y and hypnotic lines.
Ellis upped the intensity with heavy tom work as percussionist Jeff Arevalo joined him, big hits informing a glorious explosion into peak land before settling back into the build they had been on before.
Anspach let loose big power chords behind Mitarotonda’s leads, the band raging through the blissed-out rock for an extended period. Ellis, as always, used his perfect instincts to know when to switch up the vibe of the jam, dancing around his ride cymbal and increasing the tempo as Anspach switched to piano on a quick modulation.
Mitarotonda hinted at a departure into darker territory but instead stuck to the airy motif they were building, bringing things down quiet and leaving space for Weekz to come up for some upper-register melodies. Guitar and keys locked in on a repeating melody as the band explored a new vein of major key, eventually winding things into a more sinister-toned jam. Driving forward aggressively, Mitarotonda toggled his vibe between light and dark, riding the line perfectly as the band re-entered a very “Madhuvan”-like zone.
Riffing around “Mais Que Nada” for a bit followed by some foreshadow-y “Factory Fiction” vamping, the band confidently blew through a sustained and explosive push toward the ending of “Madhuvan,” blazing through with straight heat like only they can do. Weekz especially shone in this build, his volume up as he played his ass off – it’s crazy how much an active bass changes (and improves) Goose’s sound.
“Red Bird” was tapped next and continued the strong jamming, Mitarotonda building the Type I to another blistering peak before the band mellowed out and ventured into unknown territory.
Weekz pushed to the forefront again as Anspach coloured the background with bright piano licks, Mitarotonda infusing his playing with subtle clouds of delay, warbling into the high-pitched reverse scuzz heard in jams like the 2023 Eugene “Borne.” The band soared in this vein for a while before breaking for funkier play, Arevalo coming in with some serious percussion work as Weekz continued to play as a lead instrument as opposed to a support like bassists usually do.
Decisively smashing into a funk groove, Anspach took to the clav as the “Bird” morphed into what easily could have been an “Arcadia” jam. Anspach added in some sirens on his Moog Muse as the band ripped through the singular motif, taking their time through a gnarled and dirty peak.
“This Old Sea” offered a gorgeous breather after the intensity of “Red Bird” before Goose kicked into “Factory Fiction” to close the set. Expected at tonight’s 10th anniversary show, I am HERE for the band choosing setlists in unexpected ways and bucking the obvious choice of this special song at the special show – a real treat for those who decided not to skip San Diego before LA.
With only a few minutes left on the clock for the encore, we got a concise and ripping “Zalt,” demonstrating once again that this song can and should be used as a five-minute rocker in addition to a huge jam vehicle.
We head to the Greek Theatre in LA tonight to celebrate the ten-year anniversary of Goose’s first show, and I cannot WAIT to see what the band has in store for us. It’s my last show of this leg of tour and I am READY to rage!
Livestreams are available for the final two shows of Goose’s September tour, exclusively to nugs subscribers.