Show Review - Goose 11/1/24 St. Augustine, FL
110 Decibels
So maybe I’m kind of a vibes guy?
It’s honestly hard not to be after last night’s show, where Goose absolutely torched the St. Augustine Amphitheater for their fourth of five Florida shows this week. The post-Halloween band came ready to rock, delivering an amazing amount of music that fed directly off of the absolutely feral energy of the crowd.
As is tradition (at least in 2024), the band led off with “Hot Love & The Lazy Poet,” marking its ninth appearance in the slot this year. It’s the perfect way to groove into the show, giving every member a chance to stretch their legs before things got serious later in the set.
Multi-instrumentalist Peter Anspach fronted “Butterflies” next for its first appearance on fall tour, guitarist Rick Mitarotonda using his pedalboard to whip up a frenzied cloud of reverse-delay noise, keeping things standard yet hinting at the continued possibility that someday we might be treated to a truly jammed-out version of this song. The band did seem dialed in and patient from the jump, drummer Cotter Ellis giving the beginning of the improv a more relaxed feel than normal which was cool to hear. His sound in particular has been so good lately, most notably the thick sound of his snare built by drum tech Jordan Gauthier.
“California Magic” and Father John Misty’s “I’m Writing a Novel” continued the flow of the first set ahead of “One In, One Out.” The concise 11-minute version kicked off the jam with an airy and quiet space, Mitarotonda really playing with dynamics over Anspach’s baseline synth drone and hypnotic marimba piano playing.
Boiling into a great Type I peak, the band quieted for a brief spell before Ellis kicked up the tempo for a segue into the first “Whip It” since April 27, 2023, breaking a gap of 114 shows. The Devo cover, followed up with “Seekers on the Ridge,” marked a turning point in the show, following a similar formula to a lot of 2024 Goose, where a relatively pedestrian start to the show switches gears with a big jam late in the first set.
Last night, that moment came in “Tumble,” which also was the first indication that this was not your ordinary show-going audience. The band dropped into the usual funk with bassist Trevor Weekz at the forefront, his aggressive slap work getting matched by Anspach’s choppy rhythm guitar, the multi-instrumentalist emerging from his enclosure of keyboards on stage right to bop around with Mitarotonda and Weekz in the middle.
Sticking in the initial “Tumble” space for longer than normal, the intense version from last weekend in Winston-Salem was more than matched by a few tension/release builds, Anspach just laying into his Cory Wong-like playing to give Mitarotonda a foundation to rip over.
Hitting the typical major modulation that signals a move toward more open jamming, Goose wasted no time before locking in on an upbeat theme, keeping the energy high for another minute of peak improv before quieting things down for exploration.
Anspach made the switch to piano and began to lay in a repetitive chordal riff while Mitarotonda probed the space with delay-drenched melodies. The rhythm section kept things steady as the jam progressed, everyone locking in around Anspach’s musical idea as Mitarotonda kept up the busy riffs. Weekz made his presence known with some eerie circular riffing, the brief emergence from the pocket making a big impact on the jam as things began to move in a different direction.
After a spell of exploration, Mitarotonda brought things back together with the initiation of a familiar-sounding progression almost like the intro to “Seekers.” Anspach emphasized high-register piano as the band began to build toward a peak, the energy rising quickly as the playing got more insistent.
Smashing through to the apex of the jam, Ellis’ galloping beat paved the way for Mitarotonda – but he was far from done and decisively led the way into a brief spell of dark tension jamming, accentuated by some low and dirty clav work from Anspach. “Tumble” continues to be one of Goose’s most reliable vehicles in 2024 and was the perfect way to send us into setbreak – a sign of things to come in the second frame.
Returning to the stage, Goose uncorked “Big Modern!” on the Florida crowd, the “pop” after the heavy interlude continuing to be one of the best live moments in their catalog. Kicking off the jam, Anspach took to Vintage Vibe and then piano with some thick stabs, mellowing out into a great flow thanks to Ellis’ pocket.
Mitarotonda briefly toyed with a major modulation before deciding against it and quieting down into a more exploratory zone. Multi-instrumentalist Jeff Arevalo followed the lead guitarist with off-kilter stabs of his own, layering in an awesome extra element to the jam.
Ellis hit a shuffling beat that was pretty much a note-for-note re-creation of the first peak of Ted Tapes cut “Leo,” paving the way for Mitarotonda’s easy musical flow to continue expanding, moving toward an expressive and sustained peak.
From there, the band hit the ascending progression that signals the end of “Big Modern!,” but not in your everyday way – Anspach took to Moog Muse synth for some wild and twisty sounds as the song returned home.
My personal musical highlight of the second set came next in “Red Bird,” a truly special version that built around one singular musical idea for nearly its entire duration, Mitarotonda’s initial three-note descending riff being picked up quickly by Anspach on piano.
Sliding into a progression like many great hose jams (think Buffalo “Arcadia”), pure joy was on the menu as Goose did one of the things they do best, focusing on a singular idea and milking it for every drop of energy and emotion it was worth.
Music evokes emotion differently in everyone, which is why it’s so special when a band can make a few thousand people feel the same thing simultaneously – and this “Red Bird” peak was just overflowing with pure happiness from every single member of the crowd and band alike. My mom coined the term “collective effervescence” a while ago to describe this feeling, and I don’t know if I’ve ever felt the truth of that more than during last night’s second set.
“Echo of a Rose” was tapped next and stayed close to home, the short version continuing to find new ways to energize the crowd with a seriously wild solo from Mitarotonda. Once again, I was struck by the sheer power of the St. Augustine audience’s energy – little did I know that we weren’t even at the biggest pop of the night.
“Mississippi Half Step Uptown Toodeloo” got another huge reaction from the crowd, as many Florida fans may not have been as familiar with the Goose catalog instantly recognized the Grateful Dead classic. There was an audible singalong happening during the song proper, and the Rio Grandio section just felt like another cherry on top of the set – of course.
The jam didn’t go anywhere too crazy, but just displayed the band’s smiles through a soaring two-guitar major peak. Much like the first set’s “Tumble,” the band opted for a quick run through some tension-infused darker builds before ripping back into “Half Step.”
While I was expecting a monster “Dripfield” to bring the house down at this point, the band perfectly chose “Arcadia” for the second set-closing spot. Mitarotonda took to some laid-back wah work, dancing around some “Nebula” riffing alongside synth stabs from Anspach.
If you think you’ve heard an excited crowd before, I promise you that you need to go listen to the encore break from last night. Even on the soundboard recording, it sounds deafening – FOH engineer Eric Loomis told me that the crowd hit 110 decibels ON ITS OWN, contrasting with the band themselves staying in the 90s range during the Miami shows earlier this week.
ONE HUNDRED AND TEN DECIBELS. That’s how electric and excited last night’s crowd was. The whole band seemed so grateful for the energy and took a minute to bask in the cheering before the “Slow Ready” encore.
Anspach clearly was the most excited one on stage, letting the arpeggiated synthesizer rip while jumping up and down like a kid on Christmas morning for the final moments of the show, wrapping up one of my favourite live music experiences to date.
As we head into the fifth and final consecutive night of this Florida swing, I’m reminded continuously about how much I love Goose and the community around the music – experiences like last night are not common and I feel incredibly lucky to have been a part of the St. Augustine crowd.