Show Review - Goose 11/13/23 Brussels, BE

Apologies for the delay on posting this - yesterday was a big travel day and I took the amazing opportunity to explore some of Glasgow when we arrived! Gotta see the new cities :)

Goose’s Europe tour stopped in Brussels, Belgium Monday night at the 280-capacity AB Club. Nestled within renowned venue Ancienne Belgique, the club was the smallest venue of the tour and felt more like somewhere you’d see a local cover band than one of the hottest rising stars in the jam scene. Once again, I felt incredibly lucky to be seeing Goose in such an intimate setting – and on my birthday, no less!

Unfortunately, due to venue rules in Europe, the band was only allotted two hours to play – forcing them to eliminate setbreak altogether and just go through to the 10pm curfew. Goose made the most of it, however, and delivered a wildly fun show with great moments of jamming within.

The band began the night with an ethereal take on “Lead the Way,” filling every corner of the room with perfectly mixed sound (shoutout once again to FOH engineer Eric Loomis, who had been hard at work dialing in guitarist Rick Mitarotonda’s DeLuis guitar). Multi-instrumentalist Peter Anspach layered soft organ below Mitarotonda’s probing melodies as the music built to an excellent peak.

The dual-drum attack of Ben Atkind and Jeff Arevalo locked in next on the first cover of CCR’s “Green River” since March, completing the “choogle-fecta” that had begun at the previous show in Berlin. Anspach and Mitarotonda both took gritty solos through this rocker – you’re going to want to strap in for this one!

When that low synth tone comes in to signal “Animal,” it’s generally a predictable omen – you’ll get 10-15 minutes or so of fun and upbeat grooving, plus a chance to work your abdominals. Maybe it was the audience member who yelled out a request for “Scotty Doesn’t Know,” from the movie Eurotrip, but Goose played easily the best version of the song to date and the first to decidedly go Type II.

The first signs of an above average version came with the few minutes of intro jamming, Anspach hitting the clav hard amid bass bombs from Trevor Weekz as the quintet explored every inch of the funk groove. When the jam proper started, it was business as usual through the exuberant piano and guitar solos – until the 13^th minute, when Mitarotonda initiated a modulation up into a quiet and contemplative major-key space. One thing I have noted throughout the last few shows was an emphasis on strong Type I playing and a missing element of the unknown and deeper exploration. This was delivered in spades in Brussels, with the soft touches of Anspach’s electric piano work intertwining with Atkind’s snare drum rolls as the band found their footing on a seriously blissful motif.

As the jam built, Anspach layered synthesizer waves underneath his piano as they hit a hands-in-the-air, smile-on-your-face bliss peak – an incredible moment and my personal highlight of the show. Smashing down from the apex, Atkind propelled the improv into a charging theme that eventually resolved in some playing akin to a “Flodown” intro. A brief touch back into some bliss themes left “Animal” unfinished as it descended gently into the beginning of “Seekers on the Ridge Part I.”

While it may not be my favourite song, Part I always leads to the explosion of Part II – and seeing this blazing arena-level song in a tiny club was insane – another Mitarotonda highlight that torched the entire crowd with his incredible solo.

It was back to the improv with “Red Bird,” and Atkind was at the forefront almost immediately with an infusion of “Dripfield”-like drum work. While the bird never truly broke out of the song proper, there was some excellent interplay going on throughout the 16 minutes. Atkind, though, was aggressive and really pushed the jam in new directions – he’s not usually the musical leader and it was amazing to hear him step into that role for a while!

As the “Red Bird” peak cooled, Anspach floated circular patterns of delayed piano across the room to signal the beginning of Spoon’s “Inside Out,” one of my most sought-after covers. This improvisational excursion reminded me a lot of the “No Rain” played in Oakland in September – a bouncy and minimalist funk piece for the majority. Mitarotonda’s gritty guitar got louder as the intensity increased to a smaller peak.

The second “Hungersite” of tour blazed through a compact 14-minute version with exemplary work from all five members, contributing to an incredible peak.

The lone ballad of the night, “This Old Sea,” came jamless as the penultimate song of the show and hit hard in the tiny room. “So Ready” rocked us to curfew with a blazing finish, ending a powerful two hours of music and the European leg of tour.

Brussels was another really fun entry into the book of Europe Goose - despite the fact that both “Madhuvan” and “Spirit of the Dark Horse” were cut from the setlist ;)

The final five shows of tour in the UK kick off tonight at BAaD in Glasgow before we head south to Manchester, Bristol, and London. Lots of music still to be played…