Show Review - Goose 11/13/24 Washington, D.C.
Forever With A View
Goose brought their final tour of 2024 to a close on Wednesday night in Washington, D.C., putting a cap on one of their most successful runs ever – with a pair of memorable jams, great flow, and possibly the best encore in their career.
The band opted for their “triple opener” approach to the show that they’ve been so fond of lately, weaving together standard versions of “Atlas Dogs,” “Silver Rising,” and “Turned Clouds” – a great way to get them warmed up while keeping the crowd engaged with good song choices, though they each lack a chance at adventurous improv.
I get the feeling that the band likes to have a little bit of time to warm up before really diving off the deep end – so the mid-set call for “Big Modern!” made it clear that they were ready to roll. This clear winner of rookie of the year has seemed to get better with every single play as the band gets more comfortable in the space – and Wednesday contends closely with Cincinnati for my favourite one so far.
The jam kicked off with some bouncy Vintage Vibe work from multi-instrumentalist Peter Anspach around guitarist Rick Mitarotonda’s funky leads. Not content to sit in one spot very long, Mitarotonda began to space out a bit, a move quickly copied by drummer Cotter Ellis as he gave the band more room after an initial tight start.
Multi-instrumentalist Jeff Arevalo’s guitar has been a bit buried in the mix for much of 2024, but he was loud and clear in the room and on the soundboards for this jam, immediately playing off Anspach’s riffs with great rhythm work while Mitarotonda tried various styles of funky lead.
Bassist Trevor Weekz took a more active role from there as Ellis began to push the pace, the band dropping into an excellent “hey-hole” infused space at a rare junction of all five members contributing their own ideas to see what would stick.
In response to the tempo increase, Anspach punched into some dirty clav vamping, Arevalo firmly sticking to some slow vibrato-infused chords around Mitarotonda’s own work. I cannot overstate how important this moment is to the full-band development and the integration of Arevalo’s guitar playing, as his spacey work seemed to inspire Mitarotonda into the next shift into a quieter zone.
Mellowing but keeping the same drive to the improv, Mitarotonda led a clean major-key modulation as Anspach switched from punchy clav work to spacier chords – then moving to sparkling piano.
This is a moment where you can feel the massive peak coming. Goose is so good at telegraphing a long-form build right now, and Anspach’s use of a simple repeating riff to inspire Mitarotonda was excellent.
Guitar and keys circled each other while the rhythm section kept the pocket going, Arevalo continuing his chordal rhythm work over Ellis’ rock-steady groove, letting several chords ring out in tandem with Anspach’s introduction of a synth drone.
The keyboardist next switched to percussive marimba, meaning every member was playing in a pretty aggressive tone with Mitarotonda employing octave-down effects. Arevalo led the charge into a two-chord hit motif that Anspach and Ellis picked up on, leaving them to do that eventually in favour of a quicker repeating chord stab.
It was time to commit to the peak as Mitarotonda began soloing in earnest, building atop the rest of the band while still listening closely for opportunities to jump at interplay. The intensity of the cacophonous drive continued to get bigger with Ellis deliberately and patiently ramping up the tempo.
Milking the motif for all it was worth, the stars of the final few minutes of “Big Modern!” were Mitarotonda and Ellis – the two musicians in lockstep with each other’s builds and intentions. Ellis continued his more swinging beat for a spell before switching into a charging style right at the biggest explosion yet, a move he’s been doing all year that just gives a peak an extra bit of juice to get even bigger.
For the first time ever, the band eschewed the “Big Modern!” ending in favour of a quick romp through “Whip It,” immediately creating speculation that they’d conclude the massive 23-minute version later in the show.
Crowd favourite “I Would Die 4 U” followed as the second consecutive cover with several minutes of dance grooves before “SALT” offered 12 minutes of pure headbanging rage-jams that easily could have closed the set – but instead, we got a beautiful rendition of “Give it Time” to send us into setbreak happy.
Returning for a rager of a second frame, Goose put together a 25-minute “Yeti” sandwich with audibled covers of “Pumped Up Kicks” and “Shama Lama Ding Dong” among the disco-fied two-guitar jamming. While not my favourite way to kick off a second set, it was clear that improv was on its way after the opening – and “Thatch” would be the vehicle.
The familiar fretboard scratches opened up the charging song, immediately dropping into a confident jam with Anspach at the helm on reverb-drenched clav. Mitarotonda copied some of his licks as Weekz rumbled in with some vicious riffs, his bass sounding some of the best I’ve ever heard as his volume seemed to double just for this segment.
Anspach went in a similar direction to the last version from Cincinnati for a spell, hitting into an earworm riff while Mitarotonda stuck to rhythm riffing. Content to hang out in “Thatch” proper for a while, the band listened intently to each other as Anspach and Weekz went back and forth with dark playing underneath Mitarotonda’s more hard rock-oriented leads.
Arevalo jumped more audibly into the fray with big percussion hits, adding to the chaotic vibe as Anspach made the pivot to piano. From there, the band built into a hose-y three-chord progression with super active contributions from every member (LISTEN TO THE BASS), taking a dip en route to the peak for a minute of Westville “Rockdale”-style sparse dissonance, eventually ripping back into the ending of “Thatch.”
Breaking its longest gap since its debut at 34 shows, “726” finally re-entered the rotation after being absent since September’s Boston run. Not just your everyday cooldown, we were treated to a classic pairing with a “Dripfield” that absolutely brought the house down to close the final set of tour.
Thanking the crowd and crew for such an incredible few weeks ahead of the encore, Anspach expressed their excitement for their next show being at Madison Square Garden for the Soulshine hurricane benefit – a sentiment that got raucous cheers from the audience.
Absent since Halloween in St. Petersburg, the opening notes of “The Empress of Organos” were met with a big cheer from the crowd – although we had no idea how special this version would be.
After strong keyboard and guitar solos, the band hit into the minor key that usually signals an extended jam segment – but instead of straight improv, we immediately began to build into the ending of “Big Modern!,” a move that had one of the biggest crowd pops of the night at the return to the chorus. I think it was safe to say that at this point it was already one of the coolest encore choices the band has ever made, but they opted to make the most of their remaining ten minutes and initiated a move back into “Empress” jamming.
Anspach took to minimalist percussive organ for much of the segment while Mitarotonda led the band through several blazing peaks in a very different style than his usual shredding. The energy flowed from the band out across the packed Anthem, hitting emotions and catharsis that brimmed with pure joy and celebration of such a successful run as they blasted through the end of “Empress” to close things out.
With only five shows left this year including Soulshine, Goosemas, and New Year’s, it’s safe to say that 2024 Goose has been a resounding success, and I’m so grateful to have been in attendance for so many of this year’s best musical moments. Getting to close out the last tour with dear friends on my birthday was an absolute treat and my excitement for my last few shows of the year as I approach my 100th Goose concert has only grown.
Thank you, Goose – and see you at The Garden!