Show Review - Goose 11/2/24 St. Augustine, FL

Turn it Up and Let it Go

Goose brought their five-night Florida run to a close last night in St. Augustine, following up Friday’s rager with another exceptional show, carrying over the wild continuing to build the momentum that had been steadily increasing all week. With an incredible setlist, continued insane energy from the crowd, and no shortage of exciting musical moments, it was yet another night to remember.

Things got going with a standard “Turbulence & The Night Rays” after the band took the stage to massive cheers – the smiles on their faces were prime examples of how amazing this week has been from all perspectives.

“Draconian Meter Maid” opened up the gates to jamming with a floaty major-key space, drummer Cotter Ellis keeping a steady groove underneath. Multi-instrumentalist Peter Anspach dug in on bright piano work as guitarist Rick Mitarotonda went from lead playing to rhythm, all the while underscored by Bob Weir-esque chordal accents from Jeff Arevalo on guitar.

This easy-breezy vibe of a jam is exactly the kind of thing Goose has been excelling at lately and is always a treat early in a show when the expectation is more geared toward shorter songs. The real magic, however, happens around the 10-minute mark as the peak cools off – Anspach switches to reverb-drenched clav and the whole band enters a beautiful and intricate dance around each other, guitar, bass, and keys all circling melodies, sharing musical ideas, and playing in an expressive and active way that shows how far their listening has come this year.

“Turned Clouds” was tapped next to keep things going ahead of a big call for “Drive.” Anspach dug in on guitar for this one, putting two-guitar Goose on full display through a ripping funk motif. The energy gradually ramped up into a section that felt almost akin to the beginning of “Arrow” before shaping itself into a familiar peaky progression. With the abundance of keyboard-led jams these days, it’s always excellent to hear some high-octane work with a different musical angle – plus, getting a chance to marvel at how amazing Anspach is at guitar is just great.

Mitarotonda initiated an on-a-dime segue into Van Morrison’s “Wild Night,” getting busted out after a 98-show gap, not seen since 7/3/23. The meat of the set was rounded out with an amazingly dancey “Feel it Now” and breather “A Western Sun” before “Rockdale” was called to close the frame.

Looking at the clock, I was expecting a solid and Type I 10-or-so minute version to take us into setbreak, but Goose had other ideas thanks to Ellis’ double-time pivot atop an early peak, inspiring Mitarotonda to bring things down into a quieter space and do some exploring. Anspach dominated sonically with low, spooky tones on Moog Muse synth while Mitarotonda and Weekz coalesced in the open space. Returning to piano, Anspach locked in with the other two musicians and began a patient ramp-up to a beautiful and euphoric peak that sent us into setbreak on a high note.

Returning to its tried-and-true set-opening role after a long stint as a closer so far this fall, “Hungersite” got the second frame going with fifteen minutes of straight pedal-to-the-floor peak jamming, Mitarotonda just pouring more and more gas onto a raging inferno of a peak that refused to let up, Ellis matching his intensity pound-for-pound as he destroyed his kit. Much like the big versions from the second half of June, the peak faded into a final few minutes of more mellow interplay – this time led by Anspach on piano.

This cool segment (or interlude, if you will) bled smoothly into the opening chords to “State of the Art (A.E.I.O.U.),” easily one of Goose’s best covers making its third appearance of 2024 – and I am HERE for it being in regular rotation like this. Mitarotonda sang his heart out on the Jim James track, whipping the crowd into a frenzy despite this being the “cooldown” slot for the set.

There was only one song to choose from next, and the opening riff to “Thatch” set the amphitheater ablaze. This is a really interesting version of the song in my opinion – the band really just opened up the song’s groove as far as it could possibly go, patiently letting the music flow on its own rather than try to steer themselves.

Weekz stood out early with some really articulate plucks, leading the early part with Anspach on sparse clav. Switching to squishy OB-6 chords, Mitarotonda kicked things up a notch with some wah-infused riffing.

Anspach began a repeating chord pattern on synth while Mitarotonda found his way to a descending riff eerily similar to Phish’s “Tweezer,” continuing to work off of that for a while before the band collectively slid in a progression reminiscent of “Use Me” that led to a powerful and sustained peak. Anspach’s use of a volume-swelled synth drone as things really hit the apex was an excellent touch to accompany the screaming finale to “Thatch.”

Once again, we all knew the “Dripfield” was coming – and Goose’s best song did not disappoint, stretching out for an exceptional 23-minute runtime. Anspach led the beginning of the jam on guitar, playing some leads while Mitarotonda handled rhythm duties for the first little while. Getting moodier and beginning to leave Type I space behind, Anspach switched to keys and played some growly low-end clav while Mitarotonda spent some time fiddling with delay pedals to make waves of looping sound.

Screaming through a first peak, Ellis pivoted the tempo and things came down atop a cresting wave of repeating clav melodies, getting higher-energy and turning to a major key. Over the next several minutes, Goose worked as one unit to give us the final jam-peak of the show and run, exuding pure joy TOGETHER – two shows in a row with a moment where it felt as though every person in the venue was on exactly the same wavelength.

Not content to finish the second set with a titanic “Drip,” we got a surprise “Shama Lama Ding Dong” – because why not throw in a bonus crowd-favourite cover?

“Give it Time” was a sublime encore choice, taking us right up to the 10:30 curfew with an expression of how magical the show-going experience is.

After a whirlwind five nights in a row, the band takes a few well-earned days off before picking thing back up on Thursday in Pittsburgh, where we head into the home stretch of the 2024 touring season. Over the course of this three-city run through Florida, Goose debuted a new stage setup, displayed ever-expanding new layers to their jamming, made thousands of new fans, and continued a year that has been front-to-back magic for them.

I’m immensely grateful to be along for this ride and to have the opportunity to see so much Goose – I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the last six shows of the tour.