Show Review - Goose 11/9/23 Copenhagen, DK

The fourth night of Goose’s 2023 Europe tour took place in Copenhagen, Denmark last night at the small Hotel Cecil. Located in the basement of a bar, this was easily the best venue of the tour so far – boasting high ceilings, ample dancing space, amazing sound, and extra disco balls suspended from the ceiling for Goedde to incorporate into his rig.

There was also a noticeably higher number of locals at last night’s show, and I was excited to have the opportunity to meet a few of them who were excited to attend their first Goose show after listening for years, in some cases.

The band came out with a classic “Flopener,” easing into the night with some effortless riffing from guitarist Rick Mitarotonda and keyboardist Peter Anspach through the song’s relatively standard intro jam. Pivoting into the airy 80s synth version of “Indian River” next, the music really started to open up through Mitarotonda’s leads, which soared through the room atop Anspach’s synths.

As the “Welcome to Delta” jam began, drummer Ben Atkind locked in on his punchy popcorn snare as the bouncy groove developed. Unlike many previous versions, however, Goose spent only a few minutes within the Type I space before quieting into a blissful zone centred around Mitarotonda’s chirpy octave-up guitar and a soft organ texture from Anspach. This happy theme, bearing a similarity in places to the 10/1 Vegas “Elizabeth” and the 11/7 Amsterdam “Wysteria” buily patiently up to a nice peak before calming and leading into the beginning of “Jive II.”

Anspach ripped a crunchy clav solo and Mitarotonda took to the skies for the outro of what is definitely the best Jive ahead of a piano interlude that resolved into Bruce Hornsby hit “The Way It Is.” While this version was not monstrously jammed out as some in years past, it contained a couple of minutes of solid outside-the-box minor-key playing – and I was ecstatic to cross this tune off my “most common not seen” list.

“Earthling or Alien” brought the funk and another heavy dose of clav as it seemed to be heading for improvisational waters among a churning motif reminiscent of winter 2022 versions – though the clav-funk was quickly exchanged for a BLAZING rendition of “Yeti” to close the set.

The second set began with a sizeable “Creatures,” feeding the European club vibe with the pulsing four-on-the-floor beat. After riding the wave of the initial dance groove for a while, the band pivoted into their tried-and-true Eastern jam style, full of klezmer-y piano from Anspach.

As a landing pad, Goose deviated from the scheduled “Rock The Casbah” in favour of a beautiful and emotional rendition of Grateful Dead classic “Peggy-O.” I could listen to Mitarotonda sing Jerry ALL day, and hearing the crowd emphatically sing along to the verses was a beautiful moment for the energy and vibe in the room. The guitarist also destroyed the solo sections of the song – my only complaint is that Anspach’s beautiful turn with the theme only lasted a few seconds.

After that breather, the band turned up the heat once again with a balls-to-the-walls “Tumble.” Anspach quickly switched to keyboards for a charging clav section before turning to piano and duelling with Mitarotonda’s choppy rhythm. The guitarist took the lead and blazed through a series of strong Type I peaks to bring the jam to a close – another moment from last night’s show where the energy was absolutely off-the-charts.

“726” offered another example of Mitarotonda’s aptitude for writing and singing ballads before its fifth-ever pairing with “Dripfield” closed out the set and show. “Drip” has always been Goose’s arena anthem, debuted at their first arena show – and it was incredible to experience it in a small club with only a few hundred people in attendance. Kudos to FOH sound engineer Eric Loomis for making the band’s huge sound fill every corner of the room every night this tour!

While Copenhagen lacked a huge Type II centrepiece, vibe and energy aligned to produce one of the best shows of the tour from an audience perspective, and it will undoubtedly be a night I will remember for the rest of my life!

Goose tour continues tomorrow in Berlin after a stop at the Rolling Stone Beach festival in Wangels, Germany tonight.