Show Review - Goose 11/9/24 Cincinnati, OH

Segue Mastery

When you think of what can happen at a Goose show, it’s hard to wrap your head around the possibility that it gets better than last night. The band followed up Friday’s jam-packed scorcher with one of the greatest sets they’ve ever put together, displaying the segue mastery they seemingly picked up nearly overnight.

After making its debut during Friday’s encore, guitarist Rick Mitarotonda opted to use his new custom DeLuis “Dracul” guitar for the whole show last night, putting it through its first proper test drive as the main axe.

The show opened with “Lead the Way,” getting things going with a serene and Vintage Vibe-heavy space before moving into the first “Doc Brown” since early September – proving the old adage about shows with “Doc” in the 2-slot correct. Multi-instrumentalist Peter Anspach took his time on the solo, crafting one of the best displays of his guitar talent I’ve heard.

“Hot Love & The Lazy Poet” completed the opening trio of the set before the band jumped headlong into the deep end with the longest “Draconian Meter Maid” to date.

The jam began in an airy space with aggressive work from drummer Cotter Ellis as Anspach set up an initial synth drone on Moog Muse. Sticking to major key at first, bassist Trevor Weekz locked in with Ellis on a steady pocket while Mitarotonda did some chordal vamping.

Anspach made a switch to chunky clav as the jam picked up momentum, sliding from the initial space into a full-band motif with everyone on some kind of vamp. The dance mode continued to take over as the quintet charged forward, Mitarotonda beginning to throw some funk leads in around his choppy chords, working in lockstep with Anspach’s clav.

One trend this weekend has been the band sticking to one idea and exploring it to its absolute fullest during a jam, and the “Meter Maid” did exactly that, ramping up through a ripping peak. While multi-section jams are my favourite, I’ve become increasingly fond of these linear adventures in music – the catharsis and release when the band reaches the apex of the idea they’ve been building is superb.

Coming down from the screaming peak, the band dropped into a droning space with sparse marimba work from Anspach, Ellis throwing in some sharp kick drum stabs and leading the way into a new vein of dance beat.

Mitarotonda drenched his tone in delay as Anspach worked in yet another example of a simple, hypnotic riff that beautifully developed the jam and gave the rest of the band a base to focus on. Taking their foot off the gas a bit, Ellis went to a tom-heavy beat as the “Meter Maid” jam began to space out, dancing across his kit as the band developed into a bass-forward hypnotic theme similar to the Fiddler’s “Jive Lee” from earlier this year.

The synth drone faded into the opening to “Lead Up,” Mitarotonda ripping a hot rock ‘n roll solo on the always-reliable tune. “Feel it Now” kept the momentum of the set up with what felt like a more adventurous version than normal, the Brady Center turning into an all-out dance party that foreshadowed what was to come in the second frame.

A cool-down of “Your Ocean” as the set got close to 70 minutes led into a surprise call of “Arrow,” the band delivering the second excellent jam of the set to close things out. Pivoting away from standard fare relatively quickly, Anspach hit the clav for some heavy vamping as things took a turn for the evil.

Weekz stepped up to the forefront to push the band into a new progression as thicker textures began to take over, Anspach infusing his clav chords with heavy reverb and distortion. Mitarotonda almost faded into the background at this part, the keyboards taking the sonic space usually occupied by guitar.

Just like in the earlier “Meter Maid,” Anspach pulled a riff from nowhere to build the jam around, developing the hypnotic motif into a thrashing evil jam, Ellis pushing the pace and intensity to a feral zone as Mitarotonda finally pushed through the mix to shred through several minutes of sustained peaking – foot to the floor, raging, along with every single audience member.

As the set closed with an explosive conclusion to “Arrow,” I stood in awe of the improv Goose had packed into the frame – little did I know what was to come after the break.

Re-emerging with “Drive,” the band eschewed a jam (normally something I’d be upset about) in favour of a slow-burn transition into “Running Up That Hill,” making its first appearance since the debut as part of the Stranger Things Halloween show in Florida.

I cannot overstate enough how much this year has inspired the band to focus on patience, and they were in no hurry to start the song proper as Anspach explored various floaty synth textures over Ellis’ minimalist work. Locking in with percussionist Jeff Arevalo on a primal beat akin to “Dripfield,” the band destroyed the Kate Bush cover – the vibe is right in their wheelhouse and is especially well-suited to Mitarotonda’s voice.

Sticking to mostly punishing Type I play throughout its duration, the jam eventually departed the song proper and picked up steam, charging through a fast-paced theme that slammed into “Jeff Engborg” seemingly OUT OF NOWHERE. I nearly jumped through the ceiling of the venue from excitement as Anspach shredded the clav on the party instrumental – and this was far from your usual “Engborg.”

The band brought things WAY down atop Ellis’ foundation, Anspach adding some pulsating synth work to the fray before things built back up to a sustained peak. Instead of finishing the song, Goose just kept the momentum of the set going by segueing into a heavy “Sinnerman,” the crowd dancing with renewed vigor to the Nina Simone cover.

For a band that used to not be that great at smooth transitions, this set – and the following transition into “Into the Myst” – was absolutely phenomenal. The late-set placement kept the dance party going, and after a year of jams that had become a little bit stagnant around the “When The Saints Go Marching In” theme, Goose tried something completely different last night and slow-jammed “Myst” into a “This Old Sea”-like zone.

Evoking so much emotion in his soloing, Mitarotonda just continued to blow minds by weaving together melody after melody as only he can do. For a set as long as this was without a single stop in the music, the fact that they were able to slow things down toward the end for such an incredible piece of improv is truly astounding.

No better way to end a party set for the ages than “Hot Tea,” and the band delivered on the set closer as they always do.

“Everything Must Go” has found a place in a couple of encores recently, and I absolutely love it in this slot – the relatively concise version found another volcanic peak jam with a sly “Tumble” tease from Mitarotonda – because why not.

As I walked out of the Brady Center last night, I almost struggled to work through the sheer volume of highlights from the show, the nonstop 90-minute second set plus numerous standout jams.

Goose is currently on a run that rivals – if not exceeds – anything in their 10-year career and if they keep this up over the next three shows, November 2024 is going to be remembered as one of the greatest months to be a fan of this band.

One more round in Cincinnati tonight – a livestream is available exclusively for nugs subscribers for the show that Anspach has been teasing as can’t-miss all weekend…so let’s see what the band has in store!