Show Review - Goose 2/10/25 Toronto, ON
Northern Migration
Goose made their Canadian debut last night with the first of two nights in Toronto, making a stop in between their two Midwestern three-night runs on this eight-show winter sprint.
This was an incredibly special occasion for me, as I have been hoping for Goose to play my hometown ever since I started listening to them – and finally, after 100 shows across the USA and Europe, the day finally arrived where my commute to Goose was a mere 30 minutes.
It honestly felt surreal walking into HISTORY and seeing the band’s gear set up on stage, complete with an audience full of familiar faces. The cool thing about last night’s crowd was while there were a ton of people seeing their first or second show, everyone was super dialed into the music and seemed much more familiar with the Goose catalog than a first-time audience would normally be.
Additionally, the hype around the band right now is off-the-charts – after three mind-bending nights in Milwaukee, people were buzzing about the prospects of what the band might unleash on the Canada
Coming out of the gate with an extended funked-out “Yeti,” the “Canadian border” line got a cheer out of the packed crowd as multi-instrumentalist Peter Anspach danced across the stage while pouring out heavily-delayed guitar.
“Mr. Action” kept the energy high with another catchy pick to draw the audience in before things began to open up with a call for “Elizabeth.” Always a reliable first-set energy boost, this version quickly eschewed the typical driving funk in favour of a bright and airier motif largely thanks to drummer Cotter Ellis’ choice of mellow ride-cymbal work.
Anspach took to some melodic piano work while guitarist Rick Mitarotonda sent waves of heavy tremolo-infused guitar across the space before joining Anspach in some bright exploration. The two musicians traded some licks as the intensity began to increase, Ellis activating his signature gradual ramp-up as the piano got more insistent.
Bathed in light from Andrew Goedde’s incredible winter tour rig, the band rode the wave of joyous energy through a gorgeous sustained peak, doing what “Liz” does best – dip our toes into improvisational waters by way of a compact and explosive mode.
“Your Ocean” offered a mid-set breather and a peek into Goose’s ballad side of the catalog for the newer fans before the improvisational highlight of the night came within “Earthling or Alien?.”
Beginning the jam in a minimalist funk zone, Anspach took to some phased-out clav chords over the steady pocket of Ellis and bassist Trevor Weekz, layering some bouncy licks as the music searched for its inspiration.
Drifting out of the typical groove slightly, Anspach got a little bit darker with his riffs as Mitarotonda went full minimalist, sprinkling some wah-infused patterns through the space as Weekz stepped in aggressively.
Anspach brought in a dark and spacey synth drone before cranking up the reverb on clav, the entire jam going from bouncy funk to psychedelic exploration in no time flat. Mitarotonda bent down to tweak his delay pedals, setting up droning loops as Anspach’s clav riffs went straight into a Pink Floyd-esque zone, setting up the motif that would carry through the rest of the jam.
Sliding into a two-chord pattern, “Earthling” was firmly in outer space with an alternation between darkness and a major chord, Mitarotonda returning from his effects journey with some sharp envelope filter work. Ellis seemed to dance across his kit, featherlight touches on ride and toms giving so much room for the rest of the band to fill in, everyone doused in heavy reverb to continue the intergalactic feel.
Upping the intensity more, the band blasted through a very unique peak before settling into a calm wind-down that eventually resolved into the distinctive piano intro to “The Way It Is.” A perfect cover choice for last night, the crowd let out a huge cheer when Anspach played the opening melody.
Ripping through the cover, Goose then welcomed Toronto musician Bahamas to the stage for a cover of his own “Trick to Happy,” Anspach noting his excitement at the sit-in because of his connection to the music. Bahamas, otherwise known as Afie Jurvanen, lent his powerful voice and great guitar work to the band’s sound – and I honestly think that this song could stick around as part of the Goose catalog in the future!
“Tumble” was tapped to close the set and brought the energy back up to near-maximum capacity as the band unleashed a raging 20-minute version. Beginning in the typical funk zone, Anspach’s filthy guitar work meshed with Weekz’s vicious slapping as Mitarotonda set his reverse-delay loops back up.
Anspach switched to piano as Ellis continued to push the tempo into a disco vibe, Weekz shaping his tone to be incredibly bright and punchy to give himself more of a lead role in the jam. Going full peak mode, the bassist suggested a descending riff that Mitarotonda picked up on and built the remainder of “Tumble” around, coming back to it again and again as the energy reached a fever pitch.
Diving into some dark tension-filled builds to amp things up even more as the set came to a close, the Toronto crowd cheered the band wildly as they walked off after the nearly 100-minute first set – continuing the trend from Milwaukee of playing for longer than normal due to relaxed curfews.
Coming back from the break, the band meant business as they started up “Pancakes,” delivering a massive 24-minute version that once again put Ellis at the forefront.
Beginning the improv in a driving space, Anspach and Mitarotonda twined around each other as Ellis pushed into an absolutely punishing tribal beat.
Mitarotonda went into the grime with some rapid-fire runs out of his well-augmented tone, the intensity was kept up for several minutes of sustained and charging play before cooling off around the 12-minute mark.
Sticking to a menacing tone thanks to Anspach’s “Sinnerman”-like piano work, Mitarotonda switched to rhythm as the band locked into a more democratic idea, the rhythm section smoothly reshaping itself around the piano and guitar ideas.
Once again, Weekz pushed to the front with some bright tones as Mitarotonda engaged in some choppy chord work, the bass continuing to charge through the drum hits. Mitarotonda then led the charge into a more upbeat progression as Ellis put his foot back on the gas, going wild and seemingly filling every possible space on his kit at once.
Continuing to display his incredible instincts on the drums, Ellis pivoted from a calypso vibe to straight-ahead rocking to punch things into peak mode as Mitarotonda unleashed an extended segment of fretboard fireworks on the crowd. Cooling just before the 20-minute mark, it sounded like the band was embarking on a segue into a new song but instead modulated into a gorgeous major-key space that Mitarotonda filled with some seriously emotive soloing, buoyed by a layer of synth from Anspach as the heart-wrenching peak faded into “A Western Sun.”
Getting a jam – albeit brief – the band explored the “AWS” zone for a while before smoothly transitioning into a few minutes of “Interlude II,” always a cool pick especially when it doesn’t lead into the expected “Jive I.”
A huge call of “All I Need” led to some of the coolest jamming of the night, Goose packing the 11 minutes full of ideas as they dove headlong into a dark and evil space.
Anspach and Mitarotonda mirrored each other’s minor licks, Ellis keeping a steady shuffling beat underneath as the menacing tone grew greater and greater. Returning to a space similar to the first set’s “Earthling,” Anspach took to reverb clav and synth drones as Mitarotonda uncorked some riffs akin to the 1/30/22 “Wysteria Lane” to keep up the crazy evil tones, only augmented by Anspach’s switch from keys to guitar.
Just as it seemed we were poised for serious liftoff into legendary jamming territory, Mitarotonda pulled a hard left into “Wysteria Lane,” which unfortunately was abandoned after a paltry eight minutes in favour of an explosive conclusion to “Pancakes.”
As “Slow Ready” began to end the set, the Toronto crowd was absolutely eating up the smooth transitions and good flow of the second half of the second set – but I couldn’t help but feel a bit of disappointment at the band burning two of their best jam vehicles on short versions late in the second set.
This sentiment carried through the encore’s 10-minute “Thatch,” the band absolutely torching HISTORY with a smooth flow into a joy-filled peak akin to the New Year’s Eve version from Austin – but again, I couldn’t help but feel that a third huge jammer had been done a little bit dirty by placement.
Overall, I think that Goose’s Canadian debut was a resounding success – numerous people I spoke to after the show last night expressed their excitement at returning for a second night and the phrase “100% sold” was in the air as we filtered out into the freezing winter night.
Goose returns to HISTORY tonight for their second sold-out show in Toronto before heading to Grand Rapids this weekend – livestreams for the whole winter tour are available exclusively to nugs All Access subscribers.