Show Review - Goose 2/14/25 Grand Rapids, MI

Encore That Shit

Goose returned to GLC Live at 20 Monroe last night for a Valentine’s Day blowout of epic proportions, more than exceeding expectations with one of the most incredible sets – and shows – that the band has possibly ever played.

Something was in the air on this Friday night, and whether the “it” factor was love or not, things felt different when the band came out with a “Drive” opener. With a noticeably fuller crowd than on Thursday, the band opened things up right out of the gate and launched through a concise-yet-dense span of duelling-guitar improv that culminated in some ultra-smooth “Ghostbusters” teasing.

Just as the first peak was reached, Peter Anspach and Rick Mitarotonda twined their leads together and executed a flawless segue into “Doc Brown” – an auspicious placement given the history of shows with a two-slot “Doc.”

Following up a blazing hot guitar solo from Anspach, we were treated to a rare mid-first set “A Western Sun,” acting as a nice conduit from the hard-rocking “Doc Brown” to the ensuing “Feel it Now,” which amped up the energy in the room to 11 with a wild disco jam full of rapid-fire Mu-Tron licks from Mitarotonda.

“Hot Love & The Lazy Poet” led into “Love Is A Battlefield” for a nice nod to Valentine’s Day, the latter of which featured some excellent grooving highlighted by Anspach’s bouncy Vintage Vibe electric piano work.

If everything up to this point in the show was just the appetizer, “One In, One Out” was when the main course began. Fans of the Eugene 2023 “Borne” should immediately seek out this must-hear exercise in psychedelic Goose as the band just went straight into the depths of space for the duration.

Within seconds of the jam beginning, things were stripped back and quiet as bassist Trevor Weekz probed with some melodic phrasing. Anspach coloured with some hypnotically-timed piano phrases atop the heavy synth drone. From there, the keyboardist added a pitch-bent synthesizer underneath his piano, giving each well-placed note a wild feeling.

Mitarotonda mostly hung back in the early part of the jam, letting Anspach take over the massive sonic landscape with the squiggles of synth – but when he entered the fray with absolutely beautiful melodic phrases, the impact was so much greater because of the earlier patience.

The band briefly upped the intensity – matched by Anspach’s waves of colourful synthesizer – before things settled back down and Mitarotonda brought the main “OIOO” melody back in. Not content to wrap the jam up there, Weekz and Anspach pushed and prodded through the space to find a new vein of inspiration.

Soaring through space atop what is essentially a cresting wave of Mitarotonda’s perfect guitar melodies, the Grand Rapids “One In, One Out” hit an absolutely BREATHTAKING peak and finish, downshifting into a brief bit of funk before Goose easily segued into “Animal,” thoughts of stopping between songs not even entering their heads.

For a band that hasn’t always been accomplished at the art of the flawless segue, what we’ve seen over the past week is just another piece of the crazy evolution and development this band is undergoing right now – and we’re incredibly lucky to get to witness it in real time.

“Animal” was far from your standard version, keeping with the trends, as Mitarotonda laid out into some wah-funk with the jam’s start. Where this jam lacks in exploration it more than makes up for in sheer attitude, the strutting groove getting some serious stank before taking off into a big set-closing peak.

One of the most surprising stats for me to realize in the moment last night was that “Dripfield” had never opened a second set – in hindsight, an obvious occurrence for what is generally a stalwart set closer, but it fit the placement like a glove and kicked off a power hour of nonstop music that ranks among my favourite sets of live music I’ve witnessed to date.

Ellis continues to amaze on this tour, especially in songs like “Drip” that are usually reliant on the dual-drum attack. Playing for two, he kicked off the jam with some serious propulsion as Anspach and Mitarotonda laid into some particularly vicious dual-guitar work by way of spiralling riffs.

Anspach in particular utilized a fuzzed-out tone and then some wah shredding to shear off blocks of sound, amping up the frenzied “Dripfield” space in tandem with Mitarotonda’s sharp and angular riffs.

Smashing through the sustained peak, the next segment of the jam began with Anspach continuing his work on guitar, this time with some delay work to match Mitarotonda’s own as Weekz circled the two, hinting at several different ideas and progressions but opting to forge ahead in the current space without committing to any.

Making the switch to piano, Anspach laid into some simple and repetitive riffs as is his specialty while Mitarotonda continued to pull heavily-delayed phrases out of thin air. Keeping the momentum up, Goose confidently shredded through another peak before transitioning into a dreamlike major-key space full of active play from all four members.

Pivoting into “This Old Sea” next, we were treated to the best and most jammed-out version since 2022 as the middle of this incredible second set. Anspach began on some staccato organ work, the heavy percussion element contrasting nicely with his volume swell work and active interplay with Mitarotonda. The two musicians traded licks confidently and with ease, locking into the space that Goose can only reach when they’re this far into a show where they essentially can do no wrong and know that they’re on a hot streak.

Picking up some steam, Anspach hit piano with some riffs akin to the “Look Out Cleveland” intro as Ellis’ playing got more aggressive. The jam very quickly went from some introspective and searching feels to an all-out rocking jam with a flowing beat that hearkened back to Ted Tapes 2024 cut “Leo.”

The band built as one to a first peak before Ellis initiated a double-time transition that allowed them to hose down the crowd with insane energy and fiery guitar leads. Post-peak, Goose easily could have faded to quiet before starting up “Creatures,” but they instead went the segue route and patiently built things into the opening guitar lick – but seemed to find some new inspiration first and toyed around with several minutes of minor-key lick trading.

At this point in the set, my jaw was on the floor and would remain there for the duration of the set. Content to leave the bulk of the jamming in the massive “Dripfield” > “This Old Sea” segment, “Creatures” and the set-closing “Don’t Leave Me This Way” went for full dance party mode (with an absolutely INSANE clav solo from Anspach).

“DLMTW” and the way that it emerged out of the “Creatures” jam – especially with the energy and force of the crowd pop in every chorus – made me think about its use in the New Year’s Eve gag in Austin. It felt as though last night was a much more successful manifestation of the placement and energy – and I thought that we even should have had a balloon drop last night.

When “Hot Tea” began in the encore, I assumed we were in for our standard 15-minute heater to bring the night to a close. I was mistaken, however, as the band decided to unleash one of the most beautifully unhinged jams they’ve ever played, tapping into the Westville “Rockdale” dissonance and sustained edge-of-your-seat uneasiness that is usually somewhere they only get into for short bursts.

With each successive build and dark pocket, I watched in sheer disbelief as the band took us for an exceptionally rare highlight jam in the encore. Building tension upon tension UPON TENSION, just when you thought they’d rip back into the “Tea” peak they’d find a new layer with Anspach going from piano to heavy clav as you could tell that the band was just as shocked as we were to get this far out there in the final song of the show that is usually just an exclamation point.

Seriously – this “Hot Tea” encore is not one you can or should skip, and might very quickly have become the GOAT version of this song. Between bass and drum breaks and the willingness to explore, this is an encore the likes of which Goose has never played.

One show remains on Goose’s winter 2025 run, and regardless of what happens tonight we are already in legendary territory for this tour – the band is taking chances we’ve never seen before, leaning hard into the unknown in jams and setlist construction, and seem to be having the time of their LIVES on stage.

I eagerly await what’s in store for the tour closer tonight – a sold out Saturday night show that promises to build on where we’ve come already. Watch from home via a nugs All Access subscription.