Show Review - Goose 6/10/25 Chesterfield, MO

A Tale of Two Sets

Goose tour continued east last night with the band’s first of two shows at The Factory, a relatively new venue just outside of St. Louis that they visited to kick off their 2024 summer run.

Coming off of two fantastic shows in their home away from home in Colorado, fans (myself included) wondered if the band would keep up the momentum or take a show to slow down as they have done in the past. Luckily for us, Goose delivered one of the best sets of the tour in the second frame, combining flawless setlisting and flow with incredibly deep improv – and a return of familiar themes.

The night kicked off with “Interlude II” into “Jive I,” the first time ever the classic song had opened a show with its extended intro. Multi-instrumentalist Peter Anspach and guitarist Rick Mitarotonda lit up early with their solos before tapping “Butterflies,” its wild reverse-delay-drenched jam returning to setlists after a long absence stretching back to last November in St. Augustine – 40 shows.

Things began to open up improvisationally with “Atlas,” drummer Cotter Ellis delivering a loose funk pocket as the band engaged in some laid-back play. Bassist Trevor Weekz darted around Mitarotonda’s gritty licks with some insistent play of his own while Anspach bopped on piano.

Coasting in that zone for several minutes, things turned tension-filled as Ellis dropped way down into some airy ride cymbal zones, allowing Mitarotonda’s loops to push to the forefront. Mitarotonda was reluctant to let the funk go and brought things back from the space-out, spurring Anspach to initiate a flawless segue into “One In, One Out.” This is the second time this year that these two songs have shown up in the same set, after Milwaukee’s psychedelic “Atlas” jam was infused by teases of “OIOO.”

Weekz stuck out front for the emergent jam, supporting Mitarotonda’s airy leads with bright melodies and then some twining low end, meeting up perfectly with Anspach as the band pushed through a collective peak.

Descending into “True Love Waits,” Goose brought the Radiohead cover back for its third full-band play to keep the flow of the mid-first-set segment strong ahead of the final verse of “Atlas.”

Bringing another fan favourite back into rotation after a long gap, “Lead the Way” made its first appearance of 2025 (with a dismaying amount of talking from the crowd during the jam!) before a blistering “So Ready” closed the set complete with heavy digital sauce usage from Mitarotonda.

While the first set was far from lackluster, it felt like some of the fire of earlier stops of the tour was missing – but that all changed with the second set-opening “Arrow.”

Embarking at first on a relatively standard groove, Anspach laid down some nice supportive chordal work underneath Mitarotonda’s riffing as the band seemed to signal a path to an inside-the-box peak as all the 2025 “Arrow” jams so far have done. Hinting briefly (so close!) at some “Bathtub Gin”-like licks, the guitarist laid back into some rhythm riffing before pushing the band into a minor key.

Weekz took the lead as guitar and piano both faded into more textural roles, his floaty melodies pushing the band back into a brighter space before Mitarotonda pulled things back into a darker place with the introduction of deep, heavy digital sauce effects.

Similar to the Phoenix “Dripfield,” this gave the jam a dense, psychedelic quality as Weekz continued to probe in the upper register of his instrument. As things got further into the darkness, Ellis slowed down his beat to half-time – and the band followed right alongside and coalesced into a plodding core of excellent interplay.

Ellis dropped things further from there, tapping his ride cymbal and snare rim to speed things back up a little bit while Mitarotonda continued in the sauce zone. Developing from the murk came a familiar riff – the “B&D&Flamingos” jam from Goosemas.

This earworm has been hinted at a couple of times already this year, but this is the first time it emerged in a fully fleshed-out form with the whole band jumping on board. As Weekz and Mitarotonda emphasized the melody and began to drive to a peak, Anspach layered on heavy synth tones and complementary piano.

Lighting designer Andrew Goedde painted the inside of the intimate room with dazzling patterns as Goose ramped up the energy even further as Mitarotonda headed into full peak mode, scorching through an extended solo before diving back into the flamingo riff for one last burst.

Coming down from the peak, the band tapped “Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo” next, much to the delight of the crowd.

This jam began with some beautiful melodic guitar work from Mitarotonda at the outset as Ellis took the dynamics way down. Weekz emerged to the front again with a short bass solo (with a disappointing lack of respect for the quiet jam from the crowd, once again) as the two guitars circled each other.

Things modulated up into a driving, major-key space from there as Ellis pushed the tempo, Mitarotonda and Anspach finding a cool dual-rhythm motif before the band departed from the flowing jam on a dime.

Breaking into a fast-paced space built around a new ascending riff from Mitarotonda, Anspach copied and built upon it with quick flurries of rhythm work, boiling over the energy of the jam in an extended high-energy section.

Going into the next section, the band went into a beautiful example of communication and listening that has been present in only a handful of jams so far this tour (see San Francisco “This Old Sea”), though this “Half-Step” is the first example in a two-guitar format. Anspach and Mitarotonda in particular went crazy dancing around each other’s phrases as Ellis stuttered his beat around the interplay.

Taking things down once again, Weekz continued his deep pocket work as the rest of the band went stop/start around him, breaking into a quick floaty segue into “Madhuvan.”

With the third huge jam vehicle being tapped in as many songs, it was clear that Goose was on a mission for this entire set as the ending of the song proper splintered into open improvisational space (St. Louis crowds really need to learn to stop talking during quiet jams!!!).

Anspach peppered some bright-yet-dissonant piano tones over the wide sonic space before introducing a menacing synth drone as the rest of the band coalesced into a dark and brooding motif. Patiently plodding forth, repeated piano riffs from Anspach added a floaty quality to Mitarotonda’s otherwise-gritty riffs. Ellis added in well-timed cymbal hits that the other musicians latched onto quickly.

Goose built into a rocking, intense peak zone from there, Weekz continuing his incredible active play as the band eventually hit double-time to scream through a sustained climax to the jam, wrapping up “Madhuvan” and 62 minutes of absolutely flawless, top-tier music.

The set was at a crossroads from there – the band could tap a cooldown and a short set closer, or they could do what they did – my preference – and just opt to close the set with a nicely-jammed “Dripfield.”

Anchoring the second frame as it was born to do, “Drip” embarked on a churning, thrashing jam that saw the band engage in an initial funk groove similar to Phoenix’s exemplary version with Anspach on clav. Ellis pushed into a driving pocket while Anspach bopped on piano for a spell before Mitarotonda drove things back into a minor key.

Picking up the tempo, the clavinet re-entered the fray as things got grittier, Mitarotonda leading the band through a driving, almost blues-rock motif through the final extended peak of the show – closing out the perfect second set with an explosion into the glory-filled ending of “Dripfield.”

An encore of “Silver Rising” sent the St. Louis crowd home happy, with anticipation high of the second night to come as Anspach noted the amped-up energy of the audience. We’re back at The Factory tonight – and hopefully a Wednesday night crowd is a little bit more respectful of the more introspective and mellow moments of the show than Tuesday’s.

Tune in to the show – and full tour – via livestreams available exclusively to nugs All Access subscribers.