Show Review - Goose 6/22/24 Atlanta, GA
Fox Closer
Sometimes everything just aligns and Goose plays a show with memorable jams, a three-song second set, massive cover bustout, and a “Factory Fiction” closer. It all happened last night at their third and final night at Atlanta’s Fox Theatre, and it was amazing.
The show began innocently enough with a one-two-three punch of opener tunes in “Hot Love & The Lazy Poet,” the first cover of “Atlas” since 3/30/23, and “Mr. Action.” All three demonstrated that the amazing flow of energy from Thursday and Friday would be more than present for the final night of the run, and the latter two boasted some excellent interplay and jamming from the band, albeit on similar themes.
“Arrow” is not a song that commonly shows up in the middle of the first set, and certainly not one of this caliber. I haven’t always been the biggest fan of this song due to its tendency to be very long without going into particularly interesting territory, but 2024 versions have really demonstrated that this is no longer the case, with nary a standard 25-minute rendition to be found.
When the jam kicked off with Vintage Vibe leadership from Peter Anspach, there was no way of knowing just how incredible it would become in a few short minutes – but holy shit. The jam began to get into Type II territory with some staccato riffing from Anspach and a more sinister tone from Mitarotonda, but stayed largely anchored in “Arrow” for a while.
Downshifting into a half-time space thanks to Ellis, Anspach began to unleash pulsating waves of OB-6 across the venue as the band descended into one of the best evil jams of their career. Up there with hallowed versions like the 1/30/22 “Wysteria Lane” and 6/10/22 “All I Need,” Mitarotonda’s sinister playing was all-encompassing as Ellis started to gradually up the tempo from the thick pace of earlier.
As the synth washes continued, Anspach also peppered in some ringing Vibe chords underneath the reverb-heavy guitar as Weekz dropped some serious bombs, shaking the foundations of the Fox. Right at the perfect time, Mitarotonda cued a return to “Arrow” proper, destroying the outro and conclusion with the glee and confidence of someone who knows that they just played one of the best jams of the year.
A perfectly-placed “Silver Rising” allowed a moment to breathe ahead of a set-closing “S.O.S.” – the latter with an amusing vocal hiccup from Mitarotonda. Feeding off the energy of the crowd yet again, the euphoria of the outro jam was extended for a bit longer, letting the guitar and organ solos build to several frenzied peaks to send us into the break.
Returning for the second set, Goose proceeded to uncork a three-song masterpiece, stretching to just over an hour and packing in some serious jamming. “Tumble” kicked things off with an extended foray into dual-guitar funk with Anspach doing his best Cory Wong impression over Weekz’ vicious slapping.
The Fox became an all-out dance party as the music progressed, picking up speed and momentum as the quintet moved into a more layered space. Mitarotonda led the charge into a major key with some hints at “Dragonfly” riffing, getting spacey as Anspach sparkled on some dreamy OB-6.
While guitar and keys went to a more mellow place, Weekz remained busy on his darker bass lines, contrasting nicely with the melodies and locking in with Ellis’ insistent playing. Anspach switched to Vibe and infused a blissful chord progression into the jam that was quickly picked up by the other musicians as we fully entered the happy space.
For the next ten minutes, Goose perfectly executed a rocking and upbeat build to a peak, hitting on some “Welcome to Delta” themes along the way as the energy in the room grew higher and higher. “Tumble” wrapped up with an absolutely FEROCIOUS peak that even left the band basking in the glow – Anspach laughed and thanked the crowd before they gave us a beautiful reading of “A Western Sun” to relax mid-set.
The third and final song of the second set would be “Red Bird,” and the resulting jam was a masterclass in drumming by Ellis. Supporting Mitarotonda’s soloing in the initial peak section, he crafted a circular-feeling groove along with Weekz’ envelope filter as Anspach danced across his piano.
A slower and more percussive mode developed with heavy use of ride cymbal and toms, locking in on a repeating riff for several minutes as Goose explored the space.
Choosing the perfect moment, Ellis pivoted into a double-time beat, upping the energy by a crazy amount and giving Mitarotonda the necessary push to begin some wild peak shredding. Dipping into several darker tension builds infused with dissonance and a splash of “Secret Agent Man,” the guitarist demonstrated his uncanny ability to pull amazing melodies out of thin air once again as the band followed him back into the “Red Bird” chord progression.
23 minutes of exuberance later, the second set wrapped up to raucous cheers from the packed theatre. While the “Bird” wasn’t the deepest of jams, the energy it brought had the band and crowd alike smiling ear-to-ear as we went into the encore.
Of all the covers I could have guessed they might play in this slot, “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” would not really ever have been one I would have guessed. Played by Goose one previous time (that we know of) on June 17, 2016, this massive eight-year bustout had the crowd ROARING and then singing along to the Band classic. My only complaint – let Cotter sing!
It had felt like a “Factory Fiction” kind of night going in, and Goose delivered one last blast of power with one of their biggest fan favourite songs – the perfect way to end off an unforgettable three nights in Atlanta.
As the band heads north for the remainder of summer tour, each show seems to see them having more fun on stage, getting into new jamming spaces, and whipping crowd after crowd into frenzied joy. What a weekend!
Thanks for the great review - this is my fave show of the summer