Show Review - Goose 6/26/24 Portland, ME

Goose performed their second of two nights at Thompson’s Point in Portland, Maine, last night, continuing this tour’s trend of rare cover bustouts and deep jams – with some interesting setlist calls thrown in.

The night began with a standard “Turbulence & The Night Rays” opener, always an excellent call for an early evening show – the song returning to its usual slot after its encore appearance in Atlanta. Guitarist Rick Mitarotonda built to a soaring peak as the crowd locked in – regardless of what song the band was playing last night, every member of the audience was energetic, loud, and ready to dance.

“Doc Brown” as the second song of a show is pretty much always a good omen – and when the Peter Anspach song is as rare as it is these days, it’s a treat.

The set continued with a mellow “AUATC,” which was followed by “It Burns Within” – both amazing songs, but the back-to-back ballads created a little bit of a dip in momentum that had been created by “Turbulence” > “Doc Brown,” but the band made up for it quickly with the opening to “Jive II.” As he is wont to do, Anspach attacked his clav with gusto before switching to organ and opening the way for Mitarotonda’s gorgeous build – once again, amazing choice for a sunset vibe.

“Jive Lee” followed with a dense blast of energy, not reaching the improvisational highs of Fiddler’s or Northlands but just letting everyone vibe out and dance for 12 minutes. Anspach vamped on OB-6 while Mitarotonda let loose riff after riff, building to higher and higher peaks before returning home.

An oddly-placed third ballad was next in “Your Ocean,” a song I absolutely adore but wasn’t thrilled about seeing here. Luckily, the energy of the crowd seemed to ignore the slower set and continued to rage at a very high level. “Same Old Shenanigans” did what it does best – close the set with an absolute eruption of vibes and energy.

Going into set two, I was pretty much certain that we were getting both “Creatures” and “Wysteria Lane” – and was hoping that the show would get a much-needed dose of jamming after a light first set. Much like in Charlotte on Sunday, the band came out from the break and wasted exactly zero time before getting into outer space.

Including a brief ambient intro, “Wysteria” was the perfect choice to get things going, and Anspach’s guitar tone was searing enough to put hair on your chest early on in the song. Within seconds of the jam beginning, the multi-instrumentalist was working the OB-6 for some subtle space-age textures that I likened to a spaceship taking off. Mitarotonda utilized a dirty tone on top of drummer Cotter Ellis’ heavy circular beat as the music drifted further upwards, the guitarist then augmenting his playing with his “digital sauce” synthesizer pedal.

Several minutes of incredible and sparse exploration ensued before a pivot by Ellis increased the intensity. Anspach’s synthesizer emerged from the background via an opening of the filter as he switched to a hypnotic and pulsating patch. Andrew Goedde’s lights painted the night air with colours and patterns as bassist Trevor Weekz stepped up with a new chord progression that was quickly latched onto by the rest of the band.

An uplifting motif developed with Mitarotonda still firmly in synth land, the rest of the band coalescing around Anspach’s Vintage Vibe work and Ellis’ insistent drumming. Finally returning to earth after the sustained voyage through the cosmos, Ellis picked up the pace with some bouncy snare rolls as Mitarotonda modulated into a gorgeous major key.

Developing the next section in a similar fashion to the Raleigh “Pancakes” – somewhere adjacent to “When The Saints Go Marching In” – Goose became one unit of five pieces, coasting with beautiful and melodic guitar on top of a thick bed of phased-out electric piano. Ellis, reading the vibe perfectly, switched up his beat into a more energetic and propulsive mode at the exact right time as the quintet drove to the final soaring peak.

At this point, the band knew that they had performed an incredible piece of improv and opted for pure fun and energy for the remainder of the set. A blistering “White Lights” was up next, turning into an all-out dance party through the ensuing “Loose Ends” – my first time getting a full version of the earworm track.

The disco vibe continued through a quick “Creatures” that faded into the first cover of Jim James’ “State of the Art (A.E.I.O.U.)” since October 8, 2022 – a gap of 129 shows. This is easily one of the best cover’s in the Goose repertoire and Ellis crushed his first performance of the intense song, closing out the second set on a high note.

With a classic call of “The Empress of Organos” in the encore slot, I expected it to be an exclamation point on the show, hitting some big peaks before sending us off – little did I know, we would be treated to some viciously dark and heavy jamming courtesy of Mitarotonda’s shredding, Goedde painting the band in late-night patterns.

While the first set may have been on the slower side, Goose delivered yet another standout set packed with energy and a tentpole jam for their second night in Portland. Tour wraps up this weekend in Philadelphia, Forest Hills, and New Haven as the band returns to their home state for the first time since 2022. All three shows are streaming free for nugs subscribers – be sure to tune in if you can’t make it!