Show Review - Goose 6/27/25 Gilford, NH
The Night Before
Goose kicked off the final weekend of their Everything Must Go Summer Tour last night in Gilford, NH, warming up after a few days off and getting ready for tonight’s headlining debut at Madison Square Garden.
The Bank of NH Pavilion is a relatively small shed near the lake in rural New Hampshire, featuring a large courtyard before you get into the venue itself and free pedalboat rides on a small pond – yes, that’s inside the show. The place was packed from the pit to the lawn, whether it be local New England fans or those crazy enough to make the big drive down to New York early in the morning (that’s me, I’m crazy). While the show started a little bit slow, the band delivered another entry into this tour’s book of incredible second sets – including a huge, rare jam out of a cover.
Opening with a pretty typical three-pack of openers, Goose eased us in with “Flodown,” “Silver Rising,” and “California Magic” to get started. “Silver” was performed in the album arrangement for the first time, featuring a little bit of extra backing track flourish while “Cali” came out for the first time since Boise on June 1st, a weirdly long gap for a setlist staple and album cut.
Drummer Cotter Ellis fronted “Draconian Meter Maid” next, opening things up into our first jam of the night. While many versions earlier on this tour focused on an emotive bliss motif, the band is now leaning into a driving funk pocket as the centrepiece – part of how they have been trying to keep all their jam vehicles fresh lately.
Bassist Trevor Weekz led the way early, his thick tone bouncing atop Ellis’ crisp snare work as guitarist Rick Mitarotonda and multi-instrumentalist Peter Anspach hung back on their respective parts. Probing in with some wah-infused riffs for a bit, Mitarotonda went back to rhythm as the pace began to pick up.
Mitarotonda and Weekz engaged in some back and forth play as Anspach hit the clav, deepening the funk as the quartet locked in as one. Ellis shifted his beat to be more propulsive as the jam continued to pick up steam. Anspach and Mitarotonda existed in a similar space here, their respective chunky chords meshing beautifully.
Weekz suggested a new progression that the rest of the band soon joined him on, upping the energy further and driving to a relatively restrained first pass at a peak. Bursting out of the funk, Mitarotonda took hold with some anthemic leads and upped the energy further through a raging final peak, closing the jam on a high note and working his way into the opening of a hot “Mr. Action.”
“Please Forgive Me” continued the set before the band tapped “Rockdale” to close the first frame. An innocuous song choice, especially given the run-of-the-mill nature of much of the first set, but it ended up being one of the improvisational highlights of the night.
Beginning in the typical gritty funk zone, Ellis got aggressive on cowbell as Anspach and Mitarotonda sparred on their distorted tones. Weekz initiated an ascending pattern akin to the “Rockdale” from 4/13/23 that the band quickly hopped in on, Anspach laying down big piano chords as Mitarotonda tore into some riffs overtop, Weekz fluidly switching into some fills underneath.
Splintering out of the forceful motif that had been taking shape, Ellis continued the plodding funk beat as the rest of the band brought things down, Anspach sprinkling in haunting high-register piano while Weekz kept everything anchored. Infusing delay into the piano, things departed further from “Rockdale” proper as Ellis ever-so-slightly increased the speed of his playing.
From there, the band executed a smooth major-key modulation and picked up speed, embarking into a floaty zone with some great interplay between guitar and piano. Finding a familiar melody thanks to Anspach’s circular riffing, Goose began developing a big peak based around the same musical idea as the final jams in the 4/14/23 “Hungersite” and 9/7/24 “Drive.”
Ellis fluidly pushed things to a fast pace, Mitarotonda’s soloing hanging back at first while Anspach led the charge on forceful chordal work. A subtle undercurrent of synth was introduced as the intensity picked up, the peak clearly in view as Mitarotonda and Ellis both ramped up their insistence and volume.
Popping out into full peak mode, Mitarotonda unleashed wave after wave of emotive phrases, soaring through the sustained energy and beauty of this melodic theme confidently with Anspach laying down some supportive organ.
It’s incredible whenever Goose can sustain a jam like this for so long without it getting stale or tired, and this “Rockdale” is a prime example of why Mitarotonda is such an incredible musician – the outpouring of creativity and energy from his guitar as they tear through segment after segment is just incredible to behold. A somewhat rocky re-entry to the song proper closed out the first set on a high note and sent us into the break.
Returning from the break with “Into the Myst,” Goose kicked off 45 minutes of nonstop high-quality music atop a driving disco beat from Ellis. Eschewing the Goontz that was right there for the taking, Anspach let things ride after a little bit of toying with backing tracks and e-drum effects and settled down into some bouncy Vintage Vibe work.
Mitarotonda danced around some “Feel it Now”-like riffing for a while before beginning to shape an upbeat motif. Anspach’s phased-out chords inspired Ellis to pivot into a pounding tom-heavy beat as the band cultivated a disco-party jam akin to the 10/29/24 “Butter Rum.”
Coming right into the realm of “Magic School Bus,” both Anspach and Mitarotonda danced around the tease without playing it as things progressed, building the energy further with the introduction of a synth drone.
Ellis built flawlessly into a big disco drop, setting up Mitarotonda for another couple minutes of high-energy peaking in the all-out party mode before descending into a calm, contemplative space. Hinting at “Your Direction” briefly, the band stuck in this mellow, floaty zone as Mitarotonda teased Sublime’s “Wrong Way” before Ellis and Anspach brought things around to the beginning of “Fish in the Sea.”
Always an excellent part of any second set, “Fish” is often used as an energy boost or a flow connector between two more typical jam vehicles, but the band opted to use it as the launchpad for the night’s best improvisation – in its first true Type II outing.
Starting in the pounding song proper, Anspach introduced some angular ideas on piano while Weekz bubbled on some envelope filtered work. Beginning to depart from the usual jam, Anspach led the way into a new progression as Ellis continued his pounding groove.
Mitarotonda continued his gritty soloing through this section, giving it kind of an anthemic quality as it felt as though this slight outside-the-box idea would lead back into the ending of “Fish” to wrap up a very good rendition of the song.
Instead, Goose made a hard left into the dark and weird, immediately finding their tried-and-true dissonant zone that immediately broke open into some excellent listening and interplay.
Ellis fluidly hit all sides of his kit one after the other before taking his foot off the gas and sticking to propulsion, Mitarotonda, Anspach, and Weekz toying with dynamics as they all poked in on each other, full of tension and unease. Once again, the ability of 2025 Goose to play an amazing jam just by listening closely to each other was on full display, Anspach introducing some sputtering OB-6 synth tones as a rising wave of darkness built.
Going from the dark chase to a straight-up slow-burn minor key, Mitarotonda came extremely close to a “Tumble” tease as the tension began to mount, building and building as Ellis continued his MVP run of the set with some ferocious play.
Mitarotonda then introduced a progression in a klezmer-like space, building from there into a ragefest peak with smashing Ellis china cymbal. Boiling over from there, the band raced alongside the drummer into another minimalist and splintered zone with some vicious stop/start riffs, augmented by Anspach on clav.
Ellis rolled on the snare as things finally faded away, “Fish” left unfinished as the band worked their way through a lovely post-peak landing pad, Anspach’s melodic clav melding with Mitarotonda’s mellow phrasing for a beautiful contemplative transitional space.
Depositing themselves nicely in the opening to “Everything Must Go,” the band tore through the latest album’s title track with gusto, ripping through the jam with ferocity that only materializes when they know what they’ve accomplished already. An oddball set closer in “Christmas Card From A Hooker in Minneapolis” let Mitarotonda flex his vocal chops ahead of a Goontz-ified encore in “The Empress of Organos” that closed the show on a raging high note.
TONIGHT, Goose headlines Madison Square Garden for the first time for a Saturday night rager of epic proportions – the accomplishment of filling such a legendary room only elevated by the fact that the day-of-show secondary market for tickets is incredibly scarce. I cannot WAIT to see what they have in store for us and what the energy is going to feel like once the lights drop inside the World’s Most Famous Arena.
LET’S DO THIS!!
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Tune in this afternoon as we recap the Gilford show live on Always Almost There!