Show Review - Goose 6/29/25 New Haven, CT
That's A Wrap
Goose brought their Everything Must Go Summer Tour to a close last night with a hometown throwdown at New Haven’s Westville Music Bowl, leaning hard into the party vibes after Saturday night’s marathon MSG show – and once again defied venue curfew to keep the music going.
The show kicked off with “Yeti,” multi-instrumentalist Peter Anspach doubling guitar and some sequenced synth work as the band sandwiched “Pumped Up Kicks” within the high-energy dance party, beginning the show on a high note. Anspach continued to take the lead through “Iguana Song,” guitarist Rick Mitarotonda cruising through the jam as he and drummer Cotter Ellis brought the dynamics up and down for some excellent ebb and flow.
“Iguana” continues to prove itself as a fantastic first-set vehicle and hopefully will continue to expand improvisationally as time goes on – the hints at Type II greatness are there!
An expected “Your Direction” came out next as the band continued to emphasize well-played songs over jams, eschewing the breezy improv that has come out of the last few versions in favour of the tour’s second “Amongster,” the fantastic cover performance bridging the gap into the night’s big standout jam in “All I Need.”
After a long time where “AIN” was relegated to shorter versions – including the early part of this summer – it has returned to form now with two excellent plays in Wilmington and New Haven. Last night’s departed the song proper with a big minor pivot led by Mitarotonda, who went heavy into some tremolo effects as Ellis and bassist Trevor Weekz laid out a swinging groove.
Anspach hit on some minimalist piano phrases as Mitarotonda continued to colour over the top, the wavy guitar lines giving things a distinctly psychedelic feel. Drifting calmly in this space, playing from all four members got more insistent as Weekz and Mitarotonda really took centre stage.
Dialling back the intensity again, Ellis continued the swinging groove as Anspach and Mitarotonda began to cultivate a gorgeous major-key space. Quieting down to near-silence, the quartet showed remarkable patience in a Ted Tapes-like motif, Weekz leading the way into a fresh progression.
Mitarotonda began to weave together some beautiful phrases, lifting things up as Anspach sparkled underneath on piano. Threatening to fade away entirely, the jam quieted again as the band put their mastery of intensity changes on full display. The Westville “AIN” then moved in a classic Goose direction of taking one idea and exploring it to its complete potential.
The peak build was nothing short of spectacular as the intensity and pace picked up consistently, Mitarotonda constantly at the front throwing out crystal-clear melodies in the upbeat space as the band soared atop Ellis’ driving beat. Skipping the song’s ending once again – “All I Need” has not been finished since last fall – the band executed a beautiful segue into a set-closing “SALT,” Ellis really working the change in tempo and style from the jam’s end to the driving pace of the song’s beginning.
“SALT” then proceeded to do what it does best, close out the first frame with a high-intensity, runaway freight train vibe that featured several screaming builds and some “Crazy Train” riffing from Mitarotonda, the second version this summer to feature that tease.
Returning from setbreak, the final set of the summer kicked off with “Big Modern!,” filling its role as it does with a hugely euphoric jam, the band riding the wave of Ellis’ groove through a massive early peak.
Descending from there, the band was far from done and continued the jam with some calmer play, Ellis keeping up the momentum while Anspach laid down some excellent Vintage Vibe chords. Switching to piano, the keyboards spurred Ellis and Mitarotonda to pick up the intensity once more as Weekz dug in, a sense of unease and tension creeping in subtly.
Mitarotonda took the lead as another peak began to take shape, his fast-paced riffing nicely offsetting the continued tense play from Anspach and Weekz. Ellis loosened things up into a tom-heavy motif, keeping the forward propulsion going as Mitarotonda added more reverb to his tone, giving it a more spaced-out feel.
Avoiding the big peak that seemed to be brewing, Mitarotonda led the band through a smooth segue into the opening of “Madhuvan,” seeming to tee up another huge jam (which would have been appropriate given his choice of shirt last night) – but instead the band dipped out of the improv almost immediately to run through “Whip It” and “Suzie Q.”
Both of these are really fun covers, but it felt really strange for the band to drop one of their biggest jam vehicles on the last night of tour with the intention of bailing on it almost immediately for two improv-less covers.
The party vibe continued through “Same Old Shenanigans,” opening up into an exuberant and upbeat extended jam as the song has been doing in 2025. Nothing crazy improvisationally, but a damn good time.
At this point in the show, there was one more box left to check before the band could finish the tour, and that was some Goontz. Playing the first verse of “Slow Ready,” the band pivoted and sped up from there into the remainder of “fast:slow,” unleashing some fantastic electronic dance grooves to close off the second set on a high note.
For the second night in a row, the band defied the venue curfew to play a proper end to the show – though this one wasn’t an hour over and saw some more high-energy play with “You Spin Me Round (Like A Record),” the night’s fifth cover and one that has found an excellent role in the Goose catalog this year.
Anspach read off the names of their entire crew before things wrapped up, the gratitude felt by both band and audience last night was palpable – especially coming off such a triumph at MSG on Saturday. Goose’s 2025 summer tour was their biggest yet, and as I mentioned in my recap of 6/28, it feels like the momentum is still just beginning to pick up steam.
Unfortunately, that’s it for full Goose shows until the end of August – the band has a pair of festival performances at Newport Folk Fest and Park City Song Summit to break up what is sure to be some much-needed (and well-deserved) rest for all of them after a long month on the road.
Thank you, Goose, for an incredible June!!
Tune in live this afternoon at 3:30PM ET as we recap last night on Always Almost There!