It’s the most wonderful time of the year…
Goosemas has always been an annual celebration of everything Goose has accomplished each year, beginning with the keg party at Factory Underground in Connecticut back in 2014. Marking the third arena-level event and tenth overall, this past weekend’s duo of shows at the legendary Hampton Coliseum allowed the quintet to close out a banner 83-show year on an incredibly high note.
From the first moments after it was announced in June, the community was abuzz with speculation about what they might do. Releasing a cryptic trailer the week before the shows, Goose hinted at a space theme for the shows at the Mothership.
As we walked in for the first night, the stage was decorated with crystals, which could have just lent itself to a general intergalactic theme for the weekend – little did we know what was in store!
Set 1: Earthling or Alien?, All I Need[1], Mirrors[2], Tumble[3], Man in the Mirror[4]
Set 2: Fire[5], Creatures[6] > (dawn), Sex On Fire[7], Butter Rum, Arrow[8] > Burning Down the House[9]
Encore: So Ready > Slow Ready[10] > Hot Tea
Coach's Notes:
[1] Began as slow, melodic version and switched to “fast” version after the first chorus.
[2] Justin Timberlake. FTP.
[3] Vibey Tumble. Played with regular Tumble composed section and jam.
[4] Michael Jackson. FTP.
[5] Jimi Hendrix. FTP.
[6] With Ghostbusters Rap tease from Rick.
[7] Kings of Leon. FTP.
[8] Unfinished.
[9] Talking Heads.
[10] Jam only.
Bringing some lessons back home from Europe, the band took the stage eight minutes after ticket time – what might be a new record for Goose, who are notorious for going on late. The “ship computer” voice from the trailer spoke and informed us that we were landing on the planet Echochrome.
The appropriate “Earthling or Alien?” opener got us grooving and delivered a nice dose of funk while lighting designer Andrew Goedde began to showcase his months of hard work and programming for his biggest rig yet.
“All I Need” came next and started as normal – but after the first chorus, the band pivoted into the original “fast” arrangement of the song. This was the first indication of the mirror theme, and the first of three songs to combine two different arrangements in a unique way. The jam quickly developed into a blissy motif and resolved through excellent peaks before multi-instrumentalist Peter Anspach shredded some serious guitar through the ending.
The first surprise cover debut of the night – and improvisational highlight of the weekend – came in the form of an impeccably-executed version of Justin Timberlake’s “Mirrors.” Not only did the song itself get the crowd amped, but Goose decided to drop a monstrous 22-minute version that traversed a variety of musical themes. Beginning in a low-key psychedelic space akin to the Eugene “Borne” played in April, drummer Ben Atkind kept a steady groove going while guitarist Rick Mitarotonda weaved together melodies freely. Anspach layered in synths from both his Nord Lead and Prophet-6, creating eerie siren textures of varying depths and speeds.
Atkind pushed for a tempo increase as Mitarotonda continued to ramp up the intensity of his playing around the 12-minute mark – undeterred, Anspach layered on the synth loops even heavier during this transition – as we began to hit a familiar exuberant and driving motif. Mitarotonda seemed to hint at Ted Tapes cut “Camino II” along the way as the band drove toward a euphoric peak to bring the exploratory journey to its conclusion.
“Tumble” was tapped next, first in its slow, vibey form – my first time seeing it – and Goose took their time in the initial space, letting Anspach’s warm Vintage Vibe tones spread through the arena around Mitarotonda’s bright leads. Perfectly transitioning from the mellow motif into the upbeat jam we are used to, Mitarotonda torched the arena overtop Anspach’s aggressive piano work through massive dance peaks – much like the 20-minute “Tumble” played at last year’s Goosemas.
The first set came to a close with the debut of Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror,” a perfect choice for the band’s sound and vocal abilities to see us off the Echochrome planet.
During setbreak, house music included the Grateful Dead’s “Fire on the Mountain” and other fire-related songs, hinting at what was to come when the lights dropped and the ship informed us that we were landing on Inferno Prime.
Percussionist Jeff Arevalo fronted the debut of Jimi Hendrix’s “Fire,” his gritty vocal going well with the classic rock track as he exclaimed “move over Rover and let Jeffrey take over!”
“Creatures” was up next and gave the second big jam of the show. Lighting director Andrew Goedde was on fire throughout the song, sweeping the arena with beams of light from his biggest rig yet. The first 15 minutes of this version are fun, explosive playing – what you’d expect from a “Creatures” – but the last segment is where things got interesting. Breaking into a driving primal beat thanks to the drummers, Mitarotonda dirtied his tone and Anspach rocked into the marimba as some excellent full-band interplay ensued. The peak smoothly floated away into space, landing in the first-ever standalone “(dawn).” While the segment of “SOS” has been played on its own three other times, this was the first to come without the opening lyrical part earlier on in the show. Anspach prepared for the next song during the final peaks by turning his guitar with his left hand while playing organ with his right - which really cracked me up.
A raucous rendition of Kings of Leon’s “Sex on Fire” complete with on-stage pyrotechnics continued the party vibe of the set ahead of a solid and dancey pairing of “Butter Rum” and “Arrow.”
In the moment “Burning Down the House” was a perfect way to close the set – 10,000 voices singing along to the hit Talking Heads song as every member of the band could be seen having a blast on stage. On tape, this cover doesn’t hold up as well due to some issues with Mitarotonda’s vocals (very rare for Goose), but it was one of my favourite moments of the weekend in person.
We got one more “mirrored” song in the encore with the first-ever pairing of “So Ready” and “Slow Ready” together – the former’s song proper and the latter’s jam. Anspach’s poofy hair escaped from his beanie in the middle of the arpeggiator segment as he bounced up and down like an excited kid on Goosemas morning, a sight to behold that only elevated everyone else’s smiles and joy. “Hot Tea” was chosen as the final song of the show, and continued the trend of extra-mustard versions we’ve seen lately.
We returned to the Mothership on Saturday night for our next voyage beyond the stars, this time knowing that we would be touching two more planets, though unsure what the themes would be. Speculation included an obvious pick for a water planet – songs like “Thatch,” “This Old Sea,” “The Old Man’s Boat” – and there were heavy theories about an inclusion of the Autumn Crossing pair of “Travelers” and “Elmeg the Wise,” especially since both songs had not been played since June and March respectively.
Set 1: Pancakes -> Doobie Song, Circles[1], 99 Red Balloons[2] > Pancakes, Big Blue[3] > Dripfield[4], Red Bird -> I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles[5]
Set 2: Jungle[6] -> Animal, Echo of a Rose[7] -> Run Through The Jungle[8] -> Echo of a Rose, The Way It Is[9], The Empress Of Organos, Jungle Boogie[10] -> The Empress Of Organos[11]
Encore: Arcadia[12]
Coach's Notes:
[1] Post Malone. FTP.
[2] Nena. FTP.
[3] Vampire Weekend. FTP.
[4] Unfinished. With Animal tease from Rick.
[5] John Kellette. FTP.
[6] ELO. FTP.
[7] Fast version. With Atlas Dogs teases.
[8] Creedence Clearwater Revival. FTP.
[9] Bruce Hornsby. With Bruce Hornsby on keys and vocals.
[10] Kool & The Gang. FTP. With Jeff on guitar and Animal teases from Peter.
[11] With Jeff on guitar.
[12] With Jungle Boogie tease from Peter.
Upon entering the venue before the show, we were able to see that the stage was decorated with what looked like a coral reef at first glance, lending stock to the water planet theory. We were wrong, however, as the ship announced touch-down on the bubble planet Puffaria.
“Pancakes” opened the music decisively and with some solid jamming, though many of us were a little bit confused at its placement within the theme. Upbeat and rocking play led to a section where it felt like the improv was going to depart for more exploratory territory, but Goose pulled a hard left into “Doobie Song,” in a move that was my least favourite setlist choice of the weekend.
After taking a moment to breathe in a noticeably smokier atmosphere, we got the debut of Post Malone’s “Circles,” one of the best performances of the night. While a ton of people my age are HUGE fans of this popular artist, I have never really been able to get into his music – but something about hearing Mitarotonda’s voice and the familiar Goose instrumentation resonated with me, and I’ve given it a number of listens in the week since.
Following a brief hiccup where he forgot to disable his autotune effect, we got the second cover of the night in Nena’s “99 Red Balloons.” The crowd went absolutely nuts for this one, screaming the catchy chorus along with the band before they broke into a funky jam akin to “Welcome to Delta.” We sadly didn’t get a huge Type II masterpiece like Friday’s “Mirrors,” but “99 Red Balloons” should definitely stick around in the band’s catalogue for years to come – infusing a new cover jam vehicle into future setlists!
We then got a quick jaunt through the ending of “Pancakes” (featuring Spuds playing his ASS off) before an oddly-placed rendition of Vampire Weekend’s “Big Blue” bridged the gap to the jamming highlight of the show, “Dripfield.” Since its debut at Goosemas VII at Mohegan Sun in 2022, also the quintet’s first arena show ever, it has undoubtedly stood in the canon as their arena anthem, at least in my mind. Seeing it back in the massive room after three versions in small European clubs last month was hugely spectacular, and the way they broke form during the jam was smooth and effortless. Spuds began to gradually increase the tempo with cymbal hits as Arevalo switched to tambourine and Anspach hammered the ivories of his Nord Stage like a MADMAN, taking us into your classic Goose dance groove. It seemed as though the crowd built in tandem with the band from there, as the energy and music seemed to build like a huge wave behind the band for minute after minute, dancing harder and harder until we finally crashed down into the finish.
“Red Bird” was an excellent penultimate song of the set and segued smoothly into “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles,” a catchy on-theme song that even had the ultra-rare Weekz backing vocal performance. Yes, you heard that right – if you go watch the full show video that’s available on YouTube, you can see the bassist singing along with the rest of the band in a rare move!
The jungle-themed setbreak music made the Autumn Crossing theories seem like a lock – though we would be proved wrong in a most spectacular fashion.
Coming out with the on-the-nose debut of ELO’s “Jungle,” the stage was revealed to have been decorated with a variety of colorful props depicting foliage and mushrooms – once again highlighting creative director Will Thresher’s incredible vision and execution for the event.
We got right into the improv here with a distinctly funky groove that percolated patiently for several minutes, setting up a beautiful and perfect segue into the intro of “Animal.” I am really not usually a fan of this song in the middle of the second set, but it was hard to be upset at how amped the crowd was for the singalong favourite – especially given the theme.
Goose rocked through the catchy tune with an explosive guitar solo from Mitarotonda and emphatic clav work from Anspach before heading into “Echo of a Rose” next. Working through a jam on the indie-groove “Atlas Dogs” chord progression, the quick dose of improv bled seamlessly into CCR’s “Run Through the Jungle.” Choogling through the song, I was expecting a ripping guitar solo akin to their cover of “Green River,” but Anspach pivoted to Vintage Vibe and showed us that this wouldn’t be like any CCR cover you had ever heard, drenching the keyboard in reverb as we hit a space-age motif. Arpeggiator was introduced as Atkind plunged forward, building a foundation with Weekz’ funky notes for Mitarotonda to unleash a torrent of notes over. Calming from the first peak, the jam gradually slowed as if we were coming out of hyperspeed travel, filled with delayed Vibe and melodic bass lines. Atkind revived the dance groove again in the last couple of minutes before the whole motif collapsed in on itself like a dying star and concluded the “Echo of a Rose” from earlier in the set.
“Life form detected – it’s Bruce Hornsby!”
Talk about unexpected things that happened…a number of people had been joking about a possible Hornsby appearance on Twitter in the weeks leading up to Goosemas due to the fact that he lives near Hampton, but we never seriously thought it could happen – until the man himself walked on stage and took a seat in Peter’s keyboard station.
The packed arena howled our joy as the pianist tickled out a beautiful chordal intro to “The Way It Is” as all five band members looked on with massive grins. The performance itself could not have been more perfect (barring a big 20-minute jam), with vocal trading between Hornsby and Mitarotonda and an awesome jazz-infused piano solo.
Standing there, watching a piece of sit-in history and almost giggling to myself at how surreal the moment was, I took stock of how lucky I am to be attending Goose concerts at this stage in their career. Magic made, every single night.
“The Empress of Organos” was revved up after Hornsby’s departure, much to the enjoyment of the crowd, who was in the mood to party. In lieu of the typical jam, however, Arevalo strapped on Anspach’s guitar in an unexpected move and smashed the gong for the signature opening to “Jungle Boogie.”
Complete with aggressive clav, this funky number was just another incredible highlight to add to the long list from the weekend – watching Arevalo pull triple duty on guitar, percussion, and vocals was awesome to watch as the whole band clearly continued to have the absolute times of their lives on stage. The quick funky romp bled back into the ending of “Empress” to end off the second set as we all knew it would.
Would an Autumn Crossing encore have been awesome? 100%. Was the “Arcadia” encore exactly the right call. Without a doubt.
Just like the Mohegan Goosemas, it was the only choice. It is, has always been, and always will be the quintessential Goose song. So unequivocally them, so euphoric, and blew the damn ROOF off the Mothership as Mitarotonda blasted through peak after peak after peak and Goedde continued to dazzle every corner of the arena with his arsenal.
Confetti cannons went boom, the final peak screamed into the air – and it was over. The ship computer gave us one last cryptic message about taking control and going somewhere unknown – but no further information was given and the band gave us their heartfelt thanks for ten incredible Goosemas celebrations, each one bigger and better than the last.
With 35 shows under my belt in 2023 and 53 to date, I just can’t describe my continued and immense gratitude for what this band brings to the stage at every show. From the first moments of discovery in 2020, Goose has been a special part of my life and getting even more involved through podcasting, being a setlist nerd, and writing about every show I attend is just so damn special.
Besides the love of the music, I can confidently say that there is no community like the Goose community. The sheer amount of joy and positivity that everybody experienced during Goosemas weekend is unlike anything I’ve felt at another event and I know that the people I have met through this band will remain lifelong friends.
Thank you, Goose, for an absolutely amazing 2023 – here’s to an even bigger 2024 and beyond!!
Thanks again for all you do! After quite a few listens, Mirrors > Tumble has become my favorite part of these shows
Ryan, thank you for helping us nerd out with these articles and storm cloud podcasts (instead of bringing it to our family and friends that don’t get it - yet!). Also a nod to Neal who I met in Boston in September that turned me on to podcasts back then…
My favorite parts of this article are your acknowledgment of Peter’s guitar tuning before sex on fire, I was close to the stage on Pete’s side both nights and was confident that was happening. He killed it on that unique sound re-creation…and then on your autumn crossing anticipation…we’ll be chasing that live treat into 2024 but very happy with the Arcadia closer - my second Arcadia (first being the Asbury Park fireworks in the summer). Thanks again, Merry Goosemas!!