It’s a Tuesday night in uptown Oakland, but it feels like a weekend around the Fox Theater because Goose are back in the Bay. The Connecticut-based rock quintet have been on a meteoric rise over the past few years, surging from obscurity to status as an improv-oriented phenomenon in amazing fashion. Their popularity grew so fast that they wound up bypassing the fabled Fillmore in San Francisco, snagged a prestigious headlining slot in their debut appearance at the High Sierra Music Festival last year, and now are back in the Bay for two nights at the Fox, concluding here on 26 September after having earlier played two nights at San Francisco’s Warfield Theater back in April.
Goose’s return to the Bay Area for a second visit in 2023 feels like a throwback to the early years of the 21st century when jam rockers and funk bands would regularly come through twice a year since San Francisco was still ground zero for the psychedelic rock counterculture. But while Denver has seized that title over the past decade, the Bay Area still remains a vital location for rock ‘n’ roll bands on the rise.
2022 was a storybook year for Goose, featuring a slew of high-profile gigs and collaborations with peers and jam-rock elders. Goose not only hosted both Father John Misty and Phish‘s Trey Anastasio as special guests at Radio City Music Hall in New York City last year, but the quintet went on to team with the Trey Anastasio Band for an eight-show co-headlining tour in the fall. Guitarist Rick Mitarotonda also landed a part-time gig playing lead guitar for Phil Lesh & Friends, and there is no higher honor in the rock improvisation world than being tabbed for such duty by the legendary bassist of the Grateful Dead.
Goose’s team-ups haven’t been limited just to the jam world. They have also collaborated with the likes of Lucius, Margo Price, LP Giobbi, and even the one and only Animal from Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem at this summer’s Newport Folk Festival.
The Fox feels packed when Goose hits the stage around 8:30 pm. “All I Need” is an early highlight with its tight, funky groove that opens up for extended exploration. Some moments sound influenced by jam rock predecessors such as the String Cheese Incident and moe., but then Goose will soar off into a sphere of their own. Mitarotonda is a high-level player with chops to burn and the taste to know when to cut loose and pull back. Bassist Trevor Weeks, drummer Ben Atkind, and percussionist Jeff Arevalo form a lean, mean rhythm machine here, while keyboardist/guitarist Peter Anspach provides harmony vocals and psychedelic synths.
Anspach takes the lead vocal on the bouncy “Elizabeth”, an infectious tune with a funky groove that gets the dance floor going with a familiar vibe that seems to recall bluesy classics like Eric Clapton’s “Lay Down Sally” or Phish’s “Back on the Train”. Anspach drops some nifty piano runs on “A Western Sun”, a song with more of an introspective vibe on the vocals from Mitarotonda before building up for another peak. It feels like the set still needs a big breakout jam, though, and Goose deliver with a sensational romp through the fan favorite “Yeti”.
If you’re going to name a song after one of the most intriguing mythical creatures on Earth, it should probably be a dynamic tune with a monster jam, and Goose don’t disappoint here. The song from 2020’s Night Lights EP has some signature guitar riffage and a big groove that opens up for deep space rock jamming, enhanced quite nicely by the band’s dazzling psychedelic light show. The quintet’s chemistry is readily apparent here, and the Fox is getting lit now on a soaring jam that has everyone getting down. The “Yeti” jam concludes the six-song set in a climactic fashion, promising an even stronger second set to come.
Goose have quickly developed a dedicated fan base, with some devotees following the band to catch multiple shows, what with the ever-rotating set lists and improv jams that make every show different. Yet, as a younger group still on the rise, there are also a lot of curious attendees who aren’t so familiar with the repertoire and have come to see what all the buzz is about. Goose are one of those bands that must be seen in the live setting to “get” what they’re all about. They can write some solid songs, too, but there’s a multi-dimensional vibe during songs like “Yeti” that must be experienced in person to feel the full impact of their high-level tone science.
“Atlas Dogs” opens the second set with an upbeat, feel-good vibe, with Anspach’s piano providing some critical melodic lift as Mitarotonda sings of “dancing through the darkness” and “marching to the light”. The jammy festivities continue in “Creatures”, with spacey guitar lines over a compelling groove that keeps grooving deeper as Mitarotonda weaves nimble riffs over lyrics about “creatures in the night” and lions and tigers. A cover of the Moody Blues’ classic “Knights in White Satin” seems to come out of left field to slow things down, but it feels like it’s setting up something big.
The Moody Blues ballad acts as a stepping stone as Goose follows with a massive cosmic jam on the title track from 2022’s Dripfield, their third full-length LP. It’s seven minutes on the album, but serves as a jam vehicle that can go much longer. There’s an interstellar vibe from the start, with the song building in a dynamic fashion that unites the flock in a collective trance dance groove. The quintet stretch out here on a mesmerizing ride through time and space that dazzles the senses. A soaring section down the stretch features Mitarotonda and Anspach firing complementary melodic lines that propel the Fox into what feels like a vortex to a higher dimension of utopian bliss, and it’s quite something. One need only experience a sonic journey like this “Dripfield” jam to realize that Goose are the real deal.
The good vibes continue to flow on “White Lights”, a melodic number where Anspach sings of being able to see the future and the stars before the band moves into a brief tease on Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer”. Goose build off that groove in an increasingly rocking direction as Mitarotonda slays hot riffage with an octave boost that gets the Fox going for one more big jam to close out the set in the most triumphant fashion.
Anspach expresses gratitude for feeling “so much love here on the West Coast” before launching into some downtempo psychedelia on the “Slow Ready” encore. A mystical aura envelopes the room as if the spaceship is returning to Earth from a transcendent journey before Goose opens up a cosmic wormhole with an arpeggiated riff to morph the song into another groovy trip through the cosmos and back again. This sends everyone out into the night on an ecstatic cloud. The second set featured a sustained level of energetic excellence that would be a revelation to anyone who might have prematurely split at the set break to see another show.
A festive vibe outside the Fox afterward marks the scene of a great rock ‘n’ roll dance party, with friends and associates mingling to enjoy the evening further. Goose are clearly on an ascension that would seem to have them on a trajectory to keep moving up the ladder of Bay Area venues, likely leading to a big party at the Berkeley Greek Theater next summer.