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| Goose @ the Warfield (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
The Jam Band world is in for a big shake up this year with Dead & Company entering its last trip and if I were a betting man, I’d put my money on Goose to rise to the top. Thursday night at The Warfield, the band showed the highest-level musicianship while delivering an audience-connecting charm accompanied by a visually stunning performance in the first of two sold out concerts.
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| Peter Anspach of Goose @ the Warfield (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Taking the stage, Peter Anspach greeted the crowd with “Wazzup San Francisco?” before the band erupted into “Drive” and proceeded to keep the audience in a state of rapture all the way until midnight. The Jack Johnson-like groove of “Jive II” that followed next featured Anspach demonstrating his prowess on the keys and organ with guitarist/singer Rick Mitarotonda and Anspach frequently harmonizing to create Goose’s unique layered vocals. Percussionist Jeff Arevalo also stood out swiveling between his drum kit, bongos and gong. “Lead The Way” showed their jazzy side with Anspach alternating between keys and rhythm guitar and Mitarotonda releasing several soaring solos.
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| Rick Mitarotonda of Goose @ the Warfield (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Mitarotonda was mesmerizing to watch live. His playing bounced between blazing speed and more emotional bending of notes that fellow PRS guitarist John Mayer demonstrates. His soloes often go hard and go long, his solo near the opening of “S.O.S.” is one worth searching out as his skills were all put on display. Combining virtuoso mastery of his instrument with soaring lead vocals, Mitarotonda is a generational talent who will continue to develop and expand his growing legion of fans.
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| Rick Mitarotonda of Goose @ the Warfield (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Goose’s songs provided the proper spacing for both Mitarotonda on guitar and Anspach on keyboards/synthesizer to stretch out for frequent and extended solo turns. Lesser players in the jam band world when given such opportunity tend to fire away in short bursts or venture off into a sonic forest that can leave the audience feeling like the song has gone off the rails. But Goose stretched songs at times to near twenty minutes with more than a handful of solos included in them and yet managed to keep the music feeling tight and on a clear path. Credit must be given to drummer Ben Atkind and bassist Trevor Weekz for frequently varying the rhythm of the song to create these pockets of freedom while maintaining a strong magnetic north of driving rhythm.
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| Trevor Weekz of Goose @ the Warfield (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Anspach once again donned his rhythm guitar as the band set out on “Bob Don” a driving song that showcased the power of the combined vocals of Mitarotonda with Anspach. A song that alternates between a dreamy surf-like vibe and burn the place to the ground rock ‘n’ roll guitar, “Bob Don” had the crowd up on its toes and leaping into in the air. Anspach got the audience clapping along as they headed into “Pancakes” a song from his band Great Blue. The song’s (at times) psychedelic sound combined with the feel-good singalong lyrics set a perfect tone of joy going into the set break.
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| Goose @ the Warfield (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Set Two was one that will likely long be remembered by those who were there (or watched the live streams). Returning to the stage, Goose held a nice birthday celebration for their tour manager Sam King who was feted with balloons, a cake and The Warfield singing “Happy Birthday.” Following “Happy Birthday,” Goose launched into a cover of Devo’s “Whip It” for the first time on this tour. The band stayed quite true to the song’s original form – demonstrating their comfort with all types of music and diversity of their musical talent. Atkind set a blistering pace on drums to keep the song moving.
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| Ben Atkind of Goose @ the Warfield (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
The cover was followed with a brilliant “Animal” a song that leaned heavily into fun and featured one of the best lighting displays I’ve ever witnessed. In fact, Goose’s lighting team (it must be a team based on the quality and quantity) deserves a huge round of applause. The show’s lighting more than held its own in a venue that has seen multi-night runs from Bobby Weir and Phil Lesh in the past sixth months. On “Animal” the sonic themes and changes of pace were supported by stunning visuals that extended beyond the stage, out to the floor, up into the balcony and at times filled the ceiling of the century-old Warfield. On that note, Goose’s show (at least on this night) featured many moments of the crowd being included in the lights for extensive jams and the audience’s enthusiasm reflected that light right back to the band. The band on stage gave off the vibe of being good buddies having a great night together and the frequent inclusion of the audience in the lights seems to make the crowd feel much more included.
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| The crowd @ the Warfield (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
“Animal” was followed by “Into the Myst” an upbeat stallion of a song that galloped along with an energy that amped up well beyond the song before it and was supported by an equally dreamlike lighting display. “Dragonfly I” – another tour debut – put the spotlight on Anspach as he took a turn at lead vocals and channeled a bit of John Paul Jones’ Zeppelin electra-piano sound on the organ (circa “No Quarter”) and then continued the theme of flight with “Red Bird” with the verbal back and forth of Anspach and Mitarotonda on the “When it’s time for a bird to fly” lyric once again demonstrating the power of their vocal pairing and both showing their soloing prowess.
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| Peter Anspach of Goose @ the Warfield (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Not ready to head to return themselves or the audience to the ground yet, Goose kept to the sky with an excellent cover of Steppenwolf’s “Magic Carpet Ride" that raised the energy level in The Warfield even higher. Anspach’s organ work. Arevalo blasted away at his gong and supported the runaway energy with his Budweiser can maraca before Mitarotonda capped on the journey with a triumphant solo that seemed to take the audience in every direction possible before bringing them back to Earth with a safe landing. The sweet, melodic “Your Ocean” closed out the second set with as close to a ballad as the night had seen.
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| Goose @ the Warfield (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
As the clock approached midnight, Goose returned for an encore of “Butter Rum” an upbeat song that of island life that reflected reggae influence and Graceland-era Paul Simon and had the audience singing back to the band before the great vibes spilled out onto Market Street.
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| Goose @ the Warfield (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Besides returning for their second night of The Warfield run on Friday, Goose will be back across the Bay in late September at Oakland’s Fox Theatre. You’d be well advised to pick up tickets soon. This will likely be the last time Goose plays theaters in the Bay Area for a long time. They’re on a trajectory to the top of the Jam Band scene and will no doubt be filling arenas and amphitheaters and - from what I saw on Thursday – stadiums shortly thereafter.
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