Mempho Musical Chairs: Goose & Cory Wong Swap Sit-Ins

Goose and guitarist Cory Wong traded guest appearances during the first day of the 2024 Mempho Music Festival on Friday, October 5. The three-day event was held at the Radians Amphitheater at Memphis Botanic Gardens in Memphis this past weekend.

Cory Wong previously joined Goose at the Sacred Rose music festival outside Chicago on August 27, 2022. While Wong added to “Hot Tea” at Sacred Rose, the guitarist contributed to “Animal” at Mempho.

The collaborative “Animal” came in the middle of Goose’s headlining set on Friday. The quintet devoted the first third of their 90-minute performance to originals debuted either this year or in 2023. After opening with an expansive “Big Modern!,” the band delivered “Hot Love & The Crazy Poet” and “Lead Up.”

Wong came out following “Lead Up” for the raucous “Animal.” The Minneapolis native tore a wild solo before Goose guitarist Rick Mitarotonda took a furious run of his own.

Watch a clip of Wong’s “Animal” solo below:

https://x.com/slowreadypod/status/1842972534410793466

Goose continued on with Prince’s “I Would Die 4 U,” the lone cover of their set. The Connecticut-based five-piece then took “Thatch” deep and “Silver Rising” for a ride. A straight-forward “Hungersite” brought the frame to a close.

Earlier in the night, Mitarotonda and bandmate Peter Anspach sat-in with Cory Wong & The Wong Notes. Mitarotonda played guitar and Anspach was on keys for “Gumshü,” a song featured on Wong’s 2019 studio album, Motivational Music for the Syncopated Soul.

Watch the start of both sets via pro-shot video provided by nugs.net:

Goose Setlist (via ElGoose.net)

Set: Big Modern!, Hot Love & The Lazy Poet, Lead Up, Animal[1], I Would Die 4 U > Thatch, Silver Rising, Hungersite

• [1] With Cory Wong on guitar.

Note: Goose’s Rick Mitarotonda (guitar) and Peter Anspach (keyboards) joined Cory Wong for “Gumshü” earlier in the day.