Goose Gets Bingo Balls Rolling For Goosemas XI Night 1

Goose kicked off their 11th annual Goosemas celebration last night at North Charleston Coliseum, bringing the energy and spectacle of their 2020 “Bingo Tour” in front of a live audience for the first time. Fans both in attendance and on the couch eagerly awaited the start of the show as they had their eyes on their bingo cards, ready to get involved and try for a chance at one of the band’s prizes, including unreleased rehearsal recordings and a trip to Viva El Gonzo in May.

The band took the stage after an introduction by emcee “Lucky Lou” with the iconic entrance music of “Sirius” by The Alan Parsons Project, multi-instrumentalist Peter Anspach letting the delayed guitar ring out across the arena before the band pulled their first ball of the night, kicking things off with “Yeti.”

The funky dance party got underway with great interplay between Anspach and guitarist Rick Mitarotonda on some thick funk, bassist Trevor Weekz sporting a fresh perm (yes, you read that right) as he dug into the groove laid down by drummer Cotter Ellis and percussionist Jeff Arevalo.

The balls delivered another solid early first set staple next with “Butter Rum,” keeping the vibes up for the second singalong in a row, but the band was clearly on a mission from the outset and dropped into a dance groove as the jam opened up. Anspach pivoted from bright Vintage Vibe to chunky Clavinet chords, laying in the groove alongside Mitarotonda’s staccato leads.

Weekz stepped outside the standard pocket play for some melodic fills as the band gradually morphed the straight-ahead groove jam by way of some of the excellent listening and groupthink they’ve been showing off the past few months. After an initial in-your-face level of energy, “Rum” cooled off but refused to lose a single drop of momentum as Anspach dialed up the reverb on clav and took the lead with Mitarotonda sticking to rhythm work.

A hypnotic keyboard riff unfolded over the crowd as Mitarotonda and Anspach linked up on the musical idea several different times, getting into some unique and frenzied territory for the final minute or so before the band returned to the song to bring it home.

The balls gifted us with “Arcadia” next, and the band didn’t disappoint and delivered one of the best versions since the song’s legendary run in 2021. Starting in some funky “Nebula”-adjacent space as they have been fond of in 2024, Anspach quickly found a familiar hose-bliss progression similar to the June 11, 2021 “Arcadia,” leading the band into several minutes of passionate feel-good jamming.

Riding a sustained wave of energy, Mitarotonda led the band through some amazing peaks before cooling things off. The band took a pass on an easy exit ramp to the “Arcadia” ending, instead heading into an exploratory zone with incredibly active Weekz work and sharp Vintage Vibe tones from Anspach. Mitarotonda introduced a new descending progression that carried a sort of uneasy feel to it, flowing smoothly into the ending of the song from there with ease.

Lucky Lou returned to the stage after the volcanic conclusion to “Arcadia” to introduce the “King” (played by merchandise manager Naveed Quarterman) and a dunk tank situated in an empty section of seats behind the stage. With the band playing a theme heard as the final house music selection for much of 2024, the king was dunked and the band returned to the music for a set-closing combination of “Turbulence & The Night Rays” and “Silver Rising,” both of which contained some extra mustard due to the band’s evident joy and excitement about the show.

Coming back from the break, the balls had a decidedly different intention for the second set – reliable opener “Hot Love & The Lazy Poet” got a turn in the latter half of the show for the first time ever ahead of “Give it Time” and “Mr. Action,” – all great songs in their own right but decidedly less-than-ideal calls for the beginning of a second set.

Luckily, the band pulled “Hungersite” to open things back up into extended territory – and the best jam of last night featured some truly awe-inspiring play from the Connecticut quintet.

There seemed to be an intention behind the early part of the jam, as if Goose had discussed that they wanted to try to go in new directions instead of the usual 17-18 shreddy peak “Hungersite” versions that have dominated this year. They kicked things off in a mellow major key space, Anspach leading the charge early with some sparkling riffs before being quickly joined by Weekz on some uncharacteristically aggressive play.

Goose has not always been a band that delivers consistent full-band democratic improvisation, but a switch seems to have been flipped with them since the last leg of their fall tour as they slipped easily into a communicative zone, each member swirling in active play. No one melodic instrument was playing strictly within the groove and pocket as the musicians circled each other – and then everything changed with Anspach’s introduction of clav.

Drenching the keyboard in phaser, the dreamlike riffs that took shape continued Anspach’s recent trend of simple, hypnotic melodies that carry an immense amount of weight – he beautifully led the way through “Hungersite” by playing essentially the same four notes over and over for several minutes. Normally, that might sound like it would get old, but the rest of the band formed up around the musical idea and committed to the build alongside – adding so much depth and feeling to the jam.

Mitarotonda patiently emerged from rhythmic work and began to soar, stringing together phrase after phrase of gorgeous guitar work as the band continued to build toward a peak. The real star of this next several minutes, however, was Ellis – the amount of space his playing leaves is incredible and his ability to ramp up the intensity slowly but surely makes every peak payoff that much more impactful.

This “Hungersite” is not a jam that I think Goose was capable of playing even a few months ago and it truly speaks to their growth as a band recently, their desire to improve as a unit paying dividends.

The balls give, and the balls take away – and a mid-second set “Flodown” was far from an ideal call but the band made the best of it with a cool minute of transitional space before getting into the hoedown intro.

A cool-down of “726” led to the first Bonus Ball pull – #6 being the debut of Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” featuring Nico D’Elisa on vocals (a Burlington bandmate of Ellis’). The band was clearly having a blast through the cover as the three-guitar attack of Mitarotonda, Anspach, and Arevalo blazed through the iconic rock song.

Another dunk tank interlude came next, this time with social media celebrity Bruce Robinson – something that was “a long time coming,” per Mitarotonda as the band launched into “Into the Myst.”

A song that has had a 2024 emergence as a jam vehicle, “Myst” began in its usual flowy major-key zone, Ellis’ tom-heavy groove leading the way for peppy play by Mitarotonda, but the band wasn’t content to sit in one zone and began to reshape the improv by getting a little bit funkier with aggressive rhythm guitar at the forefront almost like the March 1, 2022 “Pancakes.”

Hitting a small peak, Mitarotonda dialed in some digital sauce effect as Ellis kept the momentum going, the band then quickly locking in on some staccato rhythms atop the drive to a solid, dance-y peak akin to a “Hot Tea” jam. While the “Myst” didn’t reach the heights of the earlier “Hungersite,” it still felt as though the band was making an effort to jam it differently than normal for its duration.

With the clock on their side, the band pulled “Big Modern!” to close the set, the song’s arena debut was not disappointing at all as the crowd went nuts for it.

The balls pulled an excellent encore call in “SOS,” and the band opted to add another song in the middle, which turned out to be a slightly weird (and late) call for “Seekers on the Ridge,” which led back into the conclusion of “SOS” to wrap up one of Goose’s longest shows ever and an amazing first night to Goosemas XI.

We return for the second night of bingo tonight, and with so many gimmick balls still on the table I have a feeling we’re going to be in for a really unique and possibly crazy show – tonight is sold out but livestreams are available for purchase via nugs.net.

Watch pro-shot video of “Kashmir” featuring Nicole D’Elisa from last night’s nugs.net livestream:

Photos by Abby Fox Photography

Setlist (via El Goose.net)

Set One: Sirius[1], Yeti, Butter Rum, Arcadia, Turbulence & The Night Rays, Silver Rising

Set Two: Hot Love & The Lazy Poet, Give it Time, Mr. Action, Hungersite -> Flodown, 726, Kashmir.[2], Into the Myst[3] > Big Modern!

Encore: Same Old Shenanigans, Seekers on the Ridge pt I > Seekers on the Ridge pt II > Same Old Shenanigans

Notes:

• This show was part of Goosemas XI: Bingo and the setlist was decided by random draws of bingo balls. Peter teased Charge! before Turbulence & The Night Rays.
• [1] The Alan Parsons Project. FTP.
• [2] Led Zeppelin. FTP. Bonus Ball #6. With Nicole D’Elisa on vocals.
• [3] Unfinished.