Goose Debuts Grant Green Cover At 1st Show Without Jeff Arevalo

Goose kicked off their eight-date winter tour last night at Miller High Life Theatre in Milwaukee, starting their 2025 season with a performance packed with interesting jams. Also on the top of everyone’s minds was the absence of percussionist Jeff Arevalo, who had announced earlier in the week that he would be stepping back from touring for the time being to focus on his mental health.

The band had not played as a four-piece since March 2020 and never before with drummer Cotter Ellis, so there was much speculation about how the sound would be altered and how they’d adapt arrangements of songs.

The first set began with “Rockdale,” an always-reliable opener choice to get things warmed up. Guitarist Rick Mitarotonda and keyboardist/guitarist Peter Anspach engaged in some dueling lead work through the concise 10-minute rendition, blazing through several fiery peaks as Ellis played his ass off, doing the work of two.

Switching things up next with a debut cover of Grant Green’s “Flood in Franklin Park,” the quartet settled comfortably into the jazzy groove – Ellis and bassist Trevor Weekz laid out a tight groove for Anspach and Mitarotonda’s solos, the latter utilizing his “Scofield button” (credit to my Always Almost There co-host Neal for that term) for some seriously blistering runs.

“The Whales” continued the solid first set fare with an extended intro, Anspach and Mitarotonda laying down atypically deep and layered sounds on guitar before hopping into a hot version of the staple before taking things back to weird noise for “Dr. Darkness.”

While the lack of percussion was definitely felt earlier in the set, “Dr. D” really missed Arevalo’s second drum kit, as the song’s rhythmic emphasis packed less of a punch than usual.

Father John Misty’s “I’m Writing a Novel” wrapped up the song-oriented start to the show ahead of a big call for “Drive,” opening things up into extended jam territory at last.

The first headlining shows of 2023 and 2024 both boasted monster versions of “Drive,” so expectations were high as Goose blazed through the song proper, dropping out of Mitarotonda’s incendiary guitar solo into an open space thanks to Ellis’ smooth beat.

Lighting director Andrew Goedde showed off his incredible new-for-2025 rig immediately, throwing up a thick curtain of green light in front of the band to mirror the psychedelia of the improv.

Anspach took the lead early on, bringing some octave-up chirp to the space as Mitarotonda bent down to focus on layering delay loops and textures. Taking a less-is-more approach, Mitarotonda re-entered the fray with some subtle heavy work underneath Anspach, the two guitarists playing off of each other to build a churning pot of sound.

The band felt absolutely at ease and confident as “Drive” continued, beginning to come together into a more driving mode as opposed to the flowing and more psychedelic vibes of the first few minutes. Anspach tweaked his Moog Muse synth drone to make it more prominent as Mitarotonda pivoted to lead work. The jam continued to pick up momentum with Ellis executing his skilled and incredibly smooth increase in tempo, as he is wont to do.

Weekz bubbled up with some aggressive envelope-filtered lines to keep things firmly in a darker haze as the two guitars continued to circle each other, Mitarotonda engaging a circular pattern not unlike “Mad World,” toying with heavily delayed motifs before bringing things back down.

Anspach switched to some bright piano work, offering an excellent counterpoint to the continued tension being poured forth by the other members, the ivory work playing off of Mitarotonda’s riffs with a cool chord pattern.

Building to a beautiful peak from there, the foursome blazed through a phenomenal conclusion to the jam before heading into “Bloodbuzz Ohio,” a crowd-favorite cover.

“SALT” kept up the hot energy of the set as the band dove headlong into a charging jam, getting into some excellent Type 1.5 space infused with a chord progression akin to “Pancakes” or “Wolfman’s Brother” for a sustained and uplifting peak to bring the first set to a close.

Returning for the second set, Goose focused less on huge improvisational journeys and more on high vibes and segues, stringing together an amazing segment of music that kicked off with “Creatures.”

Always reliable in this slot, the dance party took hold with Anspach on funked-out guitar, and Mitarotonda taking a more minimalist approach with some picked-out chords over the rhythm section’s steady pocket. The dual-guitar vibe eventually gave way to phaser piano, the band leaning hard into full disco mode with a few nice drops and rock-steady anchor work from Weekz. This continued for a while before Mitarotonda led into a smooth segue into “Atlas Dogs.”

While the first set staple is an unusual choice for a deep set two placement (appearing in the second frame for just the sixth time out of 46 plays), the band jumped into a rollicking jam that stuck relatively close to form for its duration, Mitarotonda infusing it with the “Tarantella Napoletana” tease he’s so fond of. Coming down from the peak, Goose went back into a more low-key dance vibe before kicking into “Animal,” also a weird choice for the second set.

There was clear intention behind the choice, however, as they immediately began to break free of the jam’s structure, executing a smooth major-key modulation setting Mitarotonda up for a seriously emotive and gorgeous solo. Anspach worked the marimba piano underneath as the guitar poured forth phrase after phrase of beauty, building to a peak before slamming perfectly back into the ending of “Animal.”

“Draconian Meter Maid” hinted briefly at another big jam, and Goose jumped into some heavy rocking motifs thanks to Anspach’s vicious clav work and Mitarotonda’s distorted guitar. Engaging in some breaks for both drums and bass, the jam eventually quieted into an astounding ambient space, Anspach’s Moog synth tones coloring the space for what felt like a really promising pivot in the jam, but Mitarotonda quickly pulled the ripcord into “Arcadia.”

A staple call to close the second set, Goose could have opted for a ripping Type I version but instead drifted out into some exploratory territory, quieting with a sparkling and soft bed of piano from Anspach dancing around Mitarotonda’s bright melodies.

Sticking to that space for a spell, the quartet quieted once again and toyed with a darker turn, but instead opted to continue in a major zone as Anspach led the way atop Ellis’ steady-flowing beat. Mitarotonda began to come back in and up the intensity, once again riding the wave of the drummer’s gradual ramp-up.

Anspach built off a repeating riff before handing the reins off to Mitarotonda, beginning a patient drive to an amazing blissful peak. Hitting the apex with more incredibly emotive fretboard fireworks, the band opted to bring things all the way down for a full slow-build ending, hitting near-silence with Mitarotonda hanging on a pulsating single-note motif before seeping back in and exploding through the ending to “Arcadia.”

As Goose drew closer to the peak, Anspach stood up to trigger a sampled bass bomb – a tool that had become one of Arevalo’s signatures over the past few years. This felt like a great homage to the absent percussionist and a note that he is in all of our thoughts – both the band’s and fans’.

A quick encore of “Turbulence & The Night Rays” brought the show to a close as Goose demonstrated that 2025 would continue their momentum from the end of last year – the musicians returned to the stage tight as ever with a display of some improvisational ideas that will no doubt come to fruition over the remainder of the Milwaukee run and winter tour.

Goose returns to the Miller High Life Theatre tonight for their second of three shows. Livestreams of the whole Midwest sprint are available exclusively to nugs.net subscribers. Watch “Rockdale” from last night’s livestream preview:

Setlist (via El Goose.net)

Set One: Rockdale, Flood in Franklin Park[1], The Whales > Dr. Darkness, I’m Writing A Novel > Drive[2] > Bloodbuzz Ohio, SALT

Set Two: Creatures -> Atlas Dogs[3] -> Animal, Draconian Meter Maid > Arcadia

Encore: Turbulence & The Night Rays

Notes:

• [1] Grant Green. FTP.
• [2] Unfinished.
• [3] With Tarantella Napoletana tease from Rick.