Sleeveless In Seattle: Goose Rides Through ‘Danger Zone’ At The Paramount Theatre

Goose powered through technical difficulties in Seattle last night to deliver an action-packed two-hour set that also included their longest jam to date.

When the band took the stage at the Paramount Theatre for the first set to raucous energy from the crowd, all in the room noticed a crackling coming from one of the PA columns. The band spent a little bit of extra time before beginning the show to troubleshoot the issue and filled the space with a brief push-up competition between percussionist Jeff Arevalo and merchandise manager Naveed Quarterman.

The entire band and crew were sporting “Sleeveless in Seattle” attire last night, a design spoof that had been posted to the band’s social media a few days prior.

Seeming to get the PA working again, Goose opened with the first cover of Kenny Loggins’ “Danger Zone” since June 15, 2021 (147 shows). The crowd responded in kind and fueled the laid-back groove of the ensuing dance party “Animal.” It seemed as though everyone was finally getting settled in when more PA issues interrupted recently debuted rocker “Lead Up.”

The band announced via social media that there would be a quick five-minute break to attempt to fix the issues once again as they left the stage.

Returning and blasting through a hot Rick Mitarotonda guitar solo on a second attempt at “Lead Up,” the band made it through most of “Flodown” before issues began to plague the sound once again.

Apologizing to the crowd once again, Goose left the stage for what would end up being the night’s “set break.” A venue staffer announced that the issue was being worked on and if it was unable to be fixed, the show would be rescheduled for Monday night. Luckily, Goose took the stage again around 9:30 p.m. for what would end up being their longest improvisational journey to date.

Before beginning the song, multi-instrumentalist Peter Anspach announced that they were “just going to let it rip” and play past curfew.

“Echo of a Rose,” a consistently delivering jam vehicle that was tapped as the second set’s opener and seemed to be the band’s way of releasing all the pent-up stress from the repeated delays earlier in the night.

Quickly finding a blissful major-key theme, the capacity crowd soared along with the band through a series of beautiful peaks, arms raised in joy. Landing down from the peak and immediately transitioning into a funkier motif led by bassist Trevor Weekz. Anspach dug into some seriously grimy clavinet tones as the quintet took their time developing the space.

Hinting briefly at the “Loose Ends” riff, Goose continued to chug along in funk land, displaying the group-oriented improv they have been working on so far this tour. While much of their jamming relies on either Mitarotonda or Anspach leading with solo-like playing, this funk section of “Echo” contained some truly amazing interplay between the two and Weekz while Arevalo and drummer Ben Atkind laid down a heavy beat.

Hitting on a theme almost like a reverse “Heartbreaker” tease, the intensity grew as it was clear we were destined for a heavy peak. Mitarotonda switched on his wah pedal and drenched it in delay for this even grimier section of music.

Many in the audience were likely expecting the jam to wrap up there – having recently crossed the 20-minute mark – but Mitarotonda had other ideas, starting into a two-chord progression akin to their intro jam to “Crosseyed and Painless.” Anspach took to his Vintage Vibe electric piano next and drenched the room in warm and buttery tones. Taking on a vibe like the keyboard solo section of “SOS,” the drummers began to push the pace as Anspach began to sprinkle some clear synth tones into the mix.

Mitarotonda took the reins and headed for peak land while Anspach pulled triple duty on keyboards, continuing to lay down Vintage Vibe while spinning himself around to activate textures on both his Prophet-6 and Nord Lead synths. Coming down from this incredible and explosive peak could have been the end of the jam once again, but Goose was far from finished.

A transitional space was reached next as all five band members used the contemplative energy as a breather in between monster jamming sections. Mitarotonda and Anspach quickly pivoted into an evil motif as the build began anew.

Dark synth undertones helped build the heavy jamming further and further as Atkind pushed the tempo. Anspach’s textures stood out at the forefront once again as he added some dirty low-end clavinet work to the angry jam. Similar to during the Philly “Echo” played last month, the multi-instrumentalist utilized his guitar for an extra layer of madness – activating and tweaking different delay and filter pedals with his left foot while continuing to play keyboards with both hands. Evil Goose reared its head for one final peak and all the tension exploded out into a perfect return to the light and the ending of the song – an incredible 45 minutes later (note: Goose’s previous longest jam was the March 9, 2022 “Rosewood Heart,” which clocked in at 38 minutes).

Firing up “Earthling or Alien?” next, we were treated to another concise dose of the funk before the band moved into the ballad “A Western Sun.” The first cover of Santo & Johnny’s “Sleepwalk” since December 31, 2021 (111 shows) gave way to the opening guitar riff of “Thatch.”

If it was felt that the band was running out of gas after such an intensive stretch of improv, “Thatch” seemed to re-energize both them and the audience and saw more deep grooves and fiery peaks.

Jam vehicle “Arrow” was tapped next and sandwiched in a blazing cover of Bob Seger’s “Hollywood Nights” around more standout Vintage Vibe work from Anspach. The two-hour main set of last night’s show closed with the groovy “Feel It Now,” more synth tones floating around the inside of the cavernous theatre.

A beautiful and contemplative “726” began the encore before Goose ripped out a hot rendition of “Dripfield” to end off the night. Lighting director Andrew Goedde painted the high ceilings with patterns and colors while continuing to utilize the “dark light” effects seen earlier in the tour.

Huge shoutout to FOH sound engineer Eric Loomis and the whole Goose crew for working incredibly hard to fix the PA issues and making the mix sound amazing for the show last night!

Goose returns to the Paramount Theatre tonight for their second show – hopefully a proper two-set affair with no sound issues! Livestreams are available for free to nugs.net subscribers.

Setlist (via El Göose.net)

Soundcheck: Lead Up, Feel It Now, Danger Zone (this soundcheck is incomplete)

Set One: Danger Zone[1], Animal, Lead Up[2], Lead Up, Flodown

Set Two: Echo of a Rose[3], Earthling or Alien?, A Western Sun > Sleepwalk[4], Thatch, Arrow -> Hollywood Nights[5] -> Arrow, Feel It Now

Encore: 726 > Dripfield

Coach’s Notes:

• [1] Kenny Loggins.
• [2] Aborted due to PA issues.
• [3] Fast version.
• [4] Santo & Johnny.
• [5] Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band.

Coach’s Corner: The first set was shortened due to PA issues. Danger Zone was played for the first time since June 15, 2021 (147 shows). Sleepwalk was played for the first time since December 31, 2021 (111 shows).