Goose Goes Acoustic With Sierra Hull, Debuts Bob Dylan Cover & New Song At Viva El Gonzo

On Saturday, Goose brought their inaugural Viva El Gonzo festival to a close with another absolutely incredible 12-hour day of music, bringing fans together one last time for a phenomenal conclusion to a perfect weekend.

With the weather once again hot and sunny, Cordovas kicked off the festivities with an afternoon Crania set, the Todos Santos group getting things going ahead of Sierra Hull. The blistering afternoon heat went well with the virtuosic mandolin player’s high-speed bluegrass playing as she and her band delivered on their second set of the weekend.

Next up at Round Rocks was the highly anticipated aGOOSEtic set, the four members of the band performing with a 360-degree crowd that was incredibly attentive and respectful to the mellow setting of the music. Beginning with “Me & My Uncle,” the band worked in a gorgeous rendition of “Tumble,” utilizing the previously-played acoustic style of the song’s instrumental bridge into the “vibey” arrangement.

Prince’s “I Would Die 4 U” led into an incredible two-song sit-in by Hull on Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” and The Wood Brothers’ “Atlas,” the latter featuring an incredible duel between mandolin and guitarist Rick Mitarotonda, huge grins on the faces of both musicians as they ducked and weaved around each other’s rapid-fire runs.

“Dim Lights” brought a powerful dose of emotion to the set – as it always does – with what would usually be a rowdy afternoon crowd going to almost complete silence for the beautiful song. This will undoubtedly be an incredible listen and watch once the recordings are released and I can’t wait to relive this special moment.

A quick romp through “Flodown” brought the acoustic proceedings to a close before Eggy opened up the main stage, stringing together just short of an hour of energetic tunes and segues, weaving sandwiches of “Burritos El Chavo 2” and “Wayless” among other rocking originals like “Laurel” and a blistering cover of John Brown’s Body’s “Searchlight.”

Whereas Thursday night’s late Eggy set leaned more into improvisational territory and slick grooves, the band catered perfectly to the mid-afternoon audience with concise, upbeat jamming that allowed more of a showcase of the band’s catalog.

The energy continued to ramp up with Andy Frasco & The U.N., doing what they do best with 45 minutes of absolute debauchery and raging energy, welcoming guests Anders Osborne, Mihali and Jake Brownstein for covers of Led Zeppelin, Nirvana (“if Goose got to play it, we do too!”), and originals, plus the obligatory festival Hora. There is truly nothing like a Frasco festival set.

As the sun set, LA LOM took the stage for what was an excellent and vibey set to get us ready for the final Goose headlining show, their lighting designer blowing us away with an amazing utilization of the Goedde light rig, painting the crowd in dizzying patterns as the trio spun their web of grooves.

Bassist Jake Faulkner reveled in the big stage light, spinning his upright and egging on his bandmates with towels swung above his head, generally giving the indication of having a blast, as were we all.

Goose began their final show with the third straight big jam vehicle opener, “Pancakes,” kicking things off with the band immediately locking into an extended democratic groove, Mitarotonda sticking to a rhythmic role as keyboardist/guitarist Peter Anspach threw down some chunky clavinet work.

Drummer Cotter Ellis fluid beat buoyed things as the band patiently built in intensity, eschewing a peak in favour of a gorgeous major-key wind-down with layered synth drones that gave way into the opening of “Hungersite.”

A surprisingly early slot for this heavy hitter led to a blistering jam, Ellis pushing the pace as Anspach and Mitarotonda both took turns at the lead, the guitarist infusing the jam with some digital sauce effects as the band hit several tension-filled peaks before blasting through the ending of “Pancakes” to close out a phenomenal opening 35-minute segment.

“California Magic” offered a groovy cool-down ahead of “Butter Rum,” appropriately making an appearance in the tropics. This jam descended quickly into a late-night space with heavily delayed Vintage Vibe electric piano work from Anspach, Ellis sticking largely to toms as Mitarotonda fired off rapid-fire riffs.

Mellowing out from there, Ellis pivoted into a driving beat as Mitarotonda led the band through a smooth segue into “Echo of a Rose,” marking the first of many surprise transitions that would dominate the rest of the show.

Building as one, the band cultivated a beautiful major-key melodic chord progression for a sustained volcanic peak, the rhythm section of Ellis and bassist Trevor Weekz laying down a perfect foundation for Mitarotonda to destroy over, the guitarist unleashing riff after riff that whipped the crowd into an absolute frenzy before returning home to “Echo,” and then the hanging “Butter Rum” ending.

While the set could have ended there, Goose opted to shoehorn in a quick “Everything Must Go,” adding elements from the studio version for the first time like sampled strings and some e-drum effects, skipping the usual massive and open jam in favour of a quick guitar-led peak – this was perhaps the only miss of the night for me, as I felt some of the layers that may have worked better on the album didn’t translate as well live.

For the second set, Goose came out of the gate hot with “Feel It Now,” getting people dancing with some serious Mu-Tron envelope filter work from Mitarotonda before the band slid cleanly into “Animal.” Much like the version played this past February in Milwaukee, Mitarotonda led the rest of the band through a sustained and cathartic peak, bringing the crowd together with the band for an expression of pure joy and gratitude. This jam might be a perfect encapsulation of what the Viva El Gonzo experience felt like – being in a field with a few thousand of your closest friends while watching Goose play absolutely amazing music.

Leaving “Animal” unfinished, the band dropped into the slinky funk of “Dustin Hoffman,” the final song from Everything Must Go, to make an appearance in a live setting. This one absolutely translated to the stage, and much of the audience was singing along to what was an immediate favorite of the album.

The dreamy outro gradually faded into “726,” giving us an opportunity to catch our breath and enjoy the amazing ballad before the band completed a classic pairing with “Dripfield,” unleashing the heavy and pounding jam to hose us down once again.

“How It Ends” brought the second set to a close, its cinematic quality opening up into yet another exemplary Mitarotonda solo, the song making its long-awaited return after its only other live play 82 shows earlier on April 10, 2024.

Setting up a drone for the encore break, the band returned for what could have been an exclamation point in the form of “Thatch,” but Goose instead opted to drop one of the best jams of the entire weekend in the form of a wild ride through unhinged Westville “Rockdale”-like territory. Mitarotonda and Anspach chased each other through high-speed dissonant runs after an initial set-up of eerie textures.

Anspach utilized some weird ring modulator and delay effects on his piano as things progressed, Ellis and Weekz jumping forward alongside with more crazy runs – the drums in particular sticking out with some super busy playing that seemed to cover every inch of the kit at once.

Ebbing and flowing but keeping the same propulsive dissonant spirit, the band quieted into a final big build, a false re-entry to “Thatch” driving into more unease and tension thanks to Ellis’ key double-time switches.

One final peak and that was it – thunderous cheers from the crowd allowed Goose to bask in the accomplishment of one of their most exciting initiatives to date and what is sure to be the first of many years of Viva El Gonzo, if the excitement of all artists, staff, and fans alike are any indication.

Of course, the night was far from over as Mitarotonda made a quick trip over to Round Rocks to join the El Ganzo Collective on some really cool improvisational passages, the unannounced sit-in taking place for a relatively small crowd of those who had heard whispers or wanted to check out the act before the other late-night shows.

Pigeons Playing Ping Pong hit Crania next, Anspach joining them for some excellent synth work ahead of Mitarotonda’s final of seven sit-ins across the weekend on an extended “Poseidon.” The exuberant funk of the quartet set up one of the most hotly anticipated acts of the entire weekend and the festival closer, DJ Marb Menthols.

Over an hour of wild psytrance music later, Viva El Gonzo came to a close with all of Goose plus their crew and management joining the DJ himself on stage, most sporting menthols of their own as it was clear that every single person involved in putting on the festival was both proud of their hard work and grateful to the amazing fan experience that took place.

Whether you were one of the fans in Cabo this past weekend or not, it’s hard to miss how impactful this event has been for the Goose community as the band is just getting started on their biggest year yet, and there are already rumblings that we’ll be back south of the border in 2026.

Goose returns to the road in two weeks for their month-long summer tour that culminates with their headlining debut at Madison Square Garden. Viva El Gonzo livestreams are available for on-demand purchase for a limited time via nugs.net.

Setlists (via ElGoose.net)

aGOOSEtic

Set: Me & My Uncle, Tumble[1], I Would Die 4 U, Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright[2], Atlas[3], Dim Lights, Flodown

Notes:

• [1] Tumble’s instrumental bridge was played as an intro to Vibey Tumble.
• [2] Bob Dylan. FTP as Goose. With Sierra Hull on mandolin and vocals.
• [3] With Sierra Hull on mandolin.

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Main Stage

Set One: Pancakes > Hungersite -> Pancakes, California Magic, Butter Rum -> Echo of a Rose[1] > Butter Rum, Everything Must Go

Set Two: Feel it Now[2] -> Animal[2] -> Dustin Hoffman[3] > 726 > Dripfield[4], How it Ends

Encore: Thatch

Notes:

• [1] Fast version.
• [2] Unfinished.
• [3] FTP.
• [4] Unfinished. With Chank teases from Rick.