Showing no signs of slowing down, Goose played the large Denver-area outdoor amphitheater to a nearly full-house. The weekend featured multiple massive jams and high-octane playing. The two shows at Fiddler’s Green in Colorado are two more concerts the band can add to the best-of status for 2024. The 18,000-person venue (which Phish played just once in 2000) is another milestone for quintet during the upward trajectory we are witnessing.
Goose came out Friday with an upbeat Hot Love > The Whales before debuting No California by Ilsey Juber, a song which I’d welcome into their regular rotation. Jive I was a prelude to the Jive Lee which featured the band’s first foray into extended improvisation for the weekend. Jive Lee quickly sunk into a spacier endeavor featuring dark, spacey noodling. About halfway through the 22-minute affair, the jam starts narrowing in on the driving drums and percussion to the point where it almost seems like the rest of the band fades away for a bit. Soon Rick starts strumming melodically and Peter comes in with some ascending licks on the keyboard. Rick’s noodling picks up and flirts with hose-jam territory although I wouldn’t say it quick makes it there.
The first Sneakers on My Fridge of the tour makes its debut immediately after. I’ll be honest, I’m into the combination song only for the second part’s guitar solo which has the potential to absolutely snap. This one doesn’t disappoint. The band then closes the first set with a solid Animal.
The second half takes off with a memorable Wysteria Lane > Feel it Now before serving the crowd a Hungersite which reprises the heaviness started with Jive Lee. The moment those first few notes rang out into the sky of Fiddler’s Green, the cheers erupted with anticipation of what the group would throw down on this special night. The band takes their time sinking down into a full-band mesh of sound. Each member becomes perfectly locked in as Trevor thoughtfully riffs on an initial jam pattern while Rick’s strumming becomes more urgent and directed. Peter take an almost rhythmic approach on his keys for a while and soon it’s apparent there is no lead. The entire band is full throttle jamming as an extremely cohesive unit. The jam comes to a screaming-hot, throbbing, heavy metal end. Gorgeous.
Showing mercy to the exhausted crowd, they slip into Peggy-O right out of Hungersite to bring everyone back to earth which sets the following Dripfield up perfectly to send us into the end of the set. (dawn) encores the night’s show (check out Trevor’s slapping during this version).
Saturday night featured a wonderful first set which was anchored by the 30+-minute Drive. Midway through this monster-of-a-jam, the bass, piano, and guitar find a pattern of ascending notes they all lock into which eventually is used as a springboard by Rick to more active playing. The pattern continues and fills out before a dramatic slowdown of tempo brings this drive to a stop.
Madhuvan begins the second stanza to the night and boy does it come to do some damage to the faces in attendance on this fateful evening. The tour’s first version starts with a dramatic intro before launching into a crisp composed section. Once the composed part slips away we find ourselves immediately in type-II jam territory. Madhuvan has reminded me of Phish’s David Bowie for a while now, I think mostly because of how it normally works its way back into the end of the song, typically with a rollercoaster finish, but this version sounds a lot like a Bowie straight out of 1994 (and looks like it on paper, clocking in at 34-minutes!). The jam slowly builds darker and heavier, eventually entering (around 20-minutes in) into what I can best describe as a progressive rock sound akin to Porcupine Tree’s Fear of a Blank Planet. This theme does not subside but only grows stronger. The jam builds in a way which is so carefully crafted, it sounds composed, before entering a what I can only describe as a straight up haunted house track with Peter’s wobbly synth effects penetrating the soundscape. Of course, this can only last so long before Madhuvan rears up again to remind us just what is driving this monster. The version finishes with soaring, stunning guitar work right until the end. I understand I am gushing here but I want to go on record that this Madhuvan will be soon be remembered as one of the band’s greats and works at cementing Goose’s fast-growing reputation as a band who could soon become one of the very few great improvisational rock bands (which, as far as I am concerned, there are only two others).
After Peter thanks the crowd, the band begins what turns out to be a rather short Arrow before segueing seamlessly into Hollywood Nights. Travelers is played for the first time of the year in rather hot fashion before landing in the first Elmeg in 88 shows.
Again, Goose has made a statement not only to their fans but to the world of music that they are quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with. Eventually, they very well may become the force to be reckoned with.