Matching the heat of the night, Goose played to nearly 6,000 at the Red Hat Amp in Raleigh, North Carolina. The warm breeze was blowing on this clear night in another urban setting. Trevor, Cotter and Rick all walked out brandishing their guns (tank tops) and Rick in his cutoff jorts, (flashes of Quincy-early-90s Trey). Pete donned his blue short shorts on his setup featuring his older Nord Stage 3. The sun shone long into the show at this venue without anything covering the heads of either the band or the crowd. Despite widespread complaints of crowd chatter, and, perhaps, a reduced decibel threshold for the band, Goose crafted a wildly fun show which will be remembered for years to come.
What not to miss:
Atlas Dogs
Pancakes
Into the Myst → Magic Carpet Ride
I’ll get to it right away: Atlas Dogs contained a jam which featured furious noodling that morphed into a fast-paced Tarantella Napoletana jam from Rick before he got that crazy look in his eye again and settled down into clear, funky strumming which evolves into a throbbing, psychedelic jam which segued seamlessly into Rockdale.
After a reflective interlude with Radiohead’s Weird Fishes, Indian River started up. Indian River came to a swell while an astute listener can hear the driving drum beat change into what would become the beginning of Flodown. After another extended introduction, a la the 6/11 version, we found ourselves squarely in the set-closing Flodown.
After a short intermission, the band comes out for an explosive Animal. Animal is such a danceable, catchy song, it hurts me when it’s merely a straightforward rendition. This one elevates above the mere composition into a rock anthem. Before the composed section is over, Peter is already reprising his trippy synth sounds from the Borne jam just a couple nights before. Rick’s aggressive noodling formed a pocket of tension before leading to release…a number of times over. Trevor let his mane flow in the heavy breeze of the night during the jam.
Next, a tall stack of Pancakes was served up, a song we all knew was looming; there really hasn’t been a standout version of Pancakes since last year though. Tonight’s version was the main bout of the evening. Dedicated to Karen, the jam out of the gates slowly builds to a dirtè funk. Rick finds a theme to lock onto eventually and solos over the drums, bass, and clav. The funk faded away to a delicate and clarion jam, matching the clarity of the night sky with the moon overhead. After what can best be described as blissful, Rick turns his head to Trevor and the jam sinks takes a sinister, albeit brief, turn before wrapping up around 25 minutes later.
Into the Myst reprised the blissful sound of the Pancakes jam (and the 6/10 Myst) before heading into Magic Carpet Ride with Peter showboating on his synth. A beautiful This Old Sea proved to be a good landing pad for the intense sonic journey the band took us on. Not to leave the stage on a slow note, Hot Tea shredded before the Piña Colada Song encore, perhaps an homage to the warmth of the evening.
Last night’s show was another big feather to put in this tour’s [Red] hat as they decimate every city they enter.