2019/10/31 Goose @ Mercury Lounge (Of Clocks and Clouds opened)
Having just experienced one of the most mind-rearranging performances of music I’ve ever seen, I headed over to the Merc, my cup already runneth over from the out of body experience I had with Masada at the Vanguard. Like a pro, parade route blocking my path be damned, I walked in to the Merc at 10:00 on the button, 8 minutes before…
Of Clocks and Clouds had the pleasure of warming up the crowd for Goose. Joe Salgo promised that if I made it into the room, I wouldn’t be disappointed. Big understatement. Huge. Double guitar shred with a fast and furious pocket groove and complementary big, heavy jams from the keys, this band hits hard. Can’t help but wonder if their heavy metal costumes contributed to the uber-amplification and balls out guitar work. Loud and in my face, literally as I danced my ass off from the little cut out on stage left, the room beginning to swell as the Goose crowd filtered in. 5,500 steps in 47 minutes = kudos to the band, my hard work rewarded with a free Of Clocks and Clouds t-shirt that a woman, presumably related to the band, presented to me about halfway through the set, rolled up and taped as if originally destined for a t-shirt toss. Although Joe and I had planned to meet in person for the first time, it never happened, though we shared a laugh this morning over email as he realized that I was “the biker up front.” It was a truly great set that hopefully leads to bigger and better things for this awesome band.
Goose took the stage promptly at 11:30, uniformly clad as members of the Flint Tropics from Will Ferrel’s movie Semi-Pro for their Halloween costume. Jackie Moon’s “Love Me Sexy,” played and sung by Will Ferrell’s lead character in the movie, opened the set and let the crowd know that the costume would be musical, as well, foreshadowing that much more of the soundtrack was on the horizon. Goose original “Hot Tea” followed with nearly twenty minutes of crushing jams, Peter Anspach still on the keys as he would move back and forth all night between funky-ass jams on the keyboards and face-melting guitar work. A cover of the Brothers Johnson’s “Get Da Funk Out Ma’ Face,” also from the Semi-Pro soundtrack, began with Trevor Weeks’ bass-slapping intro before melting into the double guitar attack from Peter and co-lead vocalist Rick Mitarotonda.
A duo of originals, “Yeti” > “Wysteria Lane”, showed exactly why this band, on an exponential rise, sold out the neighboring Bowery Ballroom for their just announced 1/24/20 show in ten minutes today – well deserved, fellas! Back to their musical costume, they closed the hour long set with Patti LaBelle’s “Lady Marmalade” and Walter Murphy and The Big Apple Band’s “A Fifth of Beethoven.” At the halfway point, Goose was leading the capacity crowd through a Halloween party for the ages. Even up against the expectations of a sold out show ($12 tickets were selling for over $100 on the resale market) and musical ghosts of bands like Phish, String Cheese Incident, and Umphrey’s McGee who have made Halloween the biggest musical holiday of the year, and still Goose treated the capacity crowd to a Halloween bash of the highest order.
Shoutout to DJ Doey Joey for keeping the vibe going with great beats both before the set and during the break. The band returned after 20 minutes for a costume contest, the 3 finalists chosen by the band, Happy Gilmore’s caddie winning, deservedly so IMO, in a landslide.
With an intro that sounded decidedly like Phish’s “Maze,” a cover of Barry White’s “Never, Never Gonna Give You Up” made an (open-faced?) jam sandwich of Semi-Pro covers around original song “Jive I,” joined on the back end by War’s “Why Can’t We Be Friends” and “Jive Lee.” Holyfuckingshit. That’s what the notes say, at least, and pretty much covers the euphoria of the band’s triumphant return for the second set. Some major funky vibes coming from Peter’s keys, with Trevor’s heavy bass lines and Ben’s driving beats , the crowd was working a serious groove. Staying with a few more originals, “So Ready” and “White Lights” rocked the room some more as I accepted high fives from both Peter and Rick for “rocking hard.” Randy Newman’s “Short People” closed the main set before a faux-encore break, “we don’t really have to fake walk away and come back do we?” as it’s not really practical to leave that stage in a sold out room.
“A Fifth of Beethoven” (reprise?) > “Also Zach Zarathustra” were the icing on the 90-minute cake called the second set, and put an exclamation point on a wild and exclusive sold out party for 250 of Goose’s closest friends on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.
This being my first Goose show, I can’t resist the temptation to make comparisons to some other bands with which I am more familiar. I mean this in the very best way when I say I couldn’t shake the feeling that Goose is like the best mix of Spafford and Goose’ avian kin, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong. Fast and furious jams that stay tight and in the pocket, peaks upon peaks upons peaks until, finally, unable to ascend further, holyshit, several more peaks, each one flavored with a unique and signature funk.
It has become my way to count steps of dancing, dutifully recorded by my Garmin Forerunner. Let it be said, and this is no small feat, last night took the record for steps at a show (and also quickest jaunt to 10k in a calendar day, 1:35 am, as we rocked well past midnight). The final tally is in, surpassing Widespread Panic (18,703), Umphrey’s McGee (18,665), Trey Anastasio Band (18,902), Phish (19,002) and Joe Russo’s Almost Dead (23,685), tonight’s total was a mind-numbing 24,135 Komito-steps of pure joy and rage, and I smelled like every one of them – sorry, not sorry.
Goose has firmly joined the ranks of bands not to be missed, a fact my wife is none too excited about. Sorry babe, they were that damn good! The Bowery Ballroom in January simply can’t come soon enough.
Setlist (lovingly pieced together from the scrap of paper better known as Peter’s setlist):
Set One: Love Me Sexy (WIll Ferrell as the fictional Jackie Moon; Semi-Pro), Hot Tea, Get Da Funk Out Ma’ Face (Brothers Johsnon; Semi-Pro), Yeti > Wysteria Lane, Lady Marmalade (Patti LaBelle; Semi-Pro), A Fifth of Beethoven (Walter Murphy and the Big Apple Band; Semi-Pro)
Set Two: Never, Never Gonna Give You Up (Barry White; Semi-Pro), Jive I > Why Can’t We Be Friends (War; Semi-Pro) > Jive Lee, So Ready, White Lights, Short People (Randy Newman; Semi-Pro)
Encore: A Fifth of Beethoven Reprise > Also Sprach Zarathustra (Deodato; Semi-Pro)
Link to article on NYSMusic.com…