Will The Real Empress of Organos Please Stand Up???
2021/4/9 Goose @ Suwannee Rising, Live Oaks, Florida
I normally don’t write about shows I don’t attend. Heck, I normally don’t even stream shows I don’t attend. I’m beholden to no one and I write when I’m excited. By that standard it’d be fair to say that Goose excites me so here we are. Playing their opening notes of 2021 and first show since Goosemas 2020 streamed from a Rockerfeller Center rooftop, I found myself dancing along to a fan-provided livestream and drawn to my laptop over the course of the weekend to log some words.
TL;DR: Goose grabbed 2021 by the balls even if mine were blue with FOMO and an unfinished Slow Ready.
First things first, my hat’s off to Daren Organos and his Empresses in crime, Stephanie and Lisa, for bringing all this joy to the community via Facebook Live. There were a couple MIXLR’s out there, too, but the background vocals and one-liners on Daren’s feed coupled with the live chat from El Göose’s finest brought the sense of community and joie de vivre that made the experience not only palatable but desirable.
With the forced breaks and hiatuses of the past year, every time Goose appears they seem to do so with a heightened sense of excitement and musical maturity and Friday’s 2x festival sets were no exception. With the understanding that they were playing to an audience of potential new fans that could only serve to amplify their already meteoric rise, the setlist was dense with heavy hitters even as it was interspersed with a few goodies for the more serious collector.
In a weekend that featured good-natured ribbing from Andy Frasco and a Ben Atkind sit-in with Umphrey’s McGee, Goose took Suwannee by storm, but in the myopic view that originated on Daren’s 4-inch phone screen and traveled 980 miles to my attention through the ether, the crowd looked bored and unengaged leading me to think how badly Suwannee needed a Scarf Guy. I mean, Overall Girl held her own (just barely) but is it time to talk about adding Scarf Guy to the travelling team? There were a couple open seats on the charter next to Peter and Trevor, amirite???
“Lead The Way” led the way, followed by the reggae vibes of “Doc Brown” which seemed a perfect choice for the tropical (read: marsh) setting of Suwannee. What was perhaps a tame open started to get moving with “Jive II” and “Time To Flee” before “Gun Street Girl”, a Tom Waits’ cover, was played for just the second time ever and first time all-electric since its a-Goose-tic debut at T’s House on 3/21/20. Wait’s tale of love gone wrong was almost the prequel to Mitarotonda’s “Turned Clouds”, with its equally dark message but hopeful melody. For my money, this little two-fer was the runaway highlight of the set. “All I Need” > “Jive Lee” closed the first frame with a much needed dose of energy while also giving fans their first taste of Goose’s ever-developing transition game.
“Wysteria Lane” got the second set underway in energetic fashion with an uninterrupted stretch that also featured a cover of Spoon’s “Inside Out” and quintessential Goose original “Flodown”. Not only did Stephanie (or was it Lisa) nail her off-camera call on the very first notes, but the vivacity of her banter – “I’m finally getting my Flodown!!!” – travelled the fiber optic pathways to the shower where I was jumping around like a lunatic on the heels of her enthusiasm. Shared energy ftw, my friends! “Arcadia” kept the energy high and was well-received if not predictable. That being said, there was nothing predictable about the transition from “Rosewood Heart” to Sergio Mendes’ “Mais Que Nada” that exemplified the obvious carat work Goose has been doing in the off-season. “Slow Ready” is steadily climbing the charts of fan favorites, and nothing typified the tangible excitement for this delicious jam vehicle more than Lisa’s behind the camera “I’m already pregnant!” comment, even if the money jam was left unfinished before another brilliant transition into Vasudo favorite and recently debuted (11/6/20) “Empress of Organos”. Perhaps it was divine intervention that included this beauty with its rain-addled lyrics in the setlist, but I prefer to think it was a telepathic shoutout not to the downpour but to the generosity of our FB-live host extraordinaire, Daren Organos and his Empresses-in-tow.
As Peter queried the crowd – “Who’s seeing us for the first time?” – to a bevy cheers, I envisioned a little fist pump and a “Got ‘em!” wink and nod to his mates on stage as tickets just became even harder to find for the rest of us. Continue to soar my friends, and I’ll be here to dance my ass off and write about it. As for that, I’d like to dive a little deeper into Peter sitting down and Goedde’s new toys, but I just don’t have much else to share right now other than the barest of details so I’ll do my homework and get back to you soonest.
Hope to see y’all soon from my happy place in the scarf-zone. Also, be on the lookout for the first-ever printed copies of the El Goose Times Tour Edition in the time honored tradition of fan rags like Dupree’s Diamond News and Doniac Schvice. I’m just a contributor but super happy to have been included and can’t wait to bring it to ya. Until then …
Set 1: Lead The Way, Doc Brown, Jive II, Time to Flee, Gun Street Girl {1}, Turned Clouds {2}, All I Need > Jive Lee
Set 2: Wysteria > Inside Out {3} > Flodown {4} Arcadia, Rosewood Heart > Mais Que Nada {5}, Slow Ready {6} > Empress of Organos
Coach’s Notes:
{1} Tom Waits, LTP Live from Ts
{2} Hot teases from Peter
{3} Spoon
{4} The Prince of Egypt ‘River Lullaby’ theme from Rick
{5} Sergio Mendes
{6} Unfinished, played without four to floor ending.
This was the first Florida show since 12/9/17 Dunedin Brewery, Dunedin, FL
Next Show: 5.3.21 • Frederick, MD