This weekend, for the first time ever, Colorado will have the distinction of hosting Goose’s annual Goosemas celebration at 1stBank Center in Broomfield starting on December 16th. As a prelude to that event, Colorado was even luckier to be graced with three wise and very musical men journeying from the east bearing gifts of jammy joy: the acoustic trio of Goose’s Rick Mitarotonda (guitar, vocals), Peter Anspach (guitar, vocals), and Jeff Arevalo (percussion), better known as Orebolo.
Over the course of three sold out nights, the trio treated the Colorado faithful to sets filled with originals as well as an eclectic roster of cover tunes. Keep reading for recaps of each of the three pre-Goosemas Orebolo shows in Colorado and scroll down to the bottom of this page for photo galleries from each of the three shows via David P. Tracer/Tracer Rock Photography.
Vilar Performing Arts Center | Beaver Creek, Colorado | 12/10/22
The Vilar Center is an upscale venue with a natural wood interior that rises from floor to ceiling. Orebolo had the distinction of being the first band to play through the venue’s new high fidelity sound system, which did a beautiful job of conveying the acoustic trio’s warm sound.
The first set of the tour led off with “All I Need”, an older familiar Goose tune that just got a reworking on the band’s newly released 2022 EP, Undecided. Orebolo has become known for its Elvis Presley covers and after a little “California Magic”, the band launched into its first self-proclaimed “obligatory” Elvis cover of the run, “(Marie’s The Name) His Latest Flame”. The set also featured covers of The Wood Brothers‘ “Atlas” and Bruce Springsteen‘s “Atlantic City” as well as originals “Dim Lights”, “Moonrise”, and “Hungersite”, the latter two off Goose’s most recent full-length LP, Dripfield.
Related: Daze Between New Orleans Reveals 2023 Lineup: Goose, Tank And The Bangas, Lawrence, More
One of Goose’s strengths is the band’s willingness to creatively—sometimes even radically—tinker with song arrangements and lyrics. Such was the case for the version of “Tumble” that closed the night’s first set. It was listed as an “inverted” version on the setlist and indeed, the passage that led out of “Hungersite” and into the beginning of “Tumble” contained a jam that is usually featured at the close of that song.
The Second set featured Goose originals “Rockdale”, “Turned Clouds”, and “Into The Myst”. Though there was a call-out from the crowd for the band to play “U.S. Blues” earlier in the show, the three musicians jokingly noted that they had just gotten to Colorado and needed some time to settle in before launching into such heady stuff. They did, however, toss the
audience a lovely Grateful Dead bone with a fantastic version of “Tennessee Jed” before closing with the gorgeous “Arise”, and encoring with the always crowd-pleasing “Arcadia”.
Setlist: Orebolo | Vilar Performing Arts Center | Beaver Creek, CO | 12/10/22
Set One: All I Need, California Magic, His Latest Flame (Marie’s The Name), Dim Lights, Atlas, Moonrise, It Burns Within, Atlantic City, Hungersite > Tumble
Set Two: Rockdale, Turned Clouds, Into The Myst, Tennessee Jed, Arise
Encore: Arcadia
Old Town Pub | Steamboat Springs, Colorado | 12/12/22
Old Town Pub in Steamboat Springs is a lovely, historic old barroom. It’s not posh like the Vilar Center, but definitely has an Old West character all its own. As a pub, there is always the danger that imbibers might be prone to chatter—especially at an acoustic show—but that was taken care of by stickers distributed to attendees at the door proclaiming “OrebolOTP: We came for the band, not the conversation,” and although Jeff did ask people to “zip it” a time or two, the crowd was mostly very respectful.
The first set kicked off with dancing tunes “Elizabeth” and “Echo of a Rose” before moving seamlessly into the first cover (and singalong) of the night, “Take on Me” by A-ha. Other originals in the set included “Time to Flee”, “Bob Don” (recently rechristened “Undecided”), the new Goose tune “Everything Must Go”, a “Western Sun”, and a set-closing, jamme-out “Madhuvan”. The other notable cover of the first set was “Fish in the Sea” by New Zealand/Pasifika band Fat Freddy’s Drop. The song is a staple of Goose shows but had never before been played before by Orebolo, who performed it here at the request of the pub’s owner. It was a “here goes nothing” moment that wound up being a perfectly executed crowd-pleaser.
More shouts for “U.S. Blues” ensued in Steamboat but the band was apparently still not ready to deliver those particular goods, instead kicking off the second set with a driving “Drive” that segued perfectly into the Dead’s “New Speedway Boogie”. The rest of the set featured exclusively originals including “Old Man’s Boat”, “Jive I”, “Rosewood Heart”, “Jive II”, “Your Ocean”, and the new and very funky tune, “Thatch.” After a two-song encore of the traditional “Angel Band” and Goose’s “So Ready”, fans headed out smiling into a stormy, snowy Steamboat night.
Setlist: Orebolo | Old Town Pub | Steamboat Springs, CO | 12/12/22
Set One: Elizabeth, Echo of a Rose > Take On Me, Time to Flee, Bob Don, Everything Must Go, Fish In The Sea, A Western Sun, Madhuvan
Set Two: Drive > New Speedway Boogie, The Old Man’s Boat, Jive I, Rosewood Heart, Jive II, Your Ocean, Thatch
Encore: Angel Band, So Ready
Boulder Theater | Boulder, CO | 12/14/22
It was a bit of a harrowing drive from Steamboat to Boulder and Rick, Peter, and Jeff noted tonight that they, too, with the assistance of friends and drivers, were lucky to have made it to the show.
As mentioned earlier, both Goose and Orebolo have a knack for rearranging their songs in interesting ways, and such was the case for tonight’s opener, “Arrow”. This was a slow version that lacked the usual opening, with its somewhat Carribbean-flavored music and lyrics and, apropos of the coming Goosemas holiday, ended with a beautiful “Greensleeves” coda.
Boulder’s first set proved to be especially cover-heavy with Bob Dylan’s “Shelter from the Storm”, The Band’s “Look Out Cleveland”, Poliça’s “Amongster, and the traditional tune most associated with the Grateful Dead, “Peggy-O”, all receiving an outing. In and along the journey, we were also treated to originals “Lead the Way”, “Honeybee”, “Dim Lights”, and “Rockdale”.
The first part of the second set seemed to be absolutely chock-full of beasts, demons, and odd beings with tunes like “SOS”, “Seekers On The Ridge Parts I and II”, Elvis’ “Devil In Disguise”, the werewolf-themed “Silver Rising”, “Creatures”, and “The Empress of Organos”. The set closed with another beautiful version of “Arise” and the title cut off the recent full-length Goose album, “Dripfield”. We were sent home to a poignant, beautifully sung, and once again holiday-appropriate version of Leonard Cohen‘s “Hallelujah” before the repeated nightly shout outs by the audience for U.S. Blues was finally fulfilled.
Overall, Orebolo presented fans with a chance to see Rick, Peter and Jeff of Goose in relaxed and intimate spaces performing some fan-favorites and an array of covers new and old. It was a fabulous way to ring in the Goosemas Holiday and a special treat for the Colorado
faithful who sold out all of the Orebolo shows as well as every Goose show in recent Colorado history.
Merry Goosemas, Honkers! See you in Broomfield this weekend!
Setlist: Orebolo | Boulder Theater | Boulder, CO | 12/14/22
Set One: Arrow/Greensleeves, Shelter From the Storm, Lead the Way, Honeybee, Look Out Cleveland, Dim Lights, Amongster, Peggy-O, Rockdale
Set Two: SOS, Seekers On The Ridge Pt I & II, Devil In Disguise, Silver Rising, Creatures, The Empress of Organos, Arise, Dripfield
Encore: Hallelujah, U.S. Blues
Goose hits 1stBankCenter for its sold-out, two-night Goosemas celebration on Friday, December 16th and Saturday, December 17th followed by a third, intimate bonus show at Boulder’s Fox Theatre on Sunday, December 18th.
While tickets to the majority of Goose’s upcoming 2023 tour dates are already sold out, fans can still get a chance to catch a two-night run as part of Daze Between New Orleans, taking place in New Orleans, LA on May 2nd and 3rd during the “Daze Between” Jazz Fest weekends. For tickets to Daze Between New Orleans, head here.
