Goose ended 2022, the band’s most successful year to date, with a New Year’s Eve show at the Andrew J Brady Music Center in Cincinnati, OH that was a monumental jam fest full of references to the future, love, and the dichotomy of darkness and light. The band opened firing on all cylinders with “All I Need”, reminding its loyal fans that as they journey into a new year “Things change but, you don’t realize, you have all you need.”

Next, the band launched into two tunes off its 2022 album, Dripfield, with “Borne”, a gorgeous song that began sweet and slow but reached a massive peak before morphing directly into “Hungersite” with its (likely rhetorical) question “Is it time to shed our weapons yet, my friend?”

Following a frenetic jam that closed the tune, keyboardist/guitarist Peter Anspach stepped to the mic to offer a sincere thank you to the Goose crew and the entire team that is so vital to making every show happen. He then dedicated the song, “Mr. Action”, which debuted two weeks earlier at the Fox Theatre Conscious Alliance Benefit in Boulder, CO, to them. It was a perfect tribute that notes “ It’s been a long time, it’s been a wild ride, but you always see it through.” “Mr. Action” gave way to a soaring 20-minute “Red Bird” before the set ended with an over-the-top blistering version of “Drive”, a perfect closer to take the packed house across the line for the last full set of the year.

After a roughly half-hour break, the band re-emerged with all members now dressed completely in white. In many world cultures, white garb represents light and purity, so it was interesting when the band launched into what can only be described as the darkest and most dissonant of jams. And sure enough, the Goose faithful were then taken on a journey of songs and a black-and-white light show that seemed to represent the struggle between the dark and light.

The first of these, “Dr. Darkness”, is ostensibly about the darkness of self-doubt and depression that sometimes lives inside our heads and which we must strive to overcome.  Next came “Indian River”, a song off the group’s debut album, Moon Cabin, that has seen many arrangement changes over its life; Saturday it was a driving indie rocker that reminded the audience, especially given the impending turning of the year, that “Time don’t hold us for that long, for that long.”

Next up, with a rising moon projected on the screen behind the band, was another song detailing the battle between light and dark, “Silver Rising”, a song about a werewolf, itself a trope representing the struggle between the controlled human and the beastly animal that lives inside us all. It was now 11:45 pm and with its opening line “Always almost there!” the band launched into a blazing “Madhuvan”.

The jam in “Madhuvan” would take the room right up to the midnight hour as the screen behind the band showed the ten-second countdown to the start of 2023. As the timer hit zero, multi-colored balloons and confetti showered the audience, and the “Madhuvan” jam segued seamlessly into a beautiful instrumental “Auld Lang Syne”. At this point, the black and white light show became a rainbow of colors. The “Madhuvan” coda soon re-emerged and, once again, the audience found itself in another darkness and light-themed song, “The Empress of Organos”.

This time it was very clear that the light was winning the new day as the audience sang along, “We know you think that you’re powerful but we’ve got the love and rhythm!  You say it looks like rain today, but we say, oh what a day to be livin’!”  The set then closed with the one-two punch of the crowd-pleasing new funky dance tune, “Thatch”, followed by the Dripfield title track.

For the encore, Rick Mitarotonda and Peter Anspach initially took the stage as a duo to perform a cover of the David Gray song, “This Year’s Love”, proclaiming that “This year’s love had better last, heaven knows it’s high time.” The duo was joined by bassist Trevor Weekz just a few minutes into the song and at its finish drummer Ben Atkind and percussionist Jeff Arevalo emerged for a raging version of “Animal”.  Unlike the prior songs of the evening that addressed the struggle between human and beast, this song was a colorful palette of pure joy, as the audience reveled in the truth that “You’re an animal! It’s phenomenal!”

Goose – “All I Need” [Pro-Shot] – 12/31/22

Goose – “Silver Rising” [Pro-Shot] – 12/31/22

Goose – Andrew J Brady Music Center – Cincinnati, OH – 12/31/22 – Full Show

Goose’s next gig is a two-set performance at Dead & Company‘s Playing In The Sand Mexican destination event on January 15th. After that, the band will head out on a two-month spring tour in March and April. Visit the band’s website for tickets and a full list of tour dates.

Setlist: Goose | The Andrew J Brady Music Center | Cinncinati, OH | 12/31/22

Set One: All I Need, Borne > Hungersite, Mr. Action, Red Bird, Drive

Set Two: Dr. Darkness, Indian River, Silver Rising, Madhuvan > Auld Lang Syne (Robert Burns) > Madhuvan, The Empress of Organos, Thatch > Dripfield

Encore: This Year’s Love (David Gray), Animal