Nearly as synonymous with New York City as the Empire State Building, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Statue of Liberty, Madison Square Garden is the epitome of NYC’s sports and entertainment culture. For the jam band faithful, the Garden is known for some legendary shows, starting with the Grateful Dead’s first show there in 1979 and Phish’s debut 15 years later in 1994. Simply stated, playing Madison Square Garden is a pinnacle of live music in one of the country’s biggest and most competitive markets. On June 28th, 2025, the newest link in the jam chain, Goose, summited the mountain by bringing the sold-out penultimate show of its Everything Must Go Summer Tour to Madison Square Garden.

For Goose’s biggest headlining show to date, the quartet of Rick Mitarotonda, Peter Anspach, Trevor Weekz, and Cotter Ellis took the stage and wasted no time making history as they launched into their first-ever show opening “Factory Fiction”. The dancing crowd was all smiles as Rick (also smiling) sang “It’s alright, that all the freaks want to come at night and / Swim around in the beautiful isolation.” A winding “Factory Fiction” jam was followed up with another instrumentally intense tune, the crowd-pleasing “Hungersite” off 2022’s, Dripfield. The jam-heavy set then took a slightly more succinct turn for the next two songs.

Goose — “Factory Fiction” [Pro-Shot] — 6/28/25

First, Cotter Ellis, dressed in glittery cowboy garb, took the reins for “My Mind Has Been Consumed by Media”, brought to Goose from his previous band, Swimmer. The Talking Heads-like groove gave way to the sweet “A Western Sun”, featuring a blissful post-song jam that ultimately segued into the first cover of the night, the 1985 Kate Bush hit, “Running Up That Hill”.

At this point in the show, five songs in, one couldn’t help but notice that although the band was ostensibly promoting its new album, Everything Must Go, nothing from that album had yet been played. That changed quickly as the set’s last four songs were all pulled from the new release. Lead single “Give it Time” led off the run before Peter Anspach welcomed saxophonist Stuart Bogie, trombonist Dave Nelson, and trumpeter Andrew McGovern, who comprised the horn section on Everything Must Go. The horn trio lent a special jazzy flavor to many of the songs on the studio album, and they did so in an equally special way in the live format for the set’s last three songs: “Feel It Now”, “Dustin Hoffman”, and “Animal”.

After a relatively quick set break, the band returned to the stage and the new album with an over-the-top, screeching version of “Thatch”, followed by an especially exploratory and, at times, funkified rendering of Peter’s “Red Bird”. The outtro jam of “Red Bird” led seamlessly into the second cover of the night, “Don’t Leave Me This Way”. Originally recorded by soul/R&B group Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes in 1975, Thelma Houston had a hit with her disco version the following year.

Next, Goose left Everything Must Go to revisit an earlier time with fan favorite “Tumble”. “Tumble” rarely fails to get the crowd moving, and this dance rave-up version was no exception, immersing the crowd in crashing wave after wave of sound. The dance party continued as “Tumble” gave way to an uptempo, bass-heavy “Creatures”. The “Creatures” refrain, “This moment is the only thing you know,” reminded everyone that this was a historic occasion they were all part of.

As the opening notes of Otis Day and the Knights’ “Shama Lama Ding Dong” rang out, the band got momentarily quiet while Peter reported to the audience at roughly 11:35 p.m. that even though they had officially gone over curfew, they were just going to keep going. “Shama Lama Ding Dong” ended in a fierce jam that reprised the ending of “Tumble”.

The sequence finished, Cotter’s drums introduced “Jed Stone”, a gorgeous Vasudo ballad played for only the second time by Goose, the debut having occurred at Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre in Colorado earlier in June. That debut closed the show in Colorado, but the Madison Square Garden marathon continued unabated with an extended “Dripfield” that ultimately did close the second set. For the encore, the horn section rejoined for a rousing rendition of “Arcadia”.

A band only gets to play Madison Square Garden for the first time once. Goose has now done that and joins the ranks not only of the jam bands mentioned at the outset but artists as legendary as Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan, The Who, The Rolling Stones, and so many more. Waiting to see what the next milestone will be is just one of the many thrills of being a Goose fan.

Goose closes out its Everything Must Go Summer Tour 2025 tonight, June 29th, at Westville Music Bowl in New Haven, CT. Find tickets and fall tour dates here. Fans can also stream the tour closer and MSG from the comfort of their couches via nugs. Not subscribed yet? Today is your last chance to sign up for a new subscription for $5 a month for the first four months. Click here to sign up now. [Editor’s note: Live For Live Music is a nugs affiliate. Ordering your subscription via the links on this page helps to support our work covering the world of live music. Thank you for reading!]

Below, check out a gallery of photos from Goose at Madison Square Garden courtesy of photographer Daniel Ojeda.

Goose — “Give It Time” — 6/28/25

[Video: Jonny Lee]

Goose, Stuart Bogie, Dave Nelson, Andrew McGovern — “Animal” — 6/28/25 — Partial Video

[Video: MaGiKRat420]

Setlist: Goose | Madison Square Garden | New York, NY | 6/28/25

Set One (Start 7:38 p.m.): Factory Fiction, Hungersite, My Mind Has Been Consumed By Media (Swimmer), A Western Sun -> Running Up That Hill (Kate Bush) > Give It Time, Feel It Now [1], Dustin Hoffman [1], Animal [1]
Set Two: Thatch, Red Bird > Don’t Leave Me This Way (Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes), Tumble -> Creatures -> Shama Lama Ding Dong (Otis Day & The Knights) > Tumble, Jed Stone > Dripfield
Encore (end 12:30 a.m.): Arcadia [1]

[1] w/ Stuart Bogie on saxophone, Dave Nelson on trombone, and Andrew McGovern on trumpet

Show Notes: This was the band’s biggest headlining show to date.