Summer 2022: Leg One Recap

The Dripfield Summer Tour began in earnest with a two-night hometown stand at New Haven’s Westville Music Bowl. Diving right into the expansive jams, Goose delivered a slick, laid-back take on “Atlas” ahead of “Flodown,” “Dr. Darkness,” “Pancakes,” “Seekers on the Ridge” and “Hot Tea” to round out the first set. Opening the second set with an instant classic “Madhuvan,” the band would revisit “Pancakes” out of the ensuing “Creatures” as well as drop a fiery “SOS.”

The second night at Westville was yet another high-energy affair featuring a standout “Red Bird,” the first “Empress of Organos” to feature Peter on guitar, and an encore-spanning “Dripfield” jam that let Peter show off his new synthesizer.

After a festival appearance at Boston Calling highlighted by the second pairing of “Hungersite” > “Moby” and the debut of the new studio arrangement of “Slow Ready,” the quintet moved on to Essex Junction, Vermont (site of the 10/2/20 show featuring Dave Grippo). 

An incendiary “Earthling or Alien?” > “Indian River” combo elevated the first set along with the debut of “Atlas Dogs’” slow arrangement, while the second frame was dominated by a nearly 27-minute “Wysteria Lane” - adding to the song’s already incredible year and catapulting to great heights on many people’s jam rankings. Continuing the trend of “drone jams” through the encore break, Goose picked up the unfinished “Yeti” with a cover of The Beatles’ “Tomorrow Never Knows” sandwiched inside to close the show. 

At Artpark, just outside Buffalo, the band delivered another great show, continuing their upward trajectory from the previous weekend. A heavy and churning “Rosewood Heart” in the first set gave way to a deep and outside- the-box “Jive Lee” set closer, while the second set of “Madhuvan” > “Hungersite” > “Into the Myst” > “Your Ocean” > “Butter Rum” was a seamless string of songs even as it began to rain on the crowd. A raucous cover of The Band’s “Don’t Do It” took them nicely into curfew and sent the crowd home over joyed. 

Legend Valley quickly became a can’t-miss spot for Goose after a standout show in 2020and an incredible two-night stand in 2021. 

2022’s offering would be no different, as the band took advantage of the lack of curfew and incredible energy of the crowd to throw down two absolute heaters. Debuting two new side-project songs in the first night’s first set (“Butterflies” from Peter’s Great Blue and “Turbulence & The Night Rays” from Goose-predecessor Vasudo) along with a churning and synth-drenched cover of the Grateful Dead’s “Mississippi Half-Step,” the quintet got into the flow of things before dropping into a GOAT-contender “Creatures.” Hitting on bliss themes one normally only dreams of, this 25-minute excursion would be the first of two legendary jams played during this show. “All I Need” is one of Goose’s most reliable jam vehicles, so it was only natural that it should earn a spot among the longest jams the band has ever played, coming in only a few minutes behind the 3/9/22 “Rosewood Heart.” The first jam segment would dissolve into a heavy evil theme reminiscent of the 1/30/22 “Wysteria Lane,” but given a different dimension with Peter on keys. Peaking viciously and returning to the song’s final chorus, Goose then set off on a driven and upbeat second jam, stretching past the 35-minute mark before dissolving into a cover of The Moody Blues’ “Nights in White Satin.” A groovy “Red Bird” then gave way to the return of “Spirit of the Dark Horse’s” original arrangement (FTP since 11/16/21 OKC) that led into Ted Tapes cut “Dragonfly’s” first outing since January and a powerful “Jive II” encore - marking the song’s longest gap since 2018 (last played 3/5/22).

The second night at Legend Valley featured standout performances of “Borne” and “Arrow” in the first set ahead of the debut of earworm and dance party anthem “Animal” to open the second frame. “Animal” would head off a three-song second set that would flow through “A Western Sun” and “Dripfield” before a unique “Rockdale” complete with heavy “Factory Fiction” teases closed the show and run.

In Indianapolis, a hometown show for Andrew and Marta Goedde, the band invited the former on stage to whistle during “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard” and offered a dance-y and trippy “Pancakes” > “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head” > “Pancakes” in the second set, while the rest of the show was rounded out by fantastic playing and energy – don’t miss the creepy arpeggiator between “Slow Ready” and “Hot Tea!” 

Heading down to the intimate Greenfield Lake Amphitheatre in Wilmington, North Carolina, Goose delivered a phenomenal “Time to Flee” opener as well as another second set with perfect flow before closing the “leg” of tour in Raleigh the next night. 

The Raleigh “Madhuvan” will stand as one of Goose’s finest moments – in a year populated with endless versions of the song reaching past the 20-minute mark and delivering some incredible improvisation. Switching gears from soaring bliss, to mechanical and driving darkness, the quintet crafted a soundscape that invited stank faces and headbanging as Peter’s incredible textural guitar work was put on full display and the rhythm section absolutely locked in and hammered away. Coming up for air after repeated peaks, Peter hit the keyboards for a phenomenal bliss jam ahead of a powerful conclusion to the song. The rest of the show was just a cherry on top, featuring more great jamming in “Arrow” and “Drive.”

 A brief stop on the road to Radio City was made at Bonnaroo, where Goose played the “This Tent” from 1-3am, throwing down a party set with a bevy of classic tunes. On June 24th, along with the release of Dripfield, Goose took over Radio City Music Hall in New York City for two nights and three sets each: which featured the first-ever full- band acoustic sets in front of a live audience and some truly mind-blowing moments. The first night’s acoustic set contained beautiful renditions of Goose classics, as well as a unique take on newer song “California Magic,” which has shown itself to be a band and crowd-favorite. The second set flowed nicely ahead of the second three-song set of the tour, this one featuring the debuts of the Dripfield arrangements of “Hot Tea” and “Arrow” featuring special guests D. James Goodwin, Stuart Bogie, and Dave Nelson. Don’t miss these unique takes on well-worn live classics!

 I’m still kind of in disbelief that the second night of Radio City really happened.

An acoustic set highlighted by THE “ELMEG” led the show before a second set dominated by the “Red Bird” > “I’m Writing a Novel” combination. An unexpected, but very welcome surprise came when Goose brought out Novel’s original composer Father John Misty to join on vocals for the tune, which added new flavor to the band’s already-stellar cover. 

“Silver Rising” opened up the third set, and the earlier photo leaks of certain gear being loaded in to the venue were foremost on everyone’s minds both in the venue and webcasting as Peter introduced their next special guest...Trey Anastasio. 

While not everyone in the Goose community is a huge Phish fan, many of us absolutely love and adore both bands and I have to admit that hearing the first notes of “Hungersite” with Trey’s distinctive guitar tone intertwining with Rick’s brought tears of happiness to my eyes. 

A crowd eruption unlike anything heard before came when Trey ripped into his first solo of the night, and the energy only grew higher as the jam progressed into a hard-charging groove absolutely anchored by Trevor’s insistent playing as Trey and Rick danced back and forth to several screaming peaks. 

Once “Hungersite” died away, the band smoothly went into “Arcadia.” Trey added his own flavor to the first verse’s vocals and began trading hot licks with Rick immediately as the jam progressed. A joyous and blissy first peak led to the “slow” ending as Trey smoothly and melodically began to play over “Arcadia’s” incredible ending chord progression. A patient, patient build that had each band member’s smiles shining through led to some serious shredding as Rick took the reins to bring the song to its final peak and ending. 

While Trey’s guest spot no doubt was supposed to end after those two songs, the band was having too much fun and let the crowd know that he would be staying before easing into “Dripfield.” A triple-guitar attack for the jam with Peter entering the fray was an absolute delight to all those listening, and it gradually transitioned from the pounding and primal motif of the song into an upbeat groove that led to the first “Loose Ends” since February. 

“He’s going to stay,” rang out inside Radio City yet again as Goose launched into a set-closing “Empress of Organos.” 

After a hard-hitting piano solo from Peter, displaying the depth of sound only a grand can offer, the quintet dropped down quietly and handed Trey the spotlight for some of his finest playing of the night. 

Do NOT miss a NOTE of this third set. The encore, featuring Father John Misty and Trey on a cover of The Beatles’ “Tomorrow Never Knows,” just elevated the show’s status even more.

To close out their early summer touring schedule, Goose made incredible appearances at High Sierra Music Festival, Peach Music Festival and Newport Folk Festival - increasing their reach even wider and bringing more and more fans into the fold. 

The band returns to the road this month and will no doubt continue to blow minds and deepen their improvisational pathways. We all know that Goose is just getting started...