0
0
What we have here is another jam band. I suppose you could say that Goose is taking up the mantle from Phish, who took it from the Grateful Dead. Similar to Phish, Goose is from the NE corner of the country. Maybe the biggest difference, other than being twenty years younger, is that Goose IMHO records studio albums that are a bit more accessible than Phish’s albums tend to be. Not that Phish doesn’t have some great stand-alone music but some of it tends to be kind of out there, at least lyrically. Goose on the other hand is music that is actually good even if you’re not the typical jam band fan. Not a slam on Phish, just my opinion. Goose and Trey Anastasio have collaborated together on some music which also makes sense given the similar musical styles.
Goose played two nights at the Paramount Theater. I didn’t go the first night, Saturday, because I went to see Colin Hay, but Sam went and this was his first concert going completely by himself, meaning he drove from Monroe to downtown Seattle, parked got to the venue and got back home without incident. So proud! Apparently that was a very interesting show. The soundboard went kaput in the middle of the first song and after a couple attempts at fixing the issue the band ended up leaving the stage for forty-five minutes, during which quite a few people gave up and went home. Eventually they figured out the problems and got everything working and then apparently the band came back with something to prove. They played a version of the song “Echo of a Rose”, which is normally a seven or eight minute song but on this particular night they stretched it to almost 45 minutes. For that one song. That’s a bit crazy even for a jam band. The show was supposed to start at 7:30 and it didn’t get done until after midnight.
No such shenanigans on Sunday night for the show Sam and I attended together.
Goose isn’t afraid to take on any rock genre. Some songs have a disco flavor to them, some a bit of Reggae, lots of funk and even some jazz elements at times. Saturday night they played a version of Bob Seger’s “Hollywood Nights” and Sunday they played Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” (probably the longest version of that song ever) and for one of the last songs of the evening, a fairly straightforward version of “Achy Breaky Heart”, which just seems out of place but they nailed it. I recorded some of it but this is a more complete recording (albeit a bit grainy). This was also the only song of the evening featuring the bass player in any capacity…
As usual there were interesting people around me. I’m always shocked at how far people will travel to hear a band. Of all the people around me I talked to, only one other person was from Seattle. There was a couple who had just been married a couple of days ago and the two Seattle shows were their honeymoon. Then there was a couple from Vermont who came just for the shows but were spending a few days doing other typical tourist things. Another couple had come from San Diego and from here were going to Eugene for the next show and then San Francisco for two nights before going home. They said they had tickets to 14 Goose shows so far this summer. Then there was a guy from Colorado who was “working” in Seattle for a few days. From here he also was going to Eugene. He at least had an excuse for going to Eugene outside of just going to the next Goose show. His son is going to College there and his wife was going to fly out and join them with the whole family going to the show.
