In April 1999, Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh shocked the jam band world when he invited Phish members Trey Anastasio and Page McConnell to join his mercurial ensemble Phil and Friends for a brief run of shows at San Fransisco’s Warfield Theater. Prior to that fortuitous occasion, the idea of any sort of formal collaboration between the two bands seemed almost unthinkable. Both groups existed, more or less, in their own worlds with fans, in particular, who tended to have a distinctly “us vs them” attitude. Older Deadheads scoffed at the seemingly nonsensical lyrics about Lizards and Possums while college-age Phish fans derided the lack of energy and inspired playing at Dead shows as Jerry Garcia’s health precipitously declined.
That now-legendary Bay Area weekend essentially opened the door for a new era of collaborative efforts in the greater jam scene in which the effects are still felt to this day as sit-ins and guest appearances have seemingly become the rule, rather than the exception. Major festivals like Lockn’ now specialize in offering up unique and often never-before-heard musical unions while Anastasio was tabbed to fill Garcia’s lead role at a de-facto Grateful Dead reunion in 2015.
Although every member of the two patriarchal jam bands has made great efforts to perform with younger musicians who were clearly inspired by their music over the years, none of those collaborations seemed to have generated as much buzz and excitement (and controversy) as Anastasio’s recent embrace of industry darlings Goose.
The Norwalk, Connecticut-based outfit’s star has risen dramatically in recent years, particularly since a standout performance in 2019 at the jam-centric Peach Festival in Scranton, PA, with the group selling out increasingly larger venues and making their debut nationally televised appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live. In a genre that has become remarkably saturated and relatively stagnant in recent years, Goose represents, at least to their most ardent supporters, a breath of fresh air with their innovative songwriting and unique sound. Their detractors will point out, just as enthusiastically, that their music is derivative and follows the same formulaic tropes as Phish and countless other jam bands. While the truth ultimately lies somewhere in the middle, there’s no denying that Goose is on an upward trajectory that is nearly unprecedented in the highly scrutinized genre.
Given Goose’s popularity and Anastasio’s musical affability, it seemed inevitable that their paths would eventually cross. That inevitability became a reality this past June when Anastasio sat in with Goose at Radio City Music Hall in New York for a memorable performance of a handful of songs. The experience was evidently an enjoyable one for both parties as a joint tour was announced shortly thereafter, marking the first time Anastasio has invited another group to perform in a co-headlining capacity for an extended run.
Spanning eight shows over the course of ten days with stops at minor league arenas dotting the Northeast, the performances featured extended sets from each group before closing the evening out with every musician on stage in an all-star jam-type atmosphere.
The tour came to a resounding conclusion this past Saturday at the Santander Arena in Reading, PA as both bands delivered high-energy sets teeming with top-shelf musicianship that led to an impressive amount of genuine standout moments.
Following the format of the previous shows, Goose opened the evening with an adventurous set of entirely original material lasting nearly ninety minutes that allowed the group to showcase their myriad musical styles as well as their impressive vocal and instrumental chops.
“Flowdown”, a countrified rocker with an infectious instrumental hook, kicked things off on a high note before the sing-along-special “Pancakes”, which featured a patient jam that ultimately reached some impressive peaks thanks to some well-timed key changes and guitarist Rick Mitarotonda’s penchant for tension-and-release fueled solos.
Some imposing organ work from multi-instrumentalist Peter Anspach helped buoy the bluesy number “Turned Clouds” and was followed by an inspired take on the haunting “Dripfield” before Anspach welcomed Anastasio to the stage with a heartfelt introduction.
The newly formed septet proceeded to unleash a monstrous rendition of Goose’s “Rockdale”, with Anastasio nailing the song’s signature riff and the two guitarists engaging in memorable Allman Brothers-esque dueling solos that generated a seemingly endless series of instrumental peaks.
The collaboration continued with an exploratory take on the Mitarotonda-penned saga “Elmeg the Wise” before the TAB horn section, consisting of James Casey (saxophone), Natalie Cressman (trombone), and Jennifer Hartswick (trumpet), joined the ensemble to close the set with a funky take on Goose’s anthemic “Hot Tea”.
After a brief intermission, and clearly inspired by Goose’s high-intensity performance, TAB took to the stage and opened with a red-hot rendition of “Push On ‘Til the Day” which featured Anastasio unleashing a torrent of searing guitar lines throughout the song’s climactic ending jam.
The island-tinged strains of “Love is What We Are” preceded “Mozambique”, an instrumental originally debuted by Anastasio in 1998, and “Cayman Review”, both of which were bolstered by Cyro Baptista, whose innovative percussion work lends a distinctly Latin American vibe to the material.
A trio of Phish songs, including an alternate slower take on “Camel Walk”, along with “Twist” and “No Men In No Man’s Land” were well received, as was a somber rendition of “A Life Beyond The Dream”, which is arguably among the strongest ballads Anastasio has ever composed.
“…And Flew Away”, from Trey’s 2020 solo album Lonely Trip, led into a breathtaking version of “Dark and Down”, a brooding piece that recalls the personal nadir the guitarist experienced following his 2006 drug-related arrest in White Hall, NY.
Anastasio invited Mitarotonda and Anspach back on stage to help close out his set with a handful of songs, including blistering takes on the Phish classic “Ghost” as well as TAB staples “Everything’s Right” and the instrumental powerhouse “First Tube”, the latter of which also featured Goose members Trevor Weeks on bass along with Jeff Arevalo and Ben Atkind on percussion.
The thirteen-member ensemble returned for a memorable encore consisting of a reworked version of Phish’s “Llama” (with lyrics appropriately change to “Taboose”) followed by an emotionally charged performance of “Show of Life” and a festive rendition of “Party Time”, which concluded with Baptista leading the musicians off stage in a percussive-laden conga line.
