Fall tour is back, along with the indie-groove jam rock artist Goose. They returned to Chicago, IL for their twelfth performance in the Windy City on Saturday, September 20, 2025. They opted for the thirty-thousand-capacity Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island, marking their first performance at the well-known, uncovered amphitheater flanked by the famous skyline. Rain led into the show and fell during the first set. However, neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stopped these musicians and their fans from having a great time crushing two glorious sets on Lake Michigan.
The Constitution State quartet came out of the gates swinging in Set One with "Eminence Front" by The Who. The band has certainly evolved this cover into their own. The It's Hard track started to feel like a song that was written for them to play, much like "Yamar" by The Mustangs was for Phish. Guitarist Rick Mitarotonda soared on guitar while matching the driving beats of drummer Cotter Ellis during this up-beat tune.
As the boys started to transition into "Drive," the rain poured down. Multi-instrumentalist Peter Anspach hopped on guitar for this tune and added an extra edge. The build-up during this tune galvanized the crowd, who erupted into a strong, audience-initiated clap. Bassist Trevor Weekz brought a strong bassline as the band moved into the new tune "Iguana Song." This Everything Must Go tune evolved into a deep groove with all band members locked into a fast-paced, prog-rock tempo. The rain continued to fall as they shifted into a more ambient jam. Weekz took the lead for a bit and delivered a melodic bass jam that kicked the pace back up and landed squarely back in "Iguana Song."
Goose immediately popped into a quick three-minute "Same Old Shenanigans," from their 2021 release of the same name. Rather than heading into "(dawn)", the band maintained their intensity and flowed into the dance inducing tune, "Feel It Now." Anspach contributed vocals and wrote this vibrant tune. Weekz unleashed more bass bombs during this fluid jam, as Mitarotonda hit tasty peaks. Anspach manipulated the sounds on his Nord keyboard as Mitarotonda triggered pedal effects to create a scratchy transition into "Doctor Darkness," which brought a much needed chill-moment. New cover "Peach" by Future Islands followed. This cover brought an indie-groove feel and a tight eight-minute jam.
The meat of the set came with the last two songs, starting with a funky "So Ready," which included Anspach on the clav. This gave way for a layered, up-tempo jam that eventually transitioned back to the funky overtones of "So Ready." As they reached the end, Ellis quickly shifted tempo into a sixteen-minute "(dawn)," which was the second-longest stand-alone version Goose has played. Normally part of "Same Old Shenanigans," the band began playing the tune on its own occasionally in 2022. Last played in Grand Rapids, MI on February 15, 2025, this instance of "(dawn)" displayed Mitarotonda at his finest, as he unfurled glorious peaks to end this raging first set.
Set two kicked off with Mitarotonda uttering "Hell yea" and "Thank you for coming. That's tight," before diving into a deep "Hungersite." After completing the composed sections, the quartet jumped into the jam driven by Mitarotonda’s lead guitar and Ellis's drumming, which pushed the band to some slightly dark grooves. From the jam, they segued their way into “Don’t Leave Me This Way” by Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes. They debuted this cover last year at Goosemas on December 14, 2024, and it has been a notable addition to their set-list rotation ever since.
Anspach then picked up his guitar for the dual-guitar arrangement of “Tumble.” The band immediately locked into a dance groove for about 10 minutes before they took a turn into a mellow, spacey territory. Mitarotonda provided ethereal guitar lines while Anspach returned to the keyboards. The jam then briefly took a dark, almost frantic turn before returning to rising guitar licks that led back into the “Tumble” riff to close out this almost twenty-five-minute standout version.
They dropped into “The Empress of Organos” for the second set's penultimate song. This tune was recently featured on their surprise album Chain Yer Dragon, released in August 2025. This relatively shorter jam featured Mitarotonda’s machine-gun-style guitar soloing before cutting the song short to segue smoothly into another Chain Yer Dragon song, “Jed Stone.”
These two songs share multiple similarities. Both of these cuts date back to the pre-Goose project Vasudo, and were both written by the songwriting duo of Mitaratondo and Matt Campbell. “Jed Stone" recently debuted by Goose back in June 2025, and was quickly added to their set-list rotation while “Empress” has been in rotation since 2020. This innovative version closed out the second set as the band walked off the stage while Anspach’s keyboard sustained drone sound during the entire encore break.
The band re-emerged onto the stage. They merged into the existing drone sound, and started to explore some ambient territory before giving way to an EDM-style-groove which then morphed into a dark, industrial-inspired jam. After about 10 minutes, the jam toggled back into “Empress," which closed out the show with a bang.
Goose is back in action tonight for round two at the iconic Louisville Palace Theatre in Louisville, KY. Tickets are available via this link. They head into the South with shows in Alpharetta, Ga on September 26th and Charlotte, NC on September 27th. Fall tour closes out with shows in Columbus, OH, Richmond, VA, and Philadelphia, PA. This feels like a great time to remind the fans to never miss a Goose Philly show. They will make festival appearances at Rise in Las Vegas and Hulaween in Suwanee, FL. This bird band will close out the year with two nights in Providence, RI for their annual Goosemas event. Head on over to their tour page for more details.
Check out more photos from the show!
Band: Goose
Date: September 20, 2025
Location: Chicago, IL
Venue: Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island
Set One: Eminence Front[1] > Drive > Iguana Song > Same Old Shenanigans > Feel It Now, Dr. Darkness, Peach[2], So Ready > (dawn)
Set Two: Hungersite > Don’t Leave Me This Way[3], Tumble, The Empress Of Organos, Jed Stone
Encore: The Empress Of Organos
Coach's Notes:
[1] The Who.
[2] Future Islands. FTP.
[3] Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes.
