State of the Goose-ion July 2025

I'll get straight to the point, I personally am not enjoying Goose these days nearly as much as I did 2-4 years ago.

I was listening to the "Madhuvan" from the 7.6.23 Thompson's Point show in the car today, and I was just absolutely floored. It is, to my mind, better than anything that came out of the MSG show, and it was the SECOND BEST JAM of that particular night in Portland!!!

The PRS sounded better (punchier, crisper) than anything that has come after it (a hill I will absolutely die on), Rick's playing felt more inventive and free than it's been sounding lately, and the big one: Ben (while not necessarily a "better drummer") was better at reacting in real time during a jam than Cotter is.

The more of this I write the more I feel like an old man living in the past, and I know it sounds like I'm being negative for the sake, but I fucking LOVE this band. The ceiling feels just as high these days, but the floor feels so much lower. There is an enormous amount of pressure on these guys and I can't imagine dealing with such a meteoric rise in real time, but it feels less fun, spontaneous, and virtuosic to me now than it did a few years ago.

Speaking of hills I'm about to die on...