Rick Mitarotonda

Arriving early for round two on Sunday, February 5th, the air was electric with anticipation outside the Mission Ballroom on Phil Lesh’s final night in Denver with his friends. Fueled with the outcome of a great first night, multiple conversations in the already forming lines speculated over the musical possibilities of the evening, including the rest of “Dark Star” in lieu of the full moon or an appropriate “Mission In The Rain”. Certainly, the possibility of Billy Strings sitting in was on everyone’s mind, Strings having wrapped his own three night run the day before and sitting in with Ross James and Andy Thorn in the wee hours of Sunday morning. Of course, the “Never Miss a Sunday Show” theory factored into everyone’s predictive model and with all these dynamics, so much potential was still on the table. With everyone’s continued reeling from the outpouring of love and quality playing on Saturday, the energy of night two, from outside the building, was already climbing.

In a guest-filled closer at The Cap, one of the many highlights was Rick and Peter from Goose sitting in on a "Franklin’s Tower" > "The Other One", along with RatDog's Kenny Brooks and the full 10-piece band. We also saw Dred Scott and singer Sasha Dobson on Saturday, and Friday's performance was accentuated by harpist Mikaela Davis joining for most of the show.

For the first weekend of February, Denver’s Mission Ballroom once again became a mecca for travelers seeking the psychedelic and for those who made the leap of faith, the reward was great. Grateful Dead bassist and living legend Phil Lesh gave the Rino district two nights of splendor, sound, and the opportunity once again to rejoice in community under a blanket of aural pleasantries that would defy expectation.

Last night, legendary Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir joined Goose for a trio of songs during the first set of the band’s Playing in The Sand Performance in Riviera Maya, Mexico.  Stepping out on the heels of a fiery ‘Pancakes’, Weir’s presence was felt quickly, with the accomplished rhythm player and vocalist leading the way on an acoustic Peggy-O.

2022 might have been the year of the tiger, but easily could have been the year of Goose, as this band achieved numerous significant milestones. From selling out Radio City Music Hall and Red Rocks, to a co-headlining fall tour with the Trey Anastasio band, this Norwalk, CT based squad literally lived out their own dreams last year.

The rising indie jam squad from Connecticut, Goose, have yet again made a name for themselves as they embarked on their second ever New Years run in Cincinnati, Ohio on December 30, 2022 at the Andrew J Brady Center. This effort evolved into the Cincinnati Mayor declaring December 30th "Goose Day." While the band had never played within the Queen City limits before, they are no strangers to the area having performed twelve times in neighboring Covington, KY.

A rollicking “Cumberland Blues,” the Appalachian-bluegrass-style Grateful Dead tune that opened the first of two shows at The Warfield in San Francisco on December 27, was a microcosm of the mighty capabilities of this formulation of Phil Lesh & Friends.

It was the right time to rock the night away, and Goose did just that for the second night of their ninth annual holiday themed Goosemas on December 17, 2022 at the 1stBank Center in Broomfield, CO. The band continued the theme of drawing wishes written on green and red balls by audience members to determine the second set, as well as dusted off a pair of holiday rarities and more unexpected holiday shenanigans.

Location

Denver, CO

Event Date
Add to Calendar 2023-02-05 20:00:00 2023-02-05 20:00:00 Title Description Location Grateful Web aaron@gratefulweb.com America/Denver public

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, especially at the 1stBank Center in Broomfield, CO, who hosted Goose's annual holiday themed Goosemas event. The first night was held on December 16, 2022, and included a huge display of red and green balls, along with copious sharpies. Fans used these items to write requests for the band, and the band in turn drew the balls from Santa's bag to determine the second set.