Orebolo, the acoustic trio spinoff of the band Goose, featuring Rick Mitarotonda and Peter Anspach on guitars and percussionist Jeff Arevalo on stand-up bass, played a rare three-show run in Colorado on June 9th, 10th, and 11th. On the heels of a pair of live releases last fall, the shows featured a mix of Goose favorites, played acoustically and a little more succinctly than their usual Goose renditions, as well as an eclectic array of covers.
Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater Vail, CO | June 9, 2023
The tour opened with a show at the beautifully scenic Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater in Vail, part of the “Mountains of Music” series associated with the GoPro Mountain Games. Atypically for both Goose and Orebolo, bands that normally don’t feature openers, the show began with a set from U.K. retro rockers The Heavy Heavy.
Soon after, Orebolo took the stage as the sun went down and the temperature dropped precipitously into the 40s. A shout from an audience member for Jeff Arevalo to take off his sweater was met with a humorous protest of “But I’m cold!” as the trio launched into Peter Anspach’s “Honeybee”, off Goose’s Dripfield.
The trio then played two more Goose staples, “Drive” and “Borne”, before Peter Anspach remarked that The Heavy Heavy played some great covers including one by Father John Misty. That remark prefaced Orebolo’s first-ever run through Father John Misty’s “Writing a Novel”, a frequent live Goose cover the band performed with the man himself at Radio City Music Hall last summer. Next came another Goose favorite, “Creatures”, followed by a deeper cut with Elvis Presley‘s 1963 hit “(You’re The) Devil In Disguise”. A fun, danceable “Arrow” then closed the first set.
Orebolo – “Arrow” – 6/9/23
[Audio: htaylor2004]
After about 30 minutes, Orebolo retook the stage and opened the second set with “Animal”, yet another song that has cemented as a Goose go-to. The mystical duo of “Seekers On The Ridge” parts one and two followed and was perfect for the near-freezing setting of Vail as the song follows the seekers journeying and pursuing a beast through a frozen winter landscape, at one point declaring “Oh Colorado, breathe it in!”
Two tunes off of Goose’s debut album Moon Cabin, “Jive II” and “Rosewood Heart”, were next before the acoustic trio launched into a bluegrass-tinged “Flodown”. Peter Anspach then announced that rather than leaving the stage and coming back for an encore, the band would simply make the most of its time and play one more song, a pattern that would continue over all three nights of Orebolo. The band then sent the audience home with a gorgeously sung and tenderly played take on the Leonard Cohen classic, “Hallelujah”.
Setlist: Orebolo | Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater | Vail, CO | 6/9/23
Set One: Honeybee, Drive, Borne, Writing A Novel (Father John Misty) [1], Creatures, (You’re The) Devil In Disguise (Elvis Presley), Arrow
Set Two: Animal, Seekers On The Ridge Pt. 1 > Seekers On The Ridge Pt. 2, Jive II, Rosewood Heart, Flodown, Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen)
[1] FTP by Orebolo
Chautauqua Auditorium Boulder, CO | June 10, 2023
Moving eastward on I-70, Orebolo descended from the mountains of Vail to the more populous Boulder, checking into the Chautauqua Auditorium for a two-night stay. The first of two nights at the historic 19th-century venue began with “California Magic”, followed up with “Moonrise”, a Dripfield track seldom played outside Orebolo or acoustic Goose sets.
Orebolo – “California Magic” [Pro-Shot] – 6/10/23
Next came the Goose homage to their crew, “Mr. Action”, played for the first time by Orebolo. Although not every Orebolo show features an Elvis Presley song, most do, and tonight the group pulled out a wonderful version of The King’s “Return To Sender” made even more special by tacking on an instrumental version of the jazzy 1942 Harry Warren song “There Will Never Be Another You” as its coda. Another new Goose song, “Lead Up,” played for the first time by Orebolo came next followed by “Hungersite.”
The set rolled on with “Hang Me, Oh Hang Me”, a traditional song that some know from Dave Van Ronk’s album Inside Dave Van Ronk, from Oscar Isaac’s version of the song on the soundtrack of the movie Inside Llewyn Davis, or the permutation with somewhat different lyrics performed by Jerry Garcia and retitled ”I’ve Been All Around this World”. A slow, melodic rearrangement of the Goose song, “All I Need” then closed out the set.
After a brief break, the band returned and launched into a jam that Goose fans immediately recognized as the ending instrumental passage of “Tumble”. The frenetic improvisation would ultimately morph into the slow “vibey” version of “Tumble” that appears on Goose’s recent EP release, Undecided.
Another Undecided song, “Bob Don” followed next before Peter took over the vocal duties for his song “Red Bird”, another Goose debut for Orebolo. Rick then introduced the next tune as an “old, new song”—apparently one he wrote long ago but only debuted tonight—“Fader”. The only Grateful Dead cover of the weekend, “Tennessee Jed”, followed next and had the whole audience dancing and singing along. An exceptionally jammed-out version of “Arcadia” was followed by “Everything Must Go” and then crowd-pleaser “Thatch” to close night one in Boulder.
Setlist: Orebolo | Chautauqua Auditorium | Boulder, CO | 6/10/23
Set One: California Magic, Moonrise, Mr. Action [1], Return To Sender (Elvis Presley) [2] -> There Will Never Be Another You (Harry Warren), Lead Up [1], Hungersite, Hang Me, Oh Hang Me (Dave Van Ronk), All I Need [3]
Set Two: Tumble, Bob Don, Red Bird, Fader, Tennessee Jed, Arcadia, Everything Must Go, Thatch
[1] FTP as Orebolo
[2] FTP
[3] Slow, melodic version
Chautauqua Auditorium Boulder, CO | June 11, 2023
The final night of Orebolo’s Colorado excursion began with another beloved Goose song played for the first time by Orebolo, “Turbulence & The Night Rays”. Next up was Peter’s “The Whales” followed by the gorgeous love song “It Burns Within”. The werewolf tale, “Silver Rising”, was followed by the Orebolo oirignal, “Dim Lights”, and then a particularly swinging, jammed-out version of “Rockdale”. It felt as if “Rockdale would close the set but the band stayed on to close with the first cover of the night, John Prine’s “Bruised Orange (Chain Of Sorrow)”.
Orebolo – “Turbulence & The Night Rays” [Pro-Shot] – 6/11/23
The last set of the last night in Colorado was absolutely jammed packed with crowd favorites and songs that had a seemingly spiritual bent to them. “The Empress Of Organos” saw a jam that had Rick and Peter trading leads even as the audience clapped along and joyfully sang on the chorus. “A Western Sun” exhorted the crowd to “go everywhere” and “feel everything” before the spiritual “Madhuvan” took the audience on a long ride filled with jams that alternated between slow and spacey exploration alongside dissonant and danceable funk.
Another slow, beautiful song “Arise” came next followed by “Dripfield”, another telling that featured an extended exploratory jam. “Elmeg The Wise”, a rarer Goose song, emerged next, reimagined as a slower folk tune rather than the rager that it often is with its originator. Noting that it was Sunday and there were only a few minutes left until curfew, Orebolo closed out its spiritual Sunday show with the traditional gospel song, “Angel Band”.
Orebolo closes out its tour with its last show of the season at the Northlands Music & Arts Festival in Swanzey NH on June 17th.
Setlist: Orebolo | Chautauqua Auditorium | Boulder, CO | 6/11/23
Set One: Turbulence & The Night Rays [1], The Whales, It Burns Within, Silver Rising, Dim Lights, Rockdale, Bruised Orange (Chain Of Sorrow) (John Prine)
Set Two: The Empress Of Organos, A Western Sun, Madhuvan [2], Arise, Dripfield, Elmeg The Wise, Angel Band (Traditional)
[1] FTP as Orebolo
[2] w/ “Thatch” tease from Peter
The post Orebolo Treats Colorado To 3-Show Run Of Acoustic Goose Songs, Debuts, & Inspired Covers [Photos/Videos] appeared first on L4LM.
