When the Goo Goo Dolls announced that they would be doing a UK tour, I was determined to catch them in my neck of the woods at Rock City. It was a shock when I went to purchase the tickets to discover they were charging £24 per ticket. How can a band that can only just fill a small venue like Rock City justify such an extortionate amount for tickets?
Whilst a lot of bands split up within a few years, to their credit Goo Goo Dolls have survived 28 years in the music business, and no one can deny that their song writing ability is second to none.
Goo Goo Dolls walked onto the stage to an appreciative roar from the fans. 'Last Hot Night' taken from their current album 'Magnetic' got the nights proceedings underway, and from that point on it felt as if the crowd were split into two categories, half genuinely appreciating their material and half just waiting for 'Iris' to be played.
Frontman John Rzeznik still sounds as great as he ever did over the last two and a half decades. One of their biggest hits 'Slide' was played early on in the set, which for a few fans came as a pleasant surprise.
Obviously the band was on tour to promote their new album 'Magnetic' and so a number of songs were from that album. Vocalist John Rzeznik must have been mindful that some people in the audience were just waiting for 'Iris' and so he apologised for playing back to back songs from their new album. However the new songs such as 'Rebel Beat' and 'When the World Breaks Your Heart' seemed to blend in perfectly with all of the other melodic songs from their illustrious back catalogue.
The other long time member of the band Robby Takac (Bassist) at times took to the microphone to sing three songs throughout the evening. Robby has a completely different style of singing; he has a more rock music orientated way of delivering the vocals, so they are more punchy and faster than Johns delivery. Both styles just add to the melodic anthems that Goo Goo Dolls are so clearly the masters of.
Like any good band, they saved their biggest hit for the end, 'Iris' was delivered with such passion and enthusiasm that it is hard to believe that they have been performing that song for fifteen years now.
The band politely returned for an encore and performed there version of Supertramp's 'Give A Little Bit'. The fans left more than happy with the performance they had just seen. Goo Goo Dolls are one of those bands that seem to avoid too much media attention and rely on letting their music and live performances do the talking for them.
FUTURE GIGS
sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.