Goo Goo Dolls Concert Review and CD at Hear/Say™

		Feature: Sharon Jones Circa Survive Owl City Concert Connection Peter Gabriel Campus Concerts on the Cheap Part 2 Campus Concerts on the Cheap Part 1 Goo Goo Dolls Owl City Jazz & Heritage Festival Elton John’s “Billy Elliot” Straight No Chaser Julian Casablancas Michael Buble Campus Correspondent The Rocket Summer Jonny Lang Carole King & James Taylor Liars Daniel Merriweather Keane Jet Velvet The Audition Streetlight Manifesto The Watson Twins Gorillaz The Classic Crime Broken Bells The Bird & The Bee Corinne Bailey Rae Peter Frampton Aiden Benny Andersson Band Beach House Hacienda Ok Go Peter Gabriel

		Fyfe Dangerfield Fly Yellow Moon A Neon Trees Habits B Caribou Swim B+ Big Audio Dynamite This is Big Audio Dynamite A Barenaked Ladies All in Good Time B+ Jeff's Picks Deborah's Picks

		The Men Who Stare at Goats B Sherlock Holmes C Up in the Air B

Feature Issues
Click on the cover to view the list of
reviews and features from that issue

Goo Goo Dolls
May 3, 2010
Ryman Auditorium / Nashville, TN
posted 5/11

Review by Stephen Capps, Photo by Andy Argyrakis

Record-breaking floods can’t stop the Goo Goo Dolls; they just reschedule them. The weekend prior to Goo Goo Dolls performing, Music City experienced heavy flooding, threatening to flood the Ryman Auditorium and cancel the concert. Due to a fortunate set of circumstances, the show went on, and the excited looks on people’s tired faces were clear.

The audience was filled with “Dawson’s Creek” fans in their 30’s, who seemed thrilled out of their minds to see the guys (now in their mid-40’s) who served as the soundtrack to their high school days. Front man John Rzeznik wooed more than a few ladies with his perfect teeth as they flashed their cameras incessantly. He sang out the classics that the crowd knew by heart– “Black Balloon,” “Dizzy,” “Big Machine”– as well as songs from an upcoming album, due out this summer. The singer switched between playing real chords on the electric guitar, as well as his classic open chords on the acoustic guitar, proudly proclaiming “look, no hands!”

When Rzeznik needed a break from singing, he passed the microphone to bassist Robby Takac, who both looked and sounded like Grima Wormtongue from The Lord of the Rings, thanks to large and piercing eyes, black and wiry hair, plus a rapsy and eerie voice. Maybe the band has Takac sing so that when the occasionally note-challenged Rzeznik returns, it will sound that much better. No matter what the reasons, the band sounded tight and its longtime listeners ate up every minute of it.

The final song before the encore was “Iris,” which shot the band into stardom throughout the late ‘90’. Despite Rzeznik not being able to hit the high notes in the chorus, the crowd sang along, remembering the sweet ending to City of Angels. The band eventually encored with an acoustic version of “Sympathy,” followed by a final, full-band hurrah with “Broadway.” Considering the crowd was made up almost exclusively of fervent fans, everyone appeared pleased, though for those who didn’t grow up on ‘90s chick flicks, it might difficult to classify the concert beyond average status.