The World of Goo Boards


    
      
        The World of Goo Boards 
        (http://www.musicfanclubs.org/cgi-bin/ggd/YaBB.cgi)
      

        Goo Goo Dolls >> Goo Goo Dolls >> Summerfest review
        
(Message started by: Shannon on Jul 10^th, 2006, 9:44am)

Title: Summerfest review
Post by Shannon on Jul 10^th, 2006, 9:44am

Crows command attention
Goo Goo Dolls show little of their bar band roots
By DAVE TIANEN
[email protected]
Posted: July 10, 2006
A funny thing happened on the way to the Goo Goo Dolls' headlining show Sunday, which wrapped up the Marcus Amphitheater slate for Summerfest 2006.

Summerfest
Review

http://graphics.jsonline.com/graphics/owlive/img/jul06/googoo_070706_big.jpg

The show originally was billed as a co-headlining show with the Goo Goo Dolls playing after Counting Crows. But when the tour actually got to town, it turned out that the boys from Buffalo, N.Y., opened for the Crows.

Musically none of that particularly mattered, except that the Crows ended up with a somewhat different crowd than a headliner might normally expect. When Adam Duritz tried to inspire a crowd singalong on "Omaha," one of the better-known songs from the band's first album, he was greeted with mostly a wall of silence.

If he was significantly daunted, Duritz didn't show it. As always, he seems like the most unlikely of rock-and-roll front men. Pale, pudgy, with a great tangle of dreadlocks, he isn't even particularly graceful on stage. He sort of lurches about and will often sit down in the middle of a song.

But there is something strangely intense about him that commands your attention. The most frequent comparisons are to Van Morrison, and there certainly is similarity there, although he seems to have absorbed relatively little of Van the Man's blues and R&B influences.

Folk rock seems to be the core reference for Counting Crows. The first cover to show up in Sunday's set was Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi." The highlight of the early part of the set was probably "Mrs. Potter's Lullaby," a surreal vision with hints of "Eleanor Rigby."

Deadlines prevented a review of the Counting Crows' full set.

As mentioned, the Goos performed first. Something amusing happened two songs into their set. I glanced at the row in front of me, and a 40ish couple was smooching to the Goo Goo Dolls. Yesterday's punks have become today's romance soundtrack.

That's probably less surprising if you've heard the band's new album, "Let Love In." It's dominated by mid-tempo ballads and statements of devotion. The group opened with "Stay With You" and got to the title track at the end of its set. As a piece of adult pop-rock, it's a more than respectable addition to their r�sum�.

The fury of their bar band youth, however, only shows up now in flashes, and those flashes occur mostly when Robby Takac takes over the front-man duties from singer-guitarist John Rzeznik. There's an almost crazed intensity about Takac grinning beneath that wild nest of stringy hair that suggests a gargoyle with bass lessons.

Opening the evening was a new band from California called Augustana. The odd thing about having them on this tour is they sound, at least in spots, a lot like Counting Crows.

From the July 10, 2006 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=459688

Title: Re: Summerfest review
Post by YoursGOOLY on Jul 10^th, 2006, 3:48pm

I will write a review later; right now I am a zombie...LOOOOOONG drive. �:-/ Again...thank God for the meet & greet!

Title: Re: Summerfest review
Post by Shannon on Jul 10^th, 2006, 6:11pm

What a great picture. Thanx for sharing. I can't wait to hear about your night. I hope it's better than some of the IM experiences I've been reading.

Title: Re: Summerfest review
Post by carlyn on Jul 10^th, 2006, 6:20pm

I saw that article in the newspaper this morning. I was there and I might post a review if I feel like it later...