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        Goo Goo Dolls >> Goo Goo Dolls >> Goo Goo Dolls offer tired old hits / Regina review
        
(Message started by: Shannon on Nov 11^th, 2006, 9:44am)

Title: Goo Goo Dolls offer tired old hits / Regina review
Post by Shannon on Nov 11^th, 2006, 9:44am

Goo Goo Dolls offer tired old hits

Erin Harde, Special to The Leader-Post
Published: Saturday, November 11, 2006

Conexus Arts Centre

Even with a healthy smattering of tattoos, f-bombs, and anti-Bush zingers, the Goo Goo Dolls delivered a safe and predictable show to a slightly over half-capacity crowd Thursday at the Conexus Arts Centre.

More than a decade after the band stopped challenging themselves and audiences, the music now feels canned and a little stale. Despite attempts to infuse some punk and classic rock into the show, the Goos delivered a hit parade that plucked every popular song from their catalogue and offered it up live without so much as a chord change, except for the tuning malfunction on "Name," which was interrupted so frontman John Rzeznik could adjust his guitar.

Yet, the crowd was thoroughly entertained and loyal to the end, exploding after the singles, clamouring to reach past other fans to shake Rzeznik's hand, and singing their hearts out, especially when Rzeznik extended the mic their way. From the moment Rzeznik took the stage in a sleeveless shirt, cargo pants and tuque, the female contingent showed their appreciation. It mattered not that he was more than twice their age.

"I think the last time we were in Regina was in '88," he said. "I've got T-shirts older than you."

Fans were particularly pleased when Rzeznik teased that he just wanted to settle down and marry a nice Canadian girl, which he followed with a rant about American politics.

"Now that the Democrats have taken over, I have no material left," Rzeznik joked.

The Goos promoted their new album Let Love In, playing half a dozen songs from the record and displaying a large backdrop on the stage of the album cover. "Stay With You," "Feel the Silence" and "Better Days" found a strong reaction, but nowhere near the response to old favourites "Slide," "Black Balloon," "Broadway," "Naked" and "Name," the latter of which Rzeznkik called a mixed blessing because of how popular the song became.

After a few anecdotes about hearing it at the grocery store and in Japan, the irony was thick as he sang "a tired song keeps playing on a tired radio," one of the song's principal lyrics.

Perhaps the biggest crowd eruption surfaced during "Iris," which sounded fantastic, but not for Rzeznik's voice. Even though the song has one of the most recognizable choruses of the '90s, Rzeznik didn't actually deliver it once that night. He left it for the crowd every time through.

The microphone really should have been turned toward the audience when bassist Robbie Takac stepped forward to sing. With a tiny, unpleasant little voice, Takac should stay put behind his bass.

After finishing a 15-song first set with "Let Love In," the Goos returned with two more songs from the new album. "Become" re-ignited the crowd while their popular cover of Supertramp's "Give a Little Bit" sent the crowd home fully satisfied as they digested another band's music.

Opening act Tomi Swick, however, offered one surprise after another, at first sounding like the Verve, then Bryan Adams, and then David Gray.

And just when you thought you had his style pegged, he came out of left field with a cover of Paul Simon's "Graceland." With a strong voice and energetic performance, the Hamilton native showed his scope and talent, and proved he could hold his own as a headliner.

� The Leader-Post (Regina) 2006

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/news/arts_life/story.html?id=bbc6caf8-8030-4dd1-bd85-649677747ff0

Title: Re: Goo Goo Dolls offer tired old hits / Regina re
Post by the red o on Nov 11^th, 2006, 11:15am

The thing that makes me sad about this review is that it seems like the critic actually knows about the band. Unlike other critics who don't know the names of the songs and band members, this person knows the songs and knows what albums they come from, etc. It's easy for me to write off reviews from people who don't know what they're talking about, but I'm inclined to believe what this critic is saying (aside from Robby comments, because I find most people love or hate Robby's voice and I love it. :D ).

I agree the setlist is tired. I thought it was terrible this summer but tolerated it. It is quite shocking that they're playing the exact same setlist for this leg of the tour. It's kind of disappointing to me and I can't imagine how it wouldn't be boring for the band to play it all over again. I don't think the Goos should stop playing their hit singles, because some people only come for those. And I'll accept the fact that they want to play new songs on the tour (I accept it, I don't like it.). But their setlist is so so so so so so so short compared to past tours. If they added three older songs I think they would avoid a lot of the criticism. We know that the current band can play Burnin' Up, from their extended sets this summer. Add that, LWD, and Two Days in February or Cuz You're Gone and I think a lot more people would be extremely happy. It would extend the set list 10 minutes, which makes it closer to the previous tours. And critics wouldn't be able to rag on them for playing only the expected songs.

And I don't buy the "we want to add more songs, but the light sequencing is soooooo complicated" argument. Open with LWD and some plain lights, then start the sequencing for the rest of the show with SWY. Split the sequencing somewhere mid show, stick in two more songs with plain lights, and start the sequence again. I personally don't think anyone would complain about boring stage lights if there was a more interesting set list. I actually like the 'boring' stage lights better. When there's a great band playing an interesting set I would prefer the lights not get my attention.

Title: Re: Goo Goo Dolls offer tired old hits / Regina re
Post by Shannon on Nov 11^th, 2006, 11:45am

You know....I have to agree with you completely on this. If they only added 3 more of the oldies they'd save themselves ALOT of criticism from fans and the like.

Title: Re: Goo Goo Dolls offer tired old hits / Regina re
Post by Pondering My Fate on Nov 11^th, 2006, 5:28pm

I think it just makes me sad to hear about stuff like this because, you know... The Goo Goo Dolls have been around long enough that they KNOW how to put on a good show. And to see them repeatedly -- consciously or not -- refrain from doing that is just frustrating. How many people need to say that the setlist sucks before anything gets done about it? The vast majority of fans that I've heard from and talked to have agreed that it's been terrible lately (and I'm sure with that amount of dissatisfaction, the band has to have heard about it somewhere along the line) and yet nothing changes. But on their last tour, they'd go to the effort of switching around one or two songs that perhaps they didn't play the night before; or they'd throw in a song from SSCW just for the hell of it. What is it that makes them seem to think that they can't do any of that anymore?
And I'll agree to an extent about the setlist length rants. I think it could be acceptable for them to play that amount of songs if they were putting more energy into them. If they're going to slag their way through the show, then they should be capable of playing longer. :P

(On a sidenote, I was going to "wow" at blue o's post until I realized that I totally forgot I was even seeing them next month... goes to show how excited I am. :-/)

Title: Re: Goo Goo Dolls offer tired old hits / Regina re
Post by the green o on Nov 11^th, 2006, 5:52pm

You guys are young, yet very wise.
I agree totally.
I was going to mention the issue regarding the lights & sequencing, since I'd read the comment Robby made about that (he was quoted in someone's post) over on the IM, but Nicole's suggestion seems very feasable. Heck, I don't go to see a show for the lights anyway, I go for the music. If the music is going to bore me, flashing all the purty lights in the world isn't going to impress me.
There are bands with longer setlists, and bands with 16-song setlists, and I think as long as the set changes during the course of a tour, and there is energy and effort put into the set, the crowd will enjoy it. It's when the set is rote, and the performance complacent that people will complain.
And repeating the same jokes and anecdotes probably isn't the greatest idea either. :-/

Title: Re: Goo Goo Dolls offer tired old hits / Regina re
Post by Pondering My Fate on Nov 11^th, 2006, 7:13pm

I missed this brilliant 'lighting' excuse. Anyone care to share it for us cheapo non-IM members? Sounds like it's almost as lousy as the we're-getting-old excuse. ::) (And yes, they are *excuses*, not *reasons*. I fail to see the validity of either remark, because neither of them seemed to apply a mere two years ago.)

And yes, the repeated jokes are a lousy idea. Especially if it's somethign that could be construed as offensive by people in the audience. Not to discourage them from talking to the crowd, but I'd rather hear an extra song than a tired comment that John has been making all tour.

Title: Re: Goo Goo Dolls offer tired old hits / Regina re
Post by the red o on Nov 11^th, 2006, 9:33pm

on 11/11/06 at 19:13:42, Pondering My Fate wrote:

The lighting argument is that the band wants to play longer but they can't because of the light sequencing. As I understand it, there's some program to make the lights 'do their thing' for the setlist and rather than have an individual program for each song, it's just one big sequence for the whole 16 song set. So it makes it hard to change up the songs or length of the set without messing with the light sequencing. It would take a lot of effort to fix the lighting for different setlists.

I believe the argument and am quite surprised I didn't think about it before Robby (I think) mentioned it. However, that doesn't mean I think it's acceptable or absolutely impossible to fix. I think it was a very serious flaw for them to structure their stage design around something so permanent when they know from the past that setlsits should change. And I think it's really obnoxious because they knew their summer setlist would be shortened (even if they didn't tell us that when we were buying the tickets...) and that fans would expect (and deserve) a longer set in the fall. So I don't see why they would consent to the lighting restrictions.

I don't care about lights. As I've always understood it, the artists that use lights and smoke and people flying on wires into the audience were the people who didn't have a live act that could stand on its own. In the past the Goos have had pretty lights, but the stage design has been very simple. It intrigues me that the LLI tour is filled with distractions to the music when I feel this is the first album the Goos have made that can't stand on its own.

I don't expect a 2 hour concert because the Goos have never played 2 hours. I don't care if it's the same show every night for a leg of the tour because that's the way it was for DUTG and GF tours. I don't care if John tells the same story every night, because that's the way it's been for a long time. But I really do think it's not a lot to expect a 90 minute set with at least one or two songs that aren't singles or new. I can't fathom why, in the year the Goos are celebrating 20 years, they wouldn't want to showcase their impressive past songs that gave them these 20 years...

Title: Re: Goo Goo Dolls offer tired old hits / Regina re
Post by The Purple O on Nov 12^th, 2006, 8:15am

on 11/11/06 at 21:33:24, the red o wrote:

I don't care about lights. As I've always understood it, the artists that use lights and smoke and people flying on wires into the audience were the people who didn't have a live act that could stand on its own. In the past the Goos have had pretty lights, but the stage design has been very simple. It intrigues me that the LLI tour is filled with distractions to the music when I feel this is the first album the Goos have made that can't stand on its own.

I don't expect a 2 hour concert because the Goos have never played 2 hours. I don't care if it's the same show every night for a leg of the tour because that's the way it was for DUTG and GF tours. I don't care if John tells the same story every night, because that's the way it's been for a long time. But I really do think it's not a lot to expect a 90 minute set with at least one or two songs that aren't singles or new. I can't fathom why, in the year the Goos are celebrating 20 years, they wouldn't want to showcase their impressive past songs that gave them these 20 years...

I agree!!

Title: Re: Goo Goo Dolls offer tired old hits / Regina re
Post by Shannon on Nov 12^th, 2006, 11:12am

Me too .... completely! Very well said Nicole.