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Title: Review: Goos peerless in playing to their hometown Post by Shannon on Jul 29th, 2007, 9:46am Review: Goos peerless in playing to their hometown fans By Jeff Miers - News Pop Music Critic Updated: 07/29/07 9:27 AM Bill Wippert/Buffalo News DARIEN CENTER � It�s always an enthused, raucous affair when the Goo Goo Dolls come back for a hometown show.Saturday evening was particularly so. A full house treated this show as the pinnacle of the summer concert season, and they were rewarded with the most visceral, animated and raucous gig the band has played in its hometown in several years. The entire music community of our city and surrounding environs shows up to celebrate Buffalo�s modern rock ambassadors, most of them looking for a bit of the time that Robby Takac and Johnny Rzeznik really don�t have. The Goos, however, have made a long-term habit of making time for their people. More importantly, on Saturday, the boys came out of the stalls kicking, offering a thundering slab of power-pop in �Long Way Down,� which benefited from the seriously caffeinated rhythm section of bassist Takac and drummer Mike Malinin. As often as the band has played this song � and these guys have been touring behind latest album, �Let Love In,� for quite a while, folks � the elements conspired to make this show-opening version particularly slamming. This show, happily, didn�t feel like just another stop on the tour for the Goos. Feelings were running high throughout, both on the stage and out in front of it, as evidenced by Rzeznik�s early frustration with a faulty wireless transmitter on his acoustic guitar. The singer threw the offending ax across the stage, doubtless wrecking it, before grabbing another and launching into a fevered take on �Slide.� The crowd took all of this as a cue to go even more nuts, surely interpreting Rzeznik�s emotional demeanor as a promise of an unscripted evening. That�s exactly what they got. Rather than merely flogging the strong, grandiloquent �Let Love In� material � which certainly got its fair showing on Saturday � the band dug deeper for older material and rarely played gems from throughout its career � doubtless acknowledging the sizable contingent among its audience still reeling from long-ago nights at the Continental. These folks were Goo Goo Dolls fans long before �Iris� changed everything for the band, and Rzeznik & Takac gave them beaucoup props on Saturday. It would be foolish to deny that a healthy portion of the Goos crowd � read this as �most of it� � fell in love with the band based on its ability to blend a scruffy, ragamuffin�s take on pop-punk with the eloquent ballads Rzeznik has become pretty much peerless at penning. What makes the Goos still worth loving � and clearly, a new generation of fans has fallen for the band, based on the 18 to 50 age group represented at Darien Lake � is their passion for remaining at once true to their own ethic and maintaining a high commercial profile. �Name,� always a significant moment in a Goos show, was particularly poignant, as Rzeznik prefaced it with a rap recalling a time �when I felt like I was wasting my life,� and then launching into the most intimate and emotional version of the tune I�ve ever heard. All of this felt personal, somehow. And that�s what we want from the Goos. Lifehouse opened the show with a sturdy set of melodic modern rock, including several tunes from the new �Who We Are� album. The band�s set was tight and rapidly sequenced. Opening with �Spin,� and wasting no time breaking into the hit �Hanging By a Moment,� the tune that brought the biggest response from a crowd that, considering the barely concealed enthusiasm for the �hometown team,� stayed with the band throughout its strong set. Concert Review http://www.buffalonews.com/entertainment/story/129422.html |
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Title: Re: Review: Goos peerless in playing to their home Post by the red o on Jul 29th, 2007, 12:47pm The Goos have to have some sort of blackmail on Jeff Miers. He's usually brutal with his reviews, but sickeningly wonderful to the Goos. Don't get me wrong, it was a really good show, but the Goos must own his soul or something. |
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Title: Re: Review: Goos peerless in playing to their home Post by ChickenCookie on Jul 29th, 2007, 5:46pm LOL, I've wondered that myself, Nicole. �Meiers can be a real bastard in reviews of other bands, but he's always been nothing short of glowing when it comes to the Goos, both their albums and their shows. �<shrugs> |
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Title: Re: Review: Goos peerless in playing to their home Post by sweetcharadex on Jul 30th, 2007, 10:38pm I noticed that about him too!! Every article about the guys I've read is awesome. My favorite was the write- up/interview in the gusto with the guys on the cover pre-LIB. |
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Title: Re: Review: Goos peerless in playing to their home Post by the red o on Jul 31st, 2007, 11:00am Well, LIB deserved all the praise it got. The week before and after that show I think there were about 18 articles in the Buffalo News, with absolutely no negative remarks. I love the Gusto cover as well. I think the worst Jeff Miers ever said was that he felt the Goos could do better in the Gutterflower review, but it was something like "It's a great effort, but we're still waiting for that one really great album you have left in you". |
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Title: Re: Review: Goos peerless in playing to their home Post by ChickenCookie on Jul 31st, 2007, 11:38am on 07/31/07 at 11:00:21, the red o wrote:
And after LLI, we're still waiting. :-/ |
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Title: Re: Review: Goos peerless in playing to their home Post by the red o on Jul 31st, 2007, 11:47am I wasn't going to say it... |
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Title: Re: Review: Goos peerless in playing to their home Post by ChickenCookie on Jul 31st, 2007, 11:51am on 07/31/07 at 11:47:09, the red o wrote:
... but you were thinkin' it! |
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Title: Re: Review: Goos peerless in playing to their home Post by DWG on Jul 31st, 2007, 12:54pm on 07/31/07 at 11:38:22, ChickenCookie wrote:
Burnnnn... |
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