I'm a student in St. Louis, so it's about a two hour drive to get there, but hey, it was worth it. We actually drove to a restaurant called Lambert's, about a half hour south of Cape Girardeau, before the show. Lambert's is the "home of Throwed Rolls." Yup, this guy comes out and tosses rolls at you, and they're pretty hot. And quite good. Lots of students from St. Louis make regular pilgrimages down there. But I digress.
Upon arriving at the "Show Me Center," where SE MO state plays it basketball games (I guess), we were pleased to discover that the New Radicals were opening. I suppose I could have learned that in advance if I wanted to, but we were going anyway, so a surprise was good. The New Radicals, as it seems they have before, feigned that they would start with "You Get What You Give" The lead singer (Gregg Alexander) is really a nutcase; don't ever let him near a keyboard. However, the rest of the band rocked. They played a couple of songs of "Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too," then Alexander did an Acoustic version of "You Get..." Then they played "Someday We'll Know," which is my favorite track on the album, and wrapped up the set with... you guessed it, "You Get What You Give." A good opening act overall.
The Goo Goo Dolls were merciful in not making us wait too long. (It can be pretty annoying waiting for the main act, with nothing interesting to do.) They played an incredible set, pulled mainly from "A Boy Named Goo" and "Dizzy Up The Girl." A good choice, considering that most fans would know those songs best. I can't recall the entire set, but they opened with "Long Way Down," and also played (in no particular order) "Naked," "Name," "Flat Top", "Dizzy," "Black Balloon," "Slide," "Iris," "Broadway," "Lazy Eye," "Just The Way You Are," and "All Eyes On Me." A very well executed set, of (of course) excellent songs.
I don't know what Rzeznik was wearing, except he started the show with a ski hat on and didn't end it with it... I think he threw it out to the crowd. I was off to the left of the stage though, so I didn't get anything he threw out (I think he chucked some pics out too.)
At the end of the show, Johnny had to smash his poor guitar. The crowd loved it, but me, I's much rather he'd given the guitar to me!!! It was a nice black electric guitar, I couldn't tell what kind from a distance. I only have an acoustic/electric, so a pure electric would have been nice...
Great show overall!!! More than worth the drive.
So, that's a wrap on the Goo's trip to the epicenter of the most powerful earthquake recorded in the U.S. (I'm serious... it rang church bells in Boston.) If you haven't seen Goo in concert, I definitely recommend you check 'em out.