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Topic: Former punks, Goo Goo’s play to the middle/review (Read 979 times) |
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Shannon
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Former punks, Goo Goo’s play to the middle/review
« on: Mar 12th, 2007, 12:53pm » |
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Former punks, Goo Goo’s play to the middle
REVIEW
By TOM CONWAY
Tribune Correspondent
SOUTH BEND — The key to understanding and appreciating the music of the Goo Goo Dolls is to forget that they were ever a punk rock band. It isn’t easy to put out of your mind because with a name like Goo Goo Dolls, you expect their music to be quirky and maybe a little bit edgy, but with the sticky-sweet music the band played Saturday night to a sold out crowd at the Morris Performing Arts Center, a better name for the band might be Goo Goo Clusters.
Rather than judge the band for what they are not, it’s better to take them for what they are now, which is a pop-rock group. In this case, however, it’s rock music as defined by the likes of the producers of "American Idol." It’s rock music designed not to offend, music calculated to reach across all age groups.
That being said, the band thrilled the mostly female audience, who stayed on their feet for the entire concert. There were squeals of delight when singer/guitarist Johnny Rzeznik played the opening notes of such hits as "Slide," "Name" and "Iris" on his acoustic guitar. The audience sang along with the band, swaying with their cell phones held in the air, far outnumbering the traditional rock concert staple of yesteryear, the cigarette lighter.
Rzeznik and elfin bassist Robby Takac have an intimate rapport with their fans and are capable of bringing a roar of delight with just a wave, a hair flip or a random shout of "Hey."
Although the show sometimes seemed overly coordinated and choreographed, Rzeznik demonstrated some spontaneity a couple of times during the concert. During one song, he spotted an audience member talking on her cell phone and grabbed it from her and sang part of the song into the phone. At another point, he stopped performing the song "Name" to lift his pant leg to reveal that he was wearing knee-high socks.
Takac is the loose cannon of the band. His manic stage energy sometimes made the Dolls songs seem as if they rocked harder than they did. His cigarette-ravaged Munchkin lead vocals on "January Friend," "Tucked Away" and "Smash" work precisely because they don’t belong alongside Rzeznik’s anthems and ballads, which gave the concert a punky, spastic jolt.
It’s a testimony to the band’s staying power that it featured almost three-quarters of its latest album, "Let Love In," and maintained a steady level of excitement from the audience throughout. For most bands still playing after two decades, as the Dolls are, the music from the new album is to be tolerated between the hits, but the new songs "Stay With You," "Better Days" and the show closer, "Give A Little Bit" — how much more anti-punk can you get than doing a cover version of a Supertramp song? — received as strong of a reaction from the crowd as the group’s ’90s hits.
Credit must be given to the Goo Goo Dolls, too, because as one of the first alternative bands to hit the mainstream, they paved the way for such bands as the concert’s opening act, Augustana, to find an audience. The young five-piece group seemed to gain as many new fans during its performance as it had before it took the stage, which is significant judging by the shouts for the group’s hit single, "Boston," throughout its set.
Augustana singer Dan Layus has a tortured, world-weary voice that makes the "love-gone-wrong" songs from the band’s debut album, "All the Stars and Boulevards," seem very real and heartbreaking. The band has a sound reminiscent of Counting Crows, with a little bit of Coldplay thrown in.
Layus shushed the audience — and the girl he is singing to in the song — during "Boston," and replacing the city of the song’s title, he sang that he wants to go to "South Bend … where no one knows my name." After Augustana’s solid performance, that isn’t true anymore.
To respond to this review or to write your own, go to www.southbendtribune.com/music.
http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070312/Ent0 5/70312025
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Saz_Goo
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Re: Former punks, Goo Goo’s play to the middle/rev
« Reply #1 on: Mar 12th, 2007, 7:25pm » |
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Quote: "...but with the sticky-sweet music the band played Saturday night to a sold out crowd at the Morris Performing Arts Center, a better name for the band might be Goo Goo Clusters. "
"Rather than judge the band for what they are not, it’s better to take them for what they are now, which is a pop-rock group. In this case, however, it’s rock music as defined by the likes of the producers of "American Idol." It’s rock music designed not to offend, music calculated to reach across all age groups. "
"Although the show sometimes seemed overly coordinated and choreographed..." |
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Man. Ouch.  There's a whole ton of back-handed compliments and snide remarks in that review...
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ChickenCookie
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Re: Former punks, Goo Goo’s play to the middle/rev
« Reply #2 on: Mar 14th, 2007, 6:55am » |
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on Mar 12th, 2007, 12:53pm, Shannon wrote:| ... the band thrilled the mostly female audience, who stayed on their feet for the entire concert. There were squeals of delight when singer/guitarist Johnny Rzeznik played the opening notes of such hits as "Slide," "Name" and "Iris" on his acoustic guitar. The audience sang along with the band, swaying with their cell phones held in the air |
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You know, I've been seeing this more and more in reviews ... pointing out the fact that the crowd is mostly female. So what? It's as if somehow a crowd that is dominated by <gasp> females doesn't rock as hard and only pines for mushy love songs about rainbows and long walks on the beach. Sorry ... this female says give me *anything* off HMU or SSCW before you give me one song from the limp, squishy, lovey-dovey LLI. 
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Shannon
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Re: Former punks, Goo Goo’s play to the middle/rev
« Reply #3 on: Mar 14th, 2007, 9:36am » |
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At the shows in Detroit there were tons of guys there. I was looking around and noticing all the guys rockin' out and thinking about all these reviews. I think some of these reviews just say what they want whether it's accurate or not.
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DWG
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Re: Former punks, Goo Goo’s play to the middle/rev
« Reply #4 on: Mar 14th, 2007, 11:48am » |
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on Mar 14th, 2007, 6:55am, ChickenCookie wrote:| It's as if somehow a crowd that is dominated by <gasp> females doesn't rock as hard and only pines for mushy love songs about rainbows and long walks on the beach. |
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...and unicorns. Don't forget the unicorns.
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| « Last Edit: Mar 14th, 2007, 11:48am by Dances_with_Goo » |
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ChickenCookie
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Re: Former punks, Goo Goo’s play to the middle/rev
« Reply #5 on: Mar 15th, 2007, 8:47am » |
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on Mar 14th, 2007, 11:48am, DWG wrote:
...and unicorns. Don't forget the unicorns. |
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<forehead slap>
How could I forget the unicorns? Maybe Shiny Black with Unicorns? 
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DWG
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Re: Former punks, Goo Goo’s play to the middle/rev
« Reply #6 on: Mar 15th, 2007, 12:17pm » |
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Hey...
Don't mess with perfection.
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