Goo Goo Dolls Tour Review
Photo by Jordan August
In my hometown of Philadelphia, the Mann Center is my favorite music venue. Specifically, the TD Pavilion is an outdoor amphitheater with plentiful seating, from the balcony to the expansive lawn. An open concourse wraps around the stage, ensuring there isn’t a bad seat in the house. The space feels far more communal than any other venue I’ve visited. That atmosphere was electric when I saw Melissa Etheridge and the Indigo Girls there last summer, and just as palpable for the Goo Goo Dolls.
The show began with an opener I wasn’t familiar with. Dashboard Confessional, aside from having one of my new favorite band names, is a genre-bending rock band that borrows elements from across the musical spectrum. A comment on Reddit put it better than I ever could: “Dashboard is pop punk’s emo-folk singer-songwriter.” That might sound like gibberish, but after hearing them perform, it immediately made sense.
Frontman Chris Carraba absolutely blew me away. He was belting out every note with such an intense energy, and the rasp in his voice gave his songs so much emotion. The moments of audience interactions were all light-hearted, and the band seemed genuinely impressed by the Philly crowd.
As someone going into their set blind, I especially enjoyed the songs they closed with, namely “Vindicated” and “Hands Down.” The crowd was at its most rowdy during these moments, which added to the sense of community. I learned after the set that this was a unique experience for Dashboard Confessional fans. Most of their studio recordings have a calmer, more acoustic sound, which was in stark contrast to what I heard at the Mann. The blazing guitars and booming drums created what I can only describe as a spectacle.
After a short wait, the Goo Goo Dolls took the stage and immediately began swinging for the fences. It is hard to say anything about them that has not already been said. They are iconic and timeless, with songs bigger than even themselves. Frontmen John Rzeznik and Robby Takac have shown remarkable growth over their nearly 40-year career, and witnessing that evolution live was an experience I will not take for granted.
They opened with “Naked” and “Slide,” two hits that immediately got the crowd on their feet. It worked perfectly. They followed with several more songs from their breakout albums A Boy Named Goo and Dizzy Up the Girl.
Those two albums contained the only songs I already knew, but I was floored by some of the ones I had not heard before. “Miracle Pill,” released in 2019 after the band decided to go sober, stood out in particular. I have always loved when a rock band uses piano as the main instrument, and it came across beautifully in a live setting. Listening to the studio version afterward, I have to admit it sounds a little too clean for my taste. It lacks the grit and genuine remorse that Rzeznik brought to the crowd in Philadelphia.
Right after “Miracle Pill,” the band left the stage, and Rzeznik stepped into the sole spotlight for a quick acoustic moment. He played more fan favorites: “Sympathy,” “Acoustic #3,” and the immortal “Name,” with the rest of the band returning midway through when the lights came back up. For a rock band, you might not expect their slower songs to carry as much weight, but I have found that to be far from the truth. Through exploring the genre more in my college years, I have learned how powerful those moments can be. “Acoustic #3” in particular became one of my favorite songs of the night, and one I will keep coming back to in the weeks ahead.
They followed with more hits alongside some newer tracks. While the newer songs were not as thrilling as hearing the ones I already knew, pieces like “Better Days” and “Big Machine” transported me back to my childhood, listening to SiriusXM Poprocks with my family. Those two are among my parents’ favorites, and hearing them was one of the main reasons I wanted to join them for this show.
The finale of the show did not disappoint. It began with my favorite song of the night, “Broadway,” which, to my surprise, did not get as much love from the crowd as I expected. It has always been my top Goo Goo Dolls song, so I sang through my section without a care in the world. Next came “Not Goodbye,” a track the band released this year. The crowd remained a bit reserved, clearly waiting for the big finish. Before we got there, they slipped in a surprise Tom Petty cover, “You Wreck Me.” It was raw and energetic, and it brought the audience into a better groove before the final number.
“Iris” is one of those generational tracks that surpasses even the band itself. As my friend put it after the show, it is the song that got them off the radio and into department stores. It catapulted the Goo Goo Dolls to a new level of fame, yet they have somehow managed to remain grounded. It is always an emotional performance, and I think even the person farthest back on the lawn could feel how much it meant to every single person in the Mann Center. It’s forever proof that music is power.
