Back around 8th grade, my friend Jen decided to give me a "music education." I was, at the time, listening to mainly whatever my parents listened to in the car and hadn't really branched out beyond oldies and country of the mid-to-late 90's. We spent several weekends together and she had me listen to groups like Matchbox Twenty, Live, Gin Blossoms, and, of course, the Goo Goo Dolls. From then on, I was hooked...forever. To this day, Dizzy Up The Girl is still one of my favorite albums of all time.
When the Goo Goo Dolls were returning to our area (right here in Syracuse...we didn't even have to drive anywhere!) and it was 5 days before my birthday, I knew how I wanted to celebrate turning 29...with my girlfriends and our boys and the Goo Goo Dolls.
After a fiasco of getting tickets which involved actually GOING to the box office after a freaking blizzard the night before (instead of screwing with Ticketmaster online...), almost not getting tickets at all, and ending up with 6 seats in different rows...2 of which were on the opposite side of the theater...we were set to go.
I'd never heard of Run River North until we arrived at the show - in fact, I don't think I even knew who was opening for GGD until we showed up and Run River North had a merch table set up. They play a kind of chill folksy music on a variety of instruments. The lead singer doesn't wear shoes. They were...to say the least...interesting. I didn't dislike them, but I wasn't totally inspired to run out and buy their album, either.
Run River North
RRN finished up and then it was time for Goo! Going in we knew that this was the Otis Midnight Sessions, Acoustic tour...so it was going to be different than what we'd been used to at the previous 9 shows. In the past, the Goo Goo Dolls put on a high energy rock show, usually with lots of staging and with Johnny Rzeznik running around the stage. Previous to this tour, Mike Malinin, drummer for the Goo Goo Dolls had parted ways with the band, citing personal and family needs. So this tour was just Johnny and Robbie Takac, a stage, their instruments, and some low key backup. Really, the setup was beautiful:
Johnny and Robbie remained seated through the whole show, playing hit after hit as well as some newer stuff. I could not have asked for anything else in the setlist and I, as usual, enjoyed every single note. Johnny and Robbie told stories of the songs, including much of their debauchery in Buffalo, NY, just down the Thruway from where we were that evening. The show was at the Civic Center here in Syracuse, in the smaller of 2 theaters at that venue, creating an intimate, no-one-has-a-bad-seat kind of experience. I've pulled a few of my favorite shots from the show to share with you:
All in all, the acoustic show was an amazing experience. It was great to hear a kind of boiled down, back to the dorm rooms at Buff State type of jam session that has led to so much of the success of the GGD over the years. You could see the comfort between Johnny and Robbie and they really seemed to enjoy playing their hits for some truly invested fans...including the guy who kept yelling things out about Buffalo during any of Johnny's stories...yeah, even including that guy. It was a perfect way to spend my "birthday" and I couldn't have asked for a better show.
(Me - the short one in the middle - and the gang after the show!)
You can experience a bit of the show with the YouTube playlist linked below...all my videos from that night's show :)
Up next: Blues Traveler (Sorta...)
