Review Summary: Nobody's making up my mind
Anyone familiar with the Goo Goo Dolls knows the story by now. The Buffalo band goes from a loud, often obnoxious punk/hair metal outfit in the late 80s into the next coming of the Replacements through the early 90s, before hitting it really,
really big in the late 90s with songs like “Iris” and “Slide.” The fulcrum of their story is undoubtedly “Name,” an acoustic, oddly-tuned ballad on 1995’s
A Boy Named Goo that more resembles something like “Losing My Religion” as opposed to the driving alt-rock sound that the band were known for to that point. “Name” opened doors for the band that had previously been mostly sealed off - namely, mainstream radio and chart success. Recorded as the breakthrough ballad was still climbing the charts, the Goo Goo Dolls performance at the Academy on Broadway in New York City was fully recorded via mobile recording truck - 32 tracks, including an acoustic soundcheck, main set, and electric and acoustic encores for the College Music Journal Music Conference.
Thoroughly capturing the band at a major turning point in their career, the raucous collection runs through a bevy of tracks primarily from their three previous albums,
Hold Me Up,
Superstar Car Wash and
A Boy Named Goo. The acoustic set - the first full one recorded in the band’s career - is especially enlightening, highlighting both John Rzeznik and Robby Takac’s knack for melodic guitar rock. Especially interesting is the band’s conflicted feelings on the set, Rzeznik even states that he’s embarrassed and uncomfortable to perform these songs stripped down before launching into the band’s first great ballad, “Two Days in February.”
The band lets loose and plays fast and loud on the electric main set which comprises most of the collection here. There are great moments for longtime fans where the band is caught laughing at themselves and their mistakes (Rzeznik’s comment that “you know it’s not how many right notes you play, it’s how loud you play them” probably echoes the band’s mantra up to this point in time).They name-check Cheap Trick’s
At Budokan while playing to the crowd, saying that they “fell off the turnip truck from Buffalo,” seemingly trying to come to terms with this new echelon of success. Even though the band sounds great and the performance is rollicking, it is these sorts of moments which are most enlightening for long time fans, and unfortunately, whether it’s the result of the set’s frantic pace, or tight editing for this release, those kinds of remarks are few and far between, especially in the electric set’s first half.
What’s most revealing and rewarding about this collection is that it highlights the ever-present, almost nagging battle between where the Goo Goo Dolls had been pre-1995 and where their career would ultimately head. Summed up in one moment: when Takac questions the crowd after their cover of INXS’ “Don’t Change,” asking if the audience wants to hear more electric songs or acoustic guitar driven songs for a second encore. The crowd response is split down the middle, to which Takac opines that “nobody’s making up my mind.” Given the choice, and ultimately foreshadowing the future, the band decides to go acoustic.
