|
The Goo Goo Dolls are a band who went up
in my estimation considerably after I saw them earlier this year at
Glasgow Barrowlands and now Johnny Rzeznik, Robby Takac and Mike Malinin
return to the our shores once again to mesmerize us with their infectious
rock.
First for the support, this time saw
fellow Americans The Tender Box fill the slot and what a great act to
warm up any crowd.
|
Tender Box are a band who are proud
of their East LA background and are quick to dismiss anyone who claims that East LA
is all Mexican stereotypes, all taco vendors, drug addicts and
Casanovas. Guitarist Ric Moon set the record straight by once
saying ... “we’ve never sold tacos!”.
But back to
tonight's show, the boys from The Tender Box got things off to a
roaring start with ‘Media Lies’ and straight from the off these young
Americans were welcomed with open arms from the very enthusiastic sell
out crowd.
The set continued with a mix of
tracks taken from the bands album 'The Score', with the likes of the
title track ‘The Score’, ‘Commuter’ and ‘Let Go’ really standing out
as crowd favourites, although the band left the best for last with two
great songs. |
 |
Firstly ‘Reload’ and then to
top it all off the bands first single off the album ‘Mister Sister’,
(which is used on a Chevrolet add back in the States), a track which the
album version just doesn’t do justice to, because live it is just awesome
and rounded a great set from a band that I hope will be back to these
shores sooner rather than later.
Now on to the main event. As the
lights went out a huge cheer went out and as Johnny and Robby hit the
front of the stage an even bigger cheer went out. One thing for
sure, tonight's sell-out crowd were pulling out all the stops to make sure
the band knew just how much they appreciated them coming here to Newcastle
to perform tonight. Not only that but it was refreshing to see such
a wide mix of ages attending the show.
The guys got straight down to it with
‘Stay With Me’ and the impressive ‘Slide’, before Johnny welcomed everyone
to the show and told of his love for the UK and how it's not safe being an
American anymore and how he wished he could remain in the UK. This
prompted every woman in the audience to yell out as he said he was open to
all offers from the single women in the crowd if anyone was willing to
take him on, even adding he had a good job and could provide for himself.
|
|
The set continued with the excellent
‘Feel The Silence’ and ‘Black Balloon’, before it was time for Robby to
take up the frontman role as he sang the showstoppers ‘Smash’ and ‘Can't
Let It Go’.
Before continuing the set Johnny took a
camera from a member of the crowd and took a picture of the crowd much to
everyone delight, then it was back to the new album 'Let Love In' with
‘We’ll Be Here (When You’re Gone)’ before it was time to put the record
straight on the whole Ronan Keating thing. As Johnny explained he
didn’t even know who Keating was and hadn't even given permission for him
to cover the infamous classic. Much to the crowds delight he asked
if he was from a boy band and explained that The Goo Goo Dolls are a man
band and went on to show just how it should be done with an excellent and
only true version of ‘Iris’.
|
Then it was back to the crowd favourites
with ‘Broadway’ and ‘January Friend’, before returning back to the new
album for the mesmerising ‘Better Days’ and the title track ‘Let Love In’.
The band then left the stage for a short rest bite before returning for
the haunting ‘Become’ and the rather special version of the Supertramp
classic ‘Give A Little Bit’. The night was then rounded off with
‘Without You Here’ which capped another great show from a band that will
no doubt be playing arena shows next time they come to these shores.
The set may have been very similar to
that of the set performed at Barrowlands earlier this year only mixed up a
little, but this didn’t deter me one bit as I thought that this show
topped the Glasgow show and that took some beating.
|
