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Every Millenial and Gen Xer was seated somewhere at SPAC Friday night for the Goo Goo Dolls 2022 Summer Tour. We were all very anxious to hear some of the songs that defined the sound of early 2000s alt-rock. In hindsight, however, I think music-goers may have been one half for the headliner, and the other half donning shirts for grunge opener Blue October. Good lord, Blue October really delivered for their audience. Many times frontman Justin Furstenfeld fell down on his knees or back onto his haunches and put himself in the face of everyone in the front row, darkly-lined green eyes burning into everyone who made eye contact with him. 

“I see you, man in the blue shirt!” he called out to a man in front of me, dancing without a care in the world. 

And oh boy, did Furstenfeld know what he was doing. I’m pretty sure the cameramen did too, or at least the people whispering in their ears did. Many times I’d look up at the screen, and I’d find the long-lashed man staring me down the lens of the camera like he was Dr. T.J. Eckleburg’s billboard…with less symbolism. He was daring me to “hate him today.”

He shed his leather jacket like a molting snake, revealing sleeves of tattoos and ones that crept up to his neck like vines. I swear I could smell the pheromones dripping off of him from nine rows back, or maybe it was just the lust of all the women around me. The slicked-back hair, facial hair, the tattoos, the cheeky grin, and self-confidence were all ingredients for this witch’s brew concoction of a man made to make women swoon. Even my seatmate, someone who only knew the same one song I did, said, “Oh God, is he single? He’s a little old for my tastes but damn.”

No, ladies, he’s not. Put your panties back on. How do I know? Because she made me take my cell phone and zoom in as far as I could see if he had a wedding ring. No ring, but a tattoo of one. 

There wasn’t much of a stage backdrop or lighting rig, but the energy of everyone up there made for a delightful show to watch. Honestly, their stage presence surpassed that of GGDs, and when multi-instrumentalist Ryan Delahoussaye pulled out an electric violin and began to shred, I fell in love with the way this classical instrument was integrated seamlessly into a genre Stradivari probably never would have—could have—envisioned. 

The Goo Goo Dolls entered dramatically to the strobing stage lights and an overall less enthralling performance than that of Blue October. They were by no means bad or even underwhelming, but you can tell they are trying very hard to hold onto their sound and youth of the 90s. I can’t really say it’s working. I’m not just speaking to the deterioration of lead vocalist John Rzenznik’s voice, which could be for any number of things—though its aging quality may have contributed. I took note of Rzeznik’s seemingly extensive plastic surgery, bassist Robby Takac’s long purple hair, and the marginally shorter (and greasier) hair of Rzeznik. I will say that there is one thing from their 90s fame I’m glad they let go of, and that was the frosted tips. 

All that said, they performed well and they performed all of the songs people wanted to hear and sing along to during a good, long set. They had a good stage presence, lots of smiles, energy, and a moderate light show that was good and not too distracting, except when there was flying text that looked like an animation straight out of my 9th-grade Spanish class PowerPoint transitions. That was tacky and I could have done without it. I loved the sticker collages on Takac’s guitars, and the way places on their guitars had been worn down to bare wood because of the years of playing with love. I loved the black balloons that bobbed and volleyed about the audience during their song of the same name (“Black Balloon”), and I loved the enthusiasm of everyone on stage and off. In particular, I found the usually-overlooked keyboardist, currently Jim McGorman—a man with a resume of big names longer than my last CVS receipt—to be having a hell of a lot of fun up there. He also looked, dare I say, the most normal and like his age. I digress. Their set was fun, in tune, and seamless…except for one of the last songs where apparently they lost their in-ears and weren’t sure if we could hear anything either.

One of my favorite moments from the show was one I’ve had a very hard time articulating to others. It was this almost surreal moment during their arguably most famous song “Iris.” I consider “Iris” to be a song, their song, that solidified their place in the 90s and early 00s music culture. It’s a song that has held up as a beautiful power ballad all these years later. During that song, I had this strange feeling of being swaddled by a smog of nostalgia. No, it wasn’t a smog of sweetly skunky weed smoke; there was surprisingly less of that at this show than there was at the Josh Groban concert. It was a snug jacket of every body seated in that amphitheater and out on the lawn knowing the song. The strange otherworldly feeling in my gut came from realizing that if I stepped out of the concert walls and into the world outside and started singing, “And I don’t want the world to see me…” I can almost guarantee another group of people would respond in turn, “…cause I don’t think that they’d understand….”

It was kind of magical. I got goosebumps. Okay everyone, all together now:

“…When everything’s made to be broken / I just want you to know who I am.”

Coal Makes Diamonds, Oh My My, Say It, Fight For Love, Hate Me, Home, This is What I Live For, Daylight, Moving On (So Long), I Hope You’re Happy

Yeah I Like You, Slide, Big Machine, Here is Gone, Black Balloon, Naked, Miracle Pill, Over and Over, Lucky Star, Free of Me, Come to Me, Sympathy, Name, So Alive, War, Going Crazy, Life’s A Message, Bringing on the Light, Broadway, Better Days, Iris Encore: Tattered Edge/You Should Be Happy, Runnin’ Down a Dream (Tom Petty cover)

Elissa is an individual who thrives in creativity, especially design, photography, and music. She particularly excels in print design, media design, packaging design, branding, advertising and identity design. Occasionally, she finds herself tasked with copywriting, content creation, and general copy editing and authoring. Born and raised in a (debateably) small town just outside of Albany, New York, a city empty of the chaos or the hustle and bustle of a big city, but rather a lackadaisical cadence, rich history, and beautiful contrast between old and new — those qualities inspire Elissa.

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LIVE: Curley Lamb Nu-Soul-Jaz Quartet @ Jazz on Jay,…

The Annual Jazz in the Valley brings world-class artists to…

LIVE: OAR / Dispatch / G Love @ SPAC, Saratoga Springs,…