Post by DeEtte on Jul 7, 2008 7:56:00 GMT -5
Goo Goo Dolls
The Ambassador, Dublin
Monday July 07 2008
Somewhere between Springsteen's pool-hall poetry and REM's gently arty college rock, you will find the Goo Goo Dolls. Starting out, the upstate New York duo of John Rzeznik and Robby Takac plied awkward post-punk as The Sex Maggots.
But realising they were better at channelling sweet romanticism than wriggly angst, they re-named themselves the Goo Goo Dolls and set off to conquer the mainstream.
They've surely succeeded beyond their most overwrought dreams. On the first of two sold-out dates in Dublin, the Goo Goo Dolls are cheered on by an ebullient crowd that seems to encompass every imaginable demographic of music fan.
Naturally, the loudest roar is for 'Iris', the 1999 hit which, with its unabashedly uplifting melody and self-empowering chorus, comes on like an edgier version of the theme from the sit-com 'Friends' (to the Goo Goos' apparent horror it was later covered by Ronan Keating).
Slouched low over an acoustic guitar, the tatoo-wreathed Rzeznik is an efficient, if frills-free, frontman (most of the heavy lifting is carried out by backing players).
But his sandpaper rasp is unmistakable. Soaring through emotion-brimming anthems such as 'Stay With You' and 'Let Love In', he resembles a non-cheesy Jon Bon Jovi, a chronicler of the American heartland who isn't afraid to look a little silly and over-earnest if it means connecting with his audience.
He's certainly willing to go that extra yard for fans. When someone in the front row calls for an obscure early track, Rzeznik works out the chords, nods towards the rest of the band, and knocks out a pitch-perfect rendering.
It's the sort of gesture that has helped the Goo Goos weather critical derision and hipster sneers: the tastemakers may regard them as fatally corny but their public remains unstinting in its devotion.
You can bet they'll still be standing tall when more fashionable acts have burned out and faded away.
www.independent.ie/entertainment/music/frillsfree-rockers-go-extra-yard-for-the-fans-1428774.html
The Ambassador, Dublin
Monday July 07 2008
Somewhere between Springsteen's pool-hall poetry and REM's gently arty college rock, you will find the Goo Goo Dolls. Starting out, the upstate New York duo of John Rzeznik and Robby Takac plied awkward post-punk as The Sex Maggots.
But realising they were better at channelling sweet romanticism than wriggly angst, they re-named themselves the Goo Goo Dolls and set off to conquer the mainstream.
They've surely succeeded beyond their most overwrought dreams. On the first of two sold-out dates in Dublin, the Goo Goo Dolls are cheered on by an ebullient crowd that seems to encompass every imaginable demographic of music fan.
Naturally, the loudest roar is for 'Iris', the 1999 hit which, with its unabashedly uplifting melody and self-empowering chorus, comes on like an edgier version of the theme from the sit-com 'Friends' (to the Goo Goos' apparent horror it was later covered by Ronan Keating).
Slouched low over an acoustic guitar, the tatoo-wreathed Rzeznik is an efficient, if frills-free, frontman (most of the heavy lifting is carried out by backing players).
But his sandpaper rasp is unmistakable. Soaring through emotion-brimming anthems such as 'Stay With You' and 'Let Love In', he resembles a non-cheesy Jon Bon Jovi, a chronicler of the American heartland who isn't afraid to look a little silly and over-earnest if it means connecting with his audience.
He's certainly willing to go that extra yard for fans. When someone in the front row calls for an obscure early track, Rzeznik works out the chords, nods towards the rest of the band, and knocks out a pitch-perfect rendering.
It's the sort of gesture that has helped the Goo Goos weather critical derision and hipster sneers: the tastemakers may regard them as fatally corny but their public remains unstinting in its devotion.
You can bet they'll still be standing tall when more fashionable acts have burned out and faded away.
www.independent.ie/entertainment/music/frillsfree-rockers-go-extra-yard-for-the-fans-1428774.html