GOO GOO DOLLS AT PNC BANK ARTS CENTER IN HOLMDEL
It says a lot when a band is still together after more than 30 years, still performing, and still making new music. Multi-platinum selling, and three time Grammy nominated band, the Goo Goo Dolls, set out on their North American summer tour back in July and took a stop at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, NJ this past weekend with support from Blue October. Attendees have been waiting for this tour since 2020 and were finally able to enjoy the night out. In addition to the tour, the band were also celebrating the release of their newest album, Chaos in Bloom, released the day before the Holmdel show.
To start the night off, rock band, Blue October, hit the stage. Attendees who were early enough to catch their set got to enjoy hits such as “Into the Ocean”, “I Hope You’re Happy”, and “Hate Me”. Throughout the set, vocalist Justin Furstenfeld interacted with fans standing up out of their seats against the stage and in the audience. Ryan Delahoussaaye enchanted the audience with his violin. Overall, Blue October’s set was a great way to kick off the night and get the audience excited for our headlining act.
When the lights dimmed and the Goo Goo Dolls hit the stage, the roar from the crowd was mighty. They opened their set with “Yeah, I Like You” and immediately went into “Slide”, which really got the audience off their feet and singing. A man had actually turned to me prior to their set starting to exclaim how excited he was for the second song, saying, “It’s the best!!” I was mesmerized watching bassist Robby Takac zip around the stage during the set, sporting a no shoe look and only having socks on his feet. During “Black Balloon'' a ton of pink balloons were released from the top of the stage and vocalist John Rzeznik joked, “Hey they had a sale on pink, what can I say?”
Throughout the set they played a ton of fan favorites such as “Naked”, “Lucky Star”, and “So Alive”. They also included some tracks off the new album such as “War” and “Going Crazy”. Right before performing “Name”, John made a touching speech to the audience about still having been able to perform a song 25 years later and having an audience come out to hear it. It’s obvious, however, why the Goo Goo Dolls are able to do this. Their live sound blew me away. They put on a very tight performance and sounded amazing from start to finish, having a very well polished performance after so many years. When it was time for “Broadway”, a personal favorite of mine, it was honestly even better live than I ever could have imagined. When I was a kid, my dad helped me make mix CDs, and load songs onto a new mp3 player that I had. “Broadway” was a track I always had on these, so there were a lot of memories that swarmed back to me when it began. I sang along with the rest of the audience to a track that was clearly well loved among the crowd. At one point John pulled out a harmonica and ripped a solo that had the audience going wild. Of course, I can’t forget to mention the iconic “Iris”. Keyboard player Jim McGorman held up a light to signal to the audience to put theirs up as well, and the familiar guitar chords started as the venue lit up with everyone’s phone lights. It was a truly emotional moment as everyone swayed along and sang together.
The band ended their set with a Tom Petty cover of “Runnin’ Down a Dream” and had the audience cheering like crazy for them. The band is only about halfway through this tour with tons of dates left, so I’d suggest taking a look and seeing if you could make it out. Like John mentioned, “I don’t know where this thing between you and us is going to end, but it ain’t ending tonight…”, and right he was.
Nicole DiBenedetto is a photographer based out of New Jersey. She likes making new friends and meeting new people so catch her out in the pit and say hi!