They may be celebrating the 30th anniversary of their breakout album, but alt-rockers the Goo Goo Dolls have still got that IT factor that made them stars so many years ago. Their high energy show at the Santa Barbara Bowl on Saturday wasn’t filled with many surprises, but it was a totally solid evening of entertainment in the best possible way.
Lead singer John Rzeznik — looking even more like Bon Jovi than he did a few years ago, despite his summer styling black tank top, capri pants, and bright red bowling/clown-ish shoes — opened with the familiar lyrics to “Naked” from their 1995 album A Boy Named Goo (“And I call out / No one hears me / Never been, never felt, never thought I’d say a word”) and the nostalgia just kept coming all night long.
The 1998 tune “Slide,” another one with a memorable, radio-friendly hook — ”Could you whisper in my ear / The things you wanna feel?” — was up next, and the crowd sang along once again. “Are you all happy?” asked Rzeznik, who was answered by cheers from a surprisingly all-ages crowd. “Good — fucking stay that way.”
His wish was pretty much our command throughout the night, with a set that included “Think About Me,” with some particularly nice bass guitar by Robby Takac, the band’s other founding member. The lineup also includes guitarist Brad Fernquist, drummer Craig Macintyre, and multi-instrumentalist Jim McGorman, making for a much bigger sound than you would expect from just five musicians…