Artists: The Goo Goo Dolls

Venue: Leeds Academy

Review by: Mikey Baird

Something feels different tonight.

I have been to thousands of gigs but tonight something feels different. I look around and the first thing I notice is the people in attendance are rather smartly dressed. They are also mostly couples and, strangest of all, everyone seems sober.

This, you see, is not like most gigs I go to. Tonight I’m out of my comfort zone. Tonight I’m watching the Goo Goo Dolls.

For those of you who don’t know, the Goo Goo Dolls first appeared in the mid-80s as a somewhat punk rock band but that all changed in the 90s.

Goo Goo Dolls moved into AOR (adult orientated rock) territory with their feet firmly planted in the middle-of-the-road and became gazillion selling household names, making platinum-selling albums off the back of romantic rock ballads.

The Leeds Academy is absolutely packed – not just for a Sunday – I mean it is packed solid and from the second the band hit the stage they have the crowd eating out of their hands.

You can tell three songs in when main man John Rzeznik pulls on his acoustic guitar that they won’t be hitting the old punk rock songs tonight.

Not that the crowd cares in the slightest. They sing back every word of every song the band sing and when treated to songs off their upcoming album Magnetic they listen intently and cheer with as much force as they did for the classics.

Rzeznik has a welcoming charm. After all these years he knows how to smooth talk the crowd, throwing them compliments, urging them to get involved and singalong, making the people feel part of the show.

It’s no surprise that platinum selling mega-hit Iris gets the cheer of the night. I wouldn’t be surprised if a good percentage of the people in the crowd had it as their first dance at their weddings.

The band could have very easily got away without singing it given the passion the crowd pour into every word they sing.

The people spill out onto the rainy streets of Leeds content and smiling. Surely one the most polite gigs I’ve ever been to.