Goo Goo Dolls at The Majestic Theatre in San Antonio, TX

The Goo Goo Dolls rock the historic Majestic Theatre, giving their fans, young and old, just what they wanted.

Inside the beautiful theater, the nearly sold-out crowd waits patiently for the night’s opener. The Unlikely Candidates would provide it. They are a band not many have heard of around here, but by the end of their 35-minute set, they surely gained some new fans. The five-piece outfit hailing from Ft. Worth, TX has a modern rock sound – think a heavier, fresh, U2 sound. Surely good things will happen for these guys. The band provided a high-energy performance for sure, leaving the crowd pumped for the main event.

As people make their way to the bar and other facilities in anticipation of New York’s Goo Goo Dolls to take the stage, you can’t help but notice the vast assortment of fans. Young, older, old, men, woman, children, seems like music can break down boundaries. At 8:40 the house lights and sound goes down briefly, just to thunderously erupt with the subtle sound of Rick James’s “Super Freak.” The crowd knew exactly what was about to happen.

The band starts the evening with “Indestructible” from their new album Miracle Pill, bringing the previously seated crowd to their feet. And that’s how they would remain for the majority of the performance. Three songs into the set, the Dolls pull out “Slide,” one of their biggest hits of the 90s. Suddenly 40-somethings turned into 20-somethings by the charisma of John Rzeznik. These guys truly seemed grateful to still be playing music after all these years. John Rzeznik really made this evening feel special. 

As a shoe-less Robby Takac streaked back and forth, kicking and jumping across the stage, you could see they were having a blast. Slowing things down for “Black Balloon” a wall of, well, black balloons cascaded down from the balcony creating a really cool vibe. The 90-minute 20-song set contained songs from ten different albums.  During the song “So Alive,” the crowd was treated to a huge cannon blast of confetti, and once again during “Let Love In.” Robbie took over lead vocal duties on three songs in the set –  “Life’s a Message,” “Second Time Around,” and “Bringing on the Light.” Keeping it solid all night, the backing band is made up of some outstanding musicians –  Brad Fernquist (guitar/vocals), Craig McIntyre (drums), and Jim McGorman (keyboards/vocals). As the evening comes to a close, John and company save the biggest and best for last as they closed out this epic tour of the Goo Goo Dolls catalog with “Iris.”                                                                                                

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