It was a goo-riffic night at the Morris Center for Performing Arts on Saturday as the band Goo Goo Dolls, played a sold out show at the Morris. More than 2,500 fans packed into the theater for a show that sold out literally in minutes when they went on sale in December. This tour is an intimate treat for fans since the Goo Goo Dolls last few tours have been in stadiums and arenas.

Fresh from their Friday performance on NBC's TODAY SHOW, opening act Augustana put on a 40 minute set which the crowd loved. At times I thought screams for them compared to those for the Goo Goo Dolls. Augustana joked with the crowd, threw around a ton of expletives, and made the crowd sing along…which they happily did especially during the hit, “Boston.” At one point the lead singer had problems tuning his guitar and had to restart a song. The crowd loved it and didn’t care at all.

The Grammy winning Goo Goo Dolls took the stage around 9:20pm to thunderous cheers and screams from fans, many ended up dancing in the isles to most of their songs and even decked out in full Goo Goo Dolls garb.

As I stood there watching the concert, I was shocked to realize how many of the Doll’s songs I knew. “Stay with you,” “Iris,” and “Black Balloon,” were crowd favorites and I even found myself singing to a few of their hits...Ok, I admit it. The Dolls hold a record for having 12 Top 10 hits…all of which they played on Saturday night.

Lead singer Johnny Rzeznik did a great job of joking with the audience; even taking a couple moments to tell the crowd “I got this thing today, take a listen..” as he held a tiny instrument to the microphone and it began to play the Notre Dame fight song. “I don’t know what a Polish guy from Buffalo is doing cheering for the Irish!”

The Dolls show was fairly short (just over 70 minutes) but the crowd loved every second of it. It was Americana Rock ‘n Roll at its purest form. That’s what the crowd came to hear and that’s what they got.

The Goo Goo Dolls proved that even a 75 year old theater can still rock.

JS