Who: Goo Goo Dolls
When: July 4, 2004
Where: Niagara Square, in front of City Hall/ Buffalo, NY
With: Jenn, Melissa, Amanda
Of Note: Buffalove, Buffalonian Pride, SO MUCH RAIN
So, the 90s are back in full force this summer, huh? I mean there's The Package Tour with 98 Degrees, New Kids on the Block, and Boyz II Men (I wonder if Nick Lachey and Shawn Stockman are excited to hang out together?), the Last Summer on Earth tour with Barenaked Ladies, Ben Folds Five, and Guster and then the co-headlining Goo Goo Dolls/ Matchbox 20 tour. That's a lot of musical nostalgia for one summer.
Anyway, as a result, I've been thinking a lot about the 90s/early 00s lately. And, as a by-product of my recent relocation, thinking a lot about Buffalo. So, this seems to be a good time to tell the story of a concert that is so uniquely Buffalo.
2004 was a bit of a tumultuous year. I graduated from undergrad, convinced that my two degrees with honors and three years of retail management would be enough to land me an entry level marketing job. I was wrong. It was terrible. There are few things as soul-crushingly awful as applying for jobs (hundreds and hundreds of jobs!) and being told that you weren't good enough to sell insurance or rental cars. One pretty epic meltdown, a graduation party where I was sick of not having a good answer to the question, "What are you doing now?", and a last minute application to MBA school made for a rough start to the summer. As it turns out, MBA school was the very best decision I've ever made. So, all's well that ends well, even if my sanity took a hit at the front-end.
At any rate, in addition to my clarity around postponing being a grown-up, the summer of 2004 brought an extra free outdoor concert to Buffalo. Not content with just Thursday at the Square, the city collaborated with hometown heroes Ani DiFranco and the Goo Goo Dolls to schedule a bunch of free shows on a stage erected in front of City Hall on Independence Day. We all know the Goo Goo Dolls have a special place in my heart so I was all about it.
Jenn, Jenn's sister Amanda, Melissa, and I headed downtown a bit later in the day, found a spot on the square, and waited for the show to start. The thing that you have to understand about Buffalo is that Buffalo is crazy - like legitimately crazy when it comes to matters of pride. If you're from Buffalo and you do anything even remotely cool, the entire city will unfailingly support you until the end of time. We protect our own. So, it makes sense that the Goo Goo Dolls are a BIG DEAL. So, essentially, it was an entire crowd of people who were there to see their very favorite band in the whole world. And the band loves playing Buffalo for that reason. It's also worth noting that they were taping this show for a DVD release.
Okay, so things that I remember: They had a really cool light projection of the Goo Goo Dolls logo that bounced around on the side of the surrounding buildings which I thought was amazing. Someone in the front had a sign that said "Polish Guys Rock" which Mr. Rzeznik, being a good Polish guy commented on. They played every fan favorite plus lots of songs from the album 'Gutterflower'. Sophomore year of College, 'Gutterflower' was my jam.
But, everyone who was there or has seen the DVD knows that the most interesting part of this show, was about halfway through when the sky opened up and it poured. This wasn't a drizzle or a sprinkle. It wasn't even really rain. It was a torrential downpour and it was amazing. Melissa and Amanda took off for the nearby parking garage. Jenn and I made our way closer to the stage. Earlier in the night Johnny had remarked that Buffalo was the "toughest city in the world". What happened next was pretty good validation of that point. As it poured, the band continued to play and sound awesome. Like, wouldn't it be hard to play an acoustic guitar that's soaking wet? Not for Johnny Rzeznik, apparently.
(Which, if I can, a brief aside? Johnny Rzeznik is obviously an attractive man and a man who has found the fountain of youth, given that I'm pretty sure he has not aged...well, ever. I mean, he's as hot now as he was in 2004 and he was as hot in 2004 as he was when I saw him in 1998. But, the hottest I've ever seen Johnny Rzeznik? It was when he was soaking wet, soaking up the adoration of tens of thousands soaking wet Buffalonians, being a badass rock star playing in the pouring rain.)
Anyway, at some point, the crew forced the band to leave the stage, for fear of being electrocuted, I'm assuming. The guys in the band (again, assuming) pretty much said, "Fuck that noise; we're going to finish the show," and came back out. Hearing that crowd belt out the penultimate 'Broadway' while five blocks from the street the song was written about while confetti cannons went off and it still poured? That was an amazing experience and once I'm pretty sure could only happen in Buffalo. They closed with 'Iris' and played their cover of 'Give a Little Bit' as the encore, a cover that would go on to be everywhere as a single off their next album.
I've always said that one of the reasons I love Buffalo so much is that you get 75-80% of the perks of living in a "big" city with only 10-15% of the hassle. (Great music, culture, theater & food, two major market sports teams/ no traffic or parking issues, super cheap to live!) And it's not that I don't cognitively understand that there are other cities that are great (I mean, so far, San Francisco certainly doesn't suck.). But there's something about a city that has something to prove, a city that so whole-heartedly supports its own. A lot of other bands and a lot of other cities would have stopped this show - for practical or safety reasons or just because it sucks to play in those conditions. But not in Buffalo. Our hometown heroes were there for us and nothing, not even a storm of that magnitude was going to stop them.
You can watch the whole concert here. One of my favorite parts is at 1:08:20 when you can hear the faint rumblings of a "Let's Go Buff-A-Lo" chant.
When: July 4, 2004
Where: Niagara Square, in front of City Hall/ Buffalo, NY
With: Jenn, Melissa, Amanda
Of Note: Buffalove, Buffalonian Pride, SO MUCH RAIN
So, the 90s are back in full force this summer, huh? I mean there's The Package Tour with 98 Degrees, New Kids on the Block, and Boyz II Men (I wonder if Nick Lachey and Shawn Stockman are excited to hang out together?), the Last Summer on Earth tour with Barenaked Ladies, Ben Folds Five, and Guster and then the co-headlining Goo Goo Dolls/ Matchbox 20 tour. That's a lot of musical nostalgia for one summer.
Anyway, as a result, I've been thinking a lot about the 90s/early 00s lately. And, as a by-product of my recent relocation, thinking a lot about Buffalo. So, this seems to be a good time to tell the story of a concert that is so uniquely Buffalo.
2004 was a bit of a tumultuous year. I graduated from undergrad, convinced that my two degrees with honors and three years of retail management would be enough to land me an entry level marketing job. I was wrong. It was terrible. There are few things as soul-crushingly awful as applying for jobs (hundreds and hundreds of jobs!) and being told that you weren't good enough to sell insurance or rental cars. One pretty epic meltdown, a graduation party where I was sick of not having a good answer to the question, "What are you doing now?", and a last minute application to MBA school made for a rough start to the summer. As it turns out, MBA school was the very best decision I've ever made. So, all's well that ends well, even if my sanity took a hit at the front-end.
At any rate, in addition to my clarity around postponing being a grown-up, the summer of 2004 brought an extra free outdoor concert to Buffalo. Not content with just Thursday at the Square, the city collaborated with hometown heroes Ani DiFranco and the Goo Goo Dolls to schedule a bunch of free shows on a stage erected in front of City Hall on Independence Day. We all know the Goo Goo Dolls have a special place in my heart so I was all about it.
Jenn, Jenn's sister Amanda, Melissa, and I headed downtown a bit later in the day, found a spot on the square, and waited for the show to start. The thing that you have to understand about Buffalo is that Buffalo is crazy - like legitimately crazy when it comes to matters of pride. If you're from Buffalo and you do anything even remotely cool, the entire city will unfailingly support you until the end of time. We protect our own. So, it makes sense that the Goo Goo Dolls are a BIG DEAL. So, essentially, it was an entire crowd of people who were there to see their very favorite band in the whole world. And the band loves playing Buffalo for that reason. It's also worth noting that they were taping this show for a DVD release.
Okay, so things that I remember: They had a really cool light projection of the Goo Goo Dolls logo that bounced around on the side of the surrounding buildings which I thought was amazing. Someone in the front had a sign that said "Polish Guys Rock" which Mr. Rzeznik, being a good Polish guy commented on. They played every fan favorite plus lots of songs from the album 'Gutterflower'. Sophomore year of College, 'Gutterflower' was my jam.
But, everyone who was there or has seen the DVD knows that the most interesting part of this show, was about halfway through when the sky opened up and it poured. This wasn't a drizzle or a sprinkle. It wasn't even really rain. It was a torrential downpour and it was amazing. Melissa and Amanda took off for the nearby parking garage. Jenn and I made our way closer to the stage. Earlier in the night Johnny had remarked that Buffalo was the "toughest city in the world". What happened next was pretty good validation of that point. As it poured, the band continued to play and sound awesome. Like, wouldn't it be hard to play an acoustic guitar that's soaking wet? Not for Johnny Rzeznik, apparently.
(Which, if I can, a brief aside? Johnny Rzeznik is obviously an attractive man and a man who has found the fountain of youth, given that I'm pretty sure he has not aged...well, ever. I mean, he's as hot now as he was in 2004 and he was as hot in 2004 as he was when I saw him in 1998. But, the hottest I've ever seen Johnny Rzeznik? It was when he was soaking wet, soaking up the adoration of tens of thousands soaking wet Buffalonians, being a badass rock star playing in the pouring rain.)
Anyway, at some point, the crew forced the band to leave the stage, for fear of being electrocuted, I'm assuming. The guys in the band (again, assuming) pretty much said, "Fuck that noise; we're going to finish the show," and came back out. Hearing that crowd belt out the penultimate 'Broadway' while five blocks from the street the song was written about while confetti cannons went off and it still poured? That was an amazing experience and once I'm pretty sure could only happen in Buffalo. They closed with 'Iris' and played their cover of 'Give a Little Bit' as the encore, a cover that would go on to be everywhere as a single off their next album.
I've always said that one of the reasons I love Buffalo so much is that you get 75-80% of the perks of living in a "big" city with only 10-15% of the hassle. (Great music, culture, theater & food, two major market sports teams/ no traffic or parking issues, super cheap to live!) And it's not that I don't cognitively understand that there are other cities that are great (I mean, so far, San Francisco certainly doesn't suck.). But there's something about a city that has something to prove, a city that so whole-heartedly supports its own. A lot of other bands and a lot of other cities would have stopped this show - for practical or safety reasons or just because it sucks to play in those conditions. But not in Buffalo. Our hometown heroes were there for us and nothing, not even a storm of that magnitude was going to stop them.
You can watch the whole concert here. One of my favorite parts is at 1:08:20 when you can hear the faint rumblings of a "Let's Go Buff-A-Lo" chant.
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