Hey Hey In Rockers and Welcome to the The Lobby, a monthly chance for us to catch up over the years in the pages of the mighty In Rock since, well, I’ve kind of lost track of how long we’ve been doing this honestly, but rest assured it’s been a super, super long time! My band Goo Goo Dolls have just finished 45 + rock shows across North America concluding in a huge hometown concert in Buffalo, NY, more on that in a bit ….

The last few months have been a jam-packed summer for us after a long break from touring over the Covid / Isolation situation! When we first began doing shows after the “re-opening” of public events there was a noticeable disconnect as the crowds still seemed a little unsure of the gatherings they had been away from for so long. But this summer felt right, after rescheduling the entire summer tour twice, I know everyone was feeling blessed to experience the power and comradery of music and were beyond appreciative to again have the ability to share that experience together.

The tour took us through legendary venues like Red Rocks in Colorado, Jones Beach outside of NYC, The Greek Theater in Los Angeles and so many more as we wound our way around the country playing 5-6 shows a week. The tour began in early July after a month and a half of rehearsals that were plagued with occasional cases of Covid and the challenges of launching a new project during these uncertain times. We were very careful about keeping the amount of potential exposure for the band and crew down during the tour and I am pleased to say we were fortunate enough to make it through the entire 3-month tour without having to isolate or replace any of the touring staff.

The final show was last Saturday night at the largest indoor venue in the city of Buffalo, Key Bank Center, where the Buffalo Sabres NHL hockey team play their home games, and I believe we were the hometown rock band that night as we returned to Buffalo to celebrate the evening with the town that had supported us since we were a scrappy young punk band trying to get anyone we could to pay attention to us. It truly was a magical night, almost 12,000 people packed into the arena, and we got to perform a show we had months to perfect for the largest crowd of the summer! As a special treat, the local County Executive proclaimed the day Goo Goo Dolls Day in Western New York before the show, all of our families and friends were able to experience the proclamation and after taking photos with about 200 people in the “meet and greet” before the show it was time to put on our show clothes and make some noise!

The show was all we had hoped it would be, a huge singalong for 100 minutes as we stormed through the set and absorbed the energy from the crowd! We performed our biggest song Iris with our new friend Ryan from Blue October (who are a Texas based band that opened the entire summer tour) on violin to make the night’s performance even more special. Our thanks to Blue October, the crews, fans, promoters, and everyone who made the summer tour such a great success. We have a couple of weeks off before returning to the road to do 4 weeks of theater shows in the US before a little break over the holidays!

OK that's it for now! Have a great Fall as the temperatures begin to cool and I hope to be back to Japan soon as traveling restrictions and the entry for foreigners to Japan is beginning to ease, I don’t think I’ve been away for this long since meeting my wife Miyoko 25 years ago, I surely believe I’m ready for some Japan time! We’ll see you next month as we take a moment to catch up here in The Lobby …. All the best!

Peace!

Robby