Hey Hey In Rockers and Welcome to The Lobby here in the pages of the mighty In Rock, Goo Goo Dolls are about half done with a 50 city North American Summer Tour which wraps up on September 24th in our hometown of Buffalo, NY (more on that later). We’ve been preparing and dodging a covid outbreak early in the tour which made its way around the camp, and we’ve been lucky enough to have steered clear of any infections up to this point and with any luck we will remain successful in our attempts to keep the camp healthy. We’re doing this by limiting the amount of people backstage, keeping a little distance and ventilation during our meet and greets as we usually meet between 50 to 75 people every evening before the show. Basically, we are living in as much of a bubble as we can to keep things functioning as we make our way around the country.
When we were doing occasional shows as the lockdowns were eased state by state here in the US the first few shows were a little strange for us, some states were entirely shut down, some states were pretty much business as usual which was tough to get used to. The backstage areas were entirely secure, but the audiences were totally free to mingle, the inconsistencies were jarring, but as we learned to live with covid, and the severity of the illness seems to be diminishing I think it’s given us all enough confidence to go out and live life with some enthusiasm again. I see this nowhere more significantly than at our latest run of shows, people are out singing, laughing, and sharing music together and it feels so good to be back in that relationship with our friends at the shows. I’ve missed it so much!
A great band called Blue October has been opening the shows, they have a pretty rich history and make some great music, if you get a chance check them out, they’ve got a new release out now. The Goo Goo Dolls fans are embracing them fully and they’ve been warming up the crowds very well for us. But in all honesty, I think everyone is revved up and were ready for a rock show from the moment they bought those tickets, and for some people that was over 3 years ago before the 2 cancellations when the tour was first announced!
Our new album Chaos in Bloom was officially released worldwide with 10 new songs for you all to chew on! If you follow the action here in The Lobby we have been hard at work on it for the last couple of years and it’s great to see it finally out for people to enjoy. We’ve been playing 3 songs off the new record on the tour, and they’ve been going over really well at the shows. It’s always a little nerve racking playing new music, especially before the album is released, but it’s gone really well, and people seem to love the songs! We’ve been through the Pacific Northwest, Midwest, made our way through the Northeast, through the South and now we are in Florida as I sit speaking with you, waiting to do a show in Jacksonville tonight.
We’re doing 5-6 shows a week with a crazy busy travel schedule, but as I said, I am so happy to be out here right now sharing this experience with people all over the US. All of our families came out to visit for a week, Johnny’s little girl and 2 other daughters from the tour were able to have a week together in their extended goo goo dolls family. I don’t think we ever thought as we were playing punk rock at CBGBs in the 80s we would be out here with our families in tour busses as we continue the journey with this band over 35 years later. We have added some shows in the US in the Fall and are busily booking 2023 to continue supporting the Chaos in Bloom album around the world! More information on international touring coming soon!
The 20th Annual Music is Art Festival in Buffalo is on September 10th this year, I'll be back home for the event and I'll be taking you through all of the chaos and creativity that comes with the annual event with me here in the pages of the Mighty In Rock next month. Thanks so much for stopping in to check up on me, and I can’t wait to catch up next month here in The Lobby ….
Peace
Robby