Last fall, it was Ludacris. Saturday night, it was the Goo Goo Dolls.
The concert held on April 22, at Memorial Center, was sponsored by SGA and voted on by students.
Before the Goo Goo Dolls took the stage, the concert opened with special guest The Big Tease, a band based in Knoxville, Tenn.
After The Big Tease performed, an eager and receptive audience greeted the Goo Goo Dolls, a 20-year-old band hailing from Buffalo, N.Y.
The group entertained the audience with an assortment of new and old material.
Some of the more popular hits included “Name,” “Iris,” “Slide” and “Black Balloon.”
The Goo Goo Dolls also played several songs off their new album, which isn’t scheduled to be released until April 25.
Johnny Rzeznik, the band’s lead guitarist and vocalist, said that it was intimidating to play new songs live in front of a crowd for the first time.
James “JD” Emmert, a senior computer science major, said he enjoyed the Goo Goo Dolls’ choice of music for the concert.
“The music was good,” Emmert said. “They seem to be expanding their song repertoire nicely, and they played the crowd well.”
In the midst of the excitement, there were also a couple of more serious moments during the concert.
Before performing their recent hit “Better Days,” Rzeznik encouraged audience members to do whatever they could to help victims of Hurricane Katrina, even if it was something as small as donating $1 to the relief effort.
When students were asked to vote on their top pick from a list of 14 bands, the Goo Goo Dolls weren’t their first choice. In fact, the band came in at No. 12 on the list, but concert attendees didn’t seem to notice or care.
“I think the concert was a success, despite all the fuss. The SGA did a nice job,” Emmert said. “They had a very large list, and they landed a pretty big name.”
The Goo Goo Dolls are set to release their eighth album, Let Love In, this Tuesday, April 25.

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