Marcus Correll
Arts

Last night, the Eisenhower Auditorium was packed with screaming girls yelling all sorts of variations of “Take your shirt off.” But this time, those screams weren’t for Graham Spanier, as the auditorium hosted the Goo Goo Dolls with opening act the Spill Canvas.

The Spill Canvas, who are no strangers to playing Penn State, played a selection of songs from their newer, crappier material. Whoever told the Spill Canvas that fans like their less emotional and more generic sound needs to be fired. The performance, which was mediocre at best, missed out playing some of their best songs like “The Tide” and “All Hail the Heartbreaker.”

They played songs like “All Over You” from their newer album as well as hits like “Staplegunned” from their sophomore album. They played their tracks with decent musical ability, but it just seemed off; it was as if they were intentionally playing their newer music to sell it, instead of playing what fans would want to hear.

When The Goo Goo Dolls took the stage around 9:45, the girls were getting antsy with their bras already in hand to be thrown on stage.

Did you know that lead singer and guitarist John Rzeznik doesn’t sing all the songs on the Goo Goo Dolls albums? Yeah, neither did I.

Robby Takac, the former lead singer (and current bassist), stills belts it out on various tracks, but ironically it’s not on any of the hits. Opening with “Slide,” the Goo Goo Dolls mixed up the hits with the newer material, playing a bit of everything for the audience.

The other people on stage playing back-up guitar and keyboard both showed no energy whatsoever during the show. It was clear that they were not a part of the band, and only seemed to distract from the rest of the performance.

Fans were glad to hear songs like “Black Balloon,” “Name” and “Here is Gone,” all with precision and accuracy as if they were still playing his garage in the eighties. The nostalgia that flowed throughout the room felt right and pure as the Goo Goo Dolls closed out the show with their number one hit and Grammy-nominated song, “Iris.”

There was only one more song fans wanted to hear as the lights went dark. They all knew they’d hear it in the encore. Finishing up the night, the Goo Goo Dolls played a couple more songs, finally ending the night with a brief a Capella of “Broadway” leading into the full band’s performance. The night proved a success as the Goo Goo Dolls said goodnight to the audience, leaving everyone with that warm feeling of childhood from the nineties.