Concerts Reviews
LIVE REVIEW – The Goo Goo Dolls In Abbotsford Proved Great Songs Never Age
For fans who came of age during The Goo Goo Dolls’ 90s ascent, and for a younger generation now discovering the band through TikTok trends and algorithm-fed nostalgia, their sold-out Abbotsford performance felt like the perfect collision of past and present. It was a night built on timeless songwriting, crowd connection, and the kind of emotional payoff only a band with a catalogue this beloved can deliver. From the moment fans began filing through the Rogers Forum doors, there was already a distinct buzz in the air. The crowd was packed with longtime devotees and newer listeners alike, all united by one lingering question that seemed to hover over the venue before the lights even dropped: When are they going to play “Iris”?
That mystery followed the room into the opening moments of the set, but it did not stay front of mind for long. Once Johnny Rzeznik, Robby Takac, and company tore into “Naked,” any lingering fixation on the inevitable closer quickly gave way to the immediate thrill of the present. Fans were on their feet almost instantly, and the night wasted no time settling into full celebration mode. There was no slow burn here. The Goo Goo Dolls came out with purpose, and with the kind of confidence only a veteran act can carry.
That confidence was on full display when “Slide” landed as just the second song of the night. For a band with this many staples, dropping one of their most iconic tracks that early felt like a statement. It jolted the sold-out crowd to life in a massive way. Arms flew up, voices rang out, and every lyric seemed to roll off tongues like second nature. It was one of those moments where the line between performer and audience completely disappeared. The venue was locked in, and from there, the momentum never really let go.
The set moved with an impressive sense of balance, leaning into the band’s most enduring hits without ever making the night feel like a straightforward nostalgia run. “Big Machine,” “Stay With You,” and “Black Balloon” all hit with force, each one met with the kind of reaction that reminded everyone just how deep The Goo Goo Dolls’ catalogue really is. Song after song, they delivered with the ease of a group that understands exactly how to pace a room and keep an audience emotionally invested. Midway through the set, the energy shifted into something more intimate.
Rzeznik stripped things back for an acoustic performance of “Sympathy,” offering one of the night’s most memorable in-between-song moments before a single chord was played. Sharing a story from the previous evening in Victoria, he recalled seeing a beautiful woman casually crush a beer in one go, a moment that apparently left him completely awestruck. It was funny, unexpected, and exactly the kind of loose, off-the-cuff storytelling that makes a room feel smaller in the best way possible. The crowd loved it. And of course, the second “Sympathy” came to a close, with Rzeznik still holding the acoustic guitar, the audience made its move. “Iris!” The call came fast and loud, and it was impossible not to laugh when Rzeznik fired back, “If I play it, you’re going to leave.” It was a perfect bit of playful misdirection, and it only made the anticipation around the inevitable finale grow stronger.
By the time the band entered the back half of the set, they were fully in command of the room. “Ocean,” “Better Days,” and “Broadway” kept the pace high and the emotional stakes even higher, building toward the moment everyone knew was coming. If the first portion of the night reminded the crowd just how many hits The Goo Goo Dolls have, the closing stretch reinforced why those songs continue to resonate across generations. Then came “Iris.” Even before the first verse, the reaction said everything. There are very few songs that can genuinely claim generational status, but “Iris” has long since earned that distinction. It was a defining hit in the 90s, remained a staple through the 2000s and 2010s, and has now found a fresh wave of cultural relevance through social media, where younger audiences are once again pulling it into the spotlight. It is one of those rare songs that never really leaves. It just keeps finding new people to belong to. At Rogers Forum, that legacy was impossible to ignore.
The second those opening chords rang out, the venue shifted. Phones rose into the air. Faces lit up. Some fans were smiling, others were visibly emotional, and nearly everyone seemed to be singing as if the song had lived with them for years. The performance itself was everything it needed to be, but what elevated the moment was how fully the crowd gave itself over to it. When Rzeznik turned the mic outward and let Abbotsford take over a chorus, the response was thunderous. It was loud. It was emotional. It was the kind of full-body singalong that sends a shiver through a venue and reminds you why live music still matters as much as it does.
By the end of the night, one thing was abundantly clear: this was not simply a legacy act leaning on familiar material. The Goo Goo Dolls delivered a set that felt vibrant, assured, and deeply connected to the people in the room. They bridged generations with ease, turned beloved songs into shared memories, and reminded a sold-out Abbotsford crowd that truly great music does not expire. For one night, nostalgia met the present in all the right ways, and The Goo Goo Dolls turned that meeting point into something unforgettable.
Check out our favourite photos of the night below or head to our Facebook page for the full gallery!
Upcoming Tour Dates:
March 22, 2026 – Kelowna, BC – Prospera Place
March 23, 2026 – Calgary, AB – Scotiabank Saddledome
March 25, 2026 – Edmonton, AB – Rogers Place
March 26, 2026 – Saskatoon, SK – SaskTel Centre
March 28, 2026 – Winnipeg, MB – Canada Life Centre
March 30, 2026 – Sault Ste. Marie, ON – GFL Memorial Gardens
April 1, 2026 – Oshawa, ON – Tribute Communities Centre
April 2, 2026 – Hamilton, ON – TD Coliseum
April 4, 2026 – London, ON – Canada Life Place
April 6, 2026 – Ottawa, ON – Canadian Tire Centre
April 8, 2026 – Laval, QC – Place Bell
April 10, 2026 – Halifax, NS – Scotiabank Centre
April 11, 2026 – Moncton, NB – Avenir Centre
April 18, 2026 – Georgetown, TX – Two Step Inn 2026
May 15, 2026 – Las Vegas, NV – The Venetian Theatre
May 16, 2026 – Las Vegas, NV – The Venetian Theatre
May 20, 2026 – Las Vegas, NV – The Venetian Theatre
May 22, 2026 – Las Vegas, NV – The Venetian Theatre
May 23, 2026 – Las Vegas, NV – The Venetian Theatre
More information here.
GOO GOO DOLLS
All Photo Credit: Marquise Monno
Concerts Reviews
LIVE REVIEW: The Paper Kites Bring Warmth and Quiet Charm to Vancouver
On May 20th, Australian folk band The Paper Kites brought an intimate night of their warm indie folk tones to The Centre for Performing Arts.
The band is touring in support of their newest album, If You Go There, I Hope You Find It, which sees them lean further into their warm, atmospheric indie-folk sound, delivering a reflective and intimate collection shaped by themes of home, longing and quiet hope. Compared to their last record, At The Roadhouse, which leaned into a more Americana sound, this feels more of a return to form for the band. Tunes are reminiscent of some of their earlier Twelvefour and On the Train Ride Home material that put them on the map.
At 9:00 pm, the lights dimmed in the auditorium and with no grand entrance, the band took the stage to a roar of the audience, opening with the first track of If You Go There, I Hope You Find It “Morning Gum”. In the classic Paper Kites fashion, the whole group stood around lead singer Sam Bentley’s microphone for a stripped-down intro, before tending to their main instruments and kicking in their full sound.
The Paper Kites continued to preview some of their new material, like “Change of the Wind” and “Every Town,” while mixing in some of their best on At The Roadhouse, like “Till the Flame Turns Blue” and “Black & Thunder.”
For a cover of Colin Hay’s “I Just Don’t Think I’ll Ever Get Over You”, Sam brought out opener, Donovan Woods, to help him perform the song acoustically. Showing off some of his charisma, Sam joked about breaking the number one rule and asking Hay what his song was about — ultimately getting the response that it was about drinking Whisky to get through some of the hard times. The pair delivered a beautiful rendition of the song, blending soothing vocal harmonies that earned a roaring response from the audience.
Sam introduced the band: Christina Lacy on guitar and keyboards, his brother Josh Bentley on drums, Sam Rasmussen on bass guitar and synthesizers, and David Powys on “just about everything,” including guitar, banjo, lap steel, and bongos.
The frontman reinforced just how grateful the band was to be back in Vancouver, which they have been visiting for the better part of 13 years now. He talked about their humble beginnings playing the Biltmore Cabaret and staying at the Patricia Hotel, the now SRO that sits on the cusp of the East Hastings area — definitely an eye opener for the Australian group. Getting stuck in the snow in Wyoming, The Paper Kites had to cancel their Portland show, with the band admittedly upset as they hadn’t had to cancel a show in their tenure as a group. With some hustle, The Paper Kites were able to make it to Vancouver — again, Sam expressing his deepest gratitude for fans making it out to the gig.
To a roar of the crowd, the Aussie musicians came back out for a two-song encore, starting with their hit “Bloom,” with fans helping out the band with the choruses. David Powys got a moment to shine with a tasteful banjo solo that stole the show. Ending the night, Sam egged the crowd to get on their feet as they closed with the feel-good song, “When The Lavender Blooms.”
The Paper Kites delivered an intimate collection of songs, seamlessly capturing the crowd’s hearts from the beginning. With the Centre being a 1800 capacity venue, the band has a way of making you feel like you’re in a bar, with their charm and stripped back sound. Sam shared the sentiment that each time they return, the crowds seem to grow — and it’s clear that whenever The Paper Kites are in town, passionate fans show up, with more joining every time.
Check out our favourite photos of the night below or head to our Facebook page for the full gallery!
THE PAPER KITES
All Photo Credit: Hunter Soo
Concerts Reviews
LIVE REVIEW: The Last Dinner Party Turned Vancouver’s Orpheum Into Their Own Gothic Playground
There’s a thin line between theatrical and try-hard. The Last Dinner Party spend most of their live show sprinting directly at that line, then somehow vaulting over it without falling flat on their face. At the Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver on May 19, the band’s From The Pyre Tour felt huge, dramatic, occasionally ridiculous, and fully convincing anyway.
That’s harder to pull off than people give them credit for. A lot of bands borrow aesthetics: velvet curtains, religious imagery, corsets, vintage silhouettes, tragic womanhood as performance art. The Last Dinner Party actually build a world around those ideas and commit to it so fully that the audience starts behaving like they’ve entered the same universe. Walking into the Orpheum before the show felt like arriving late to an elaborate costume party where everyone had been assigned a literary archetype ahead of time with lace gloves, ribboned dresses, heavy boots, and tiny opera binoculars. One woman looked like she’d escaped from a haunted manor in 1872 ; another looked ready to front an early-2000s emo band. Somehow both made sense.
The Last Dinner Party opened with “Agnus Dei,” and immediately the whole production snapped into focus. The towering drapery, faux-stone staging, dim cathedral lighting, and the band’s carefully styled costumes could have overwhelmed the actual music in weaker hands. Instead, it sharpened it. The set design wasn’t decoration, it functioned like an extension of the songs themselves.
Frontwoman Abigail Morris remains one of the most magnetic performers working right now partly because she never performs like she’s above any of this. Plenty of singers can command a room. Morris pulls people into one. She spent nearly two hours stalking across the stage, throwing herself into songs with total conviction, then suddenly grinning between tracks like she still can’t believe the band got this big this fast. That balance matters as without it, the band’s maximalism could easily turn self-serious. Instead, the show constantly breathed.
The run of “Count the Ways,” “The Feminine Urge,” and “Caesar on a TV Screen” early in the set was absurdly strong. Guitarist Emily Roberts shredded through riffs with a refreshingly unpolished swagger compared to a lot of modern indie rock’s obsession with restraint. There were moments during “Caesar on a TV Screen” where the entire show tipped into full glam-rock spectacle. Big gestures, big harmonies, big emotions, and no apology for any of it.
Midway through the set, things got darker and more interesting. Songs from From The Pyre carried far more weight live than they do on record, especially “Woman Is a Tree” and “Rifle.” The quieter moments felt genuinely tense inside the Orpheum. You could hear the room lock in. During the eerie vocal opening of “Woman Is a Tree,” the band gathered close together beneath dim lighting while shadowy bird imagery hovered overhead. It was one of the night’s best moments.
The absence of bassist Georgia Davies, who remains off tour recovering from injury, was acknowledged warmly. Touring bassist Max Lilley handled the material well, though Davies’ absence still felt noticeable in a band this chemistry-driven. The Last Dinner Party work best when they feel like five personalities colliding together at once.
Keyboardist Aurora Nishevci quietly stole several moments throughout the night, especially during “I Hold Your Anger,” which landed with force live. The band’s harmonies remain their secret weapon. Beneath all the theatricality and visual ambition, they’re still an exceptionally tight musicianship-first band.
Before launching into “Nothing Matters,” Morris asked the crowd to put their phones away for one song. The people listened and suddenly the room felt freer and less self-conscious. The balcony shook during the chorus as people screamed every word back at the stage.
The encore leaned fully into chaos. “This Is the Killer Speaking” arrived with dance instructions and country-western absurdity. By the time the band closed with an “Agnus Dei” reprise, the crowd looked exhausted and completely won over.
The Last Dinner Party are already very good. What makes this tour exciting is that they still feel slightly dangerous around the edges. There are moments where the ambition threatens to spill over, moments where things nearly become too theatrical or too sentimental. But they should protect that feeling at all costs.
Check out our favourite photos of the night below or head to our Facebook page for the full gallery!
Upcoming From The Pyre Tour Dates:
05/20 Portland, OR – Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall %
05/22 Seattle, WA – Showbox SoDo %
05/26 Sacramento, CA – Channel 24 %
05/27 Oakland, CA – Fox Theater %
05/29 Los Angeles, CA – Orpheum Theatre %
05/31 Del Mar, CA – The Sound %
06/02 Denver, CO – Mission Ballroom %
06/04 Des Moines, IA – Val Air Ballroom %
06/05 Saint Paul, MN – Palace Theatre %
06/07 Detroit, MI – Masonic Jack White Theatre %
06/09 Columbus, OH – KEMBA Live! %
06/10 Nashville, TN – The Pinnacle %
06/12 Charlotte, NC – The Fillmore Charlotte %
06/13 Atlanta, GA – The Eastern %
% with Automatic
More information here.
THE LAST DINNER PARTY
AUTOMATIC
All Photo Credit: Caroline Charruyer