Goo Goo Dolls

Goo Goo Dolls formed in Buffalo, New York in 1985 as a scrappy punk-leaning bar band, and spent a decade grinding before anyone outside the region noticed. The turn came with 1995's A Boy Named Goo and the acoustic-driven "Name," which pushed them onto radio and set up the run that followed.

Then came "Iris." Written for the City of Angels soundtrack, it spent nearly a year on the Billboard charts and became one of the defining songs of its decade — the kind of track that turns a rock band into a permanent fixture. Dizzy Up the Girl followed with "Slide," "Black Balloon" and "Broadway," cementing a sound built on John Rzeznik's raspy vocals, open-tuned guitars and choruses engineered for a crowd to sing back.

Rzeznik and bassist Robby Takac have kept the band working steadily ever since, and their live shows lean into exactly what people come for: the big ones, played loud, with a catalog deep enough to fill the space between them.