Here we go again. It's Indian reservation time and we are at the Pala Casino, So. Cal. The theater is slowly filling to its capacity and you can feel the electricity building as everybody anxiously waits for the Goos to start the show. Loud gongs fill the air and strophe lights shoot bright, white flashes over the blackened stage. The first few cords of "Dizzy" bring the crowd to their feet and you know you're in for an evening of entertainment. I am particularly happy with the choice of first song, because this has been my personal and all time favorite. The stage set- up is minimalistic and it shows that “less is more” always works when you have enough substance to back it up with your performance. Drummer Mike Malinin sat in front of loosely tied curtain swags in what looked like gray chiffon. To his right was keyboarder and saxophonist Korel Tunador, with

second guitarist Brad Fernquist on the other side. Bassist Robby Takac joined the front stage with lead vocalist John Rzeznik, who hid his face under a black baseball cap. The crowd received “Slide” with big enthusiasm and rocked to older Goo hits such as “Big Machine” and “Black Balloon”. Just about than, a young girl next to me throws a cowboy hat on stage, and John being a good sport and all puts it straight on top of his baseball cap … looking rather … dashing. A few words of thanks, which were pretty much the only spoken words for the evening, and off it came. A roar went through the crowd, followed by sniggering and applause. Oblivious to what created the uproar, John continued the set with “We’ll be here”, a track from their new album “Let Love In”. Several cords into the song, John realized that something was not right and came to understand that the cardboard lining of the hat was

listen to
Robby's Interview Audio File

still on his head … still looking ... rather dashing. He stopped the song and had a good laugh at himself, much to the delight of the audience. Even after the song continued, John had a hard time keeping a straight face. One of the setbacks of the show was obvious sound problems. The continuous signaling to the mixing desk was distracting and visibly upsetting to the otherwise charismatic and charming front man. The band played as a well oiled machine, exhibiting cohesiveness while spoiling their audience with a decade time warp full of hits such as “Iris”, “Better Days”, “Naked”, “Without you here” and ending the show with the Supertramp cover “Give a little bit”. The trio ended the evening having played a total of 20 tunes, leaving the crowd worn out and very happy .... even I was singing. Well done … and ... don’t ever change.   Gina McAuley