The Goo Goo Dolls are going home again. The Buffalo-born band has announced the second annual edition of its hometown benefit concerts, and this year’s run comes with plenty to celebrate.
The band will take the stage at Town Ballroom on Friday, Nov. 20, and Saturday, Nov. 21, with every dollar from both shows going directly to FeedMore WNY, the region’s hunger-relief organization. For Western New York fans, it’s a chance to see a local favorite up close while helping neighbors in need. Tickets go on sale Friday, Oct. 2, through the Goo Goo Dolls’ website.
The concerts follow a strong start last year, when two sold-out shows on Nov. 19 and 20 raised $150,000 for FeedMore WNY. The band hopes to top that total this time around.
“I’m just showing up and playing a bunch of songs,” singer John Rzeznik said in an interview with Nicholas Picholas from KISS 98.5, per Audacy. “You guys are the ones that are driving this. Everybody who came to the shows last year and everybody who’s going to come this year, I just want you to know all of your money’s going to FeedMore, and that you’re proving again that Buffalo is the ‘City of Good Neighbors.'”
Rzeznik and Robby Takac formed the Goo Goo Dolls in Buffalo in 1986. Nearly four decades later, the group has sold more than 15 million records worldwide and earned four Grammy nominations. Their 1998 hit “Iris” has racked up more than 6 billion streams and has been covered by artists including Taylor Swift, Machine Gun Kelly, Phoebe Bridgers and Maggie Rogers.
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The band’s hometown is honoring its 40-year career, too. On Sept. 16, the Buffalo History Museum opened “Long Way Home,” an exhibit created with help from Rzeznik, Takac and others. It features rare photos from the people who documented the band’s earliest club gigs, along with memorabilia, fan experiences and stories, plus a look at Buffalo from the 1980s to today.
Between the sold-out benefit shows and a museum exhibit celebrating their story, it’s a full-circle moment for a band that never strayed far from its roots. For Buffalo fans, a night at Town Ballroom this November means great music and a meaningful way to give back, right where it all began.