“I’m a little nervous, because we could all be on a first name basis,” John Rzeznik tells the cubicle crowd during 20-minute set
Goo Goo Dolls delivered their biggest hits and a pair of lesser-known cuts during the band’s first-ever visit to NPR’s Tiny Desk.
John Rzeznik and company opened their set with Hot 100-topping single “Slide,” off 1998’s Dizzy Up the Girl, which is still a favorite. “I’m like, ‘Is Vampire Weekend behind us?’” Rzeznik quipped after the rapturous applause from the NPR staff.
The group then shifted to more obscure territory with “Feel the Silence,” off an album that Rzeznik briefly had trouble remembering; it’s from 1996’s Let Love In (“If you don’t know that one, go check it out, there’s some good stuff,” Rzeznik added) with the vocalist then singing the praises of that LP’s producer Glen Ballard.
“I’m a little nervous, because we could all be on a first name basis,” Rzeznik told the small crowd, adding that the Tiny Desk was even more “intimidating” than playing a festival of 100,000 people, as that crowd is further away and more anonymous.
Goo Goo Dolls then performed their 2025 single “Not Goodbye (Close My Eyes)” off the band’s — album? Or EP? — Summer Anthem (even Rzeznik was unsure what to classify the collection of seven new songs they put out this year). However, the singer did reveal that the group is already working on a follow-up to that album and/or EP.
The band closed out their 20-minute set with their enduring 1998 hit “Iris,” which in recent years has been covered by the likes of Demi Lovato, Phoebe Bridgers, and Billy Joel in addition to its placement in Deadpool & Wolverine. Rzeznik also invited the public radio employees to sing along with that track.
