Goo Goo Dolls, Plain White T’s to bring chill vibe to end-of-summer Columbus concert

Alexis Hill
Mon, 25 Aug 2014 00:03:39 +0000
Campus, Columbus, concert, daughtry, goo goo dolls, LC Pavilion, plain white ts, robby takac

Goo Goo Dolls (left) and Plain White T’s are set to perform at the LC Pavilion on Aug. 25.
Credit: Courtesy of Warner Brothers Records and Hollywood Records

As summer ends, Columbus’ foliage will soon begin to take on the shades of fall. One more iris, however, is set to bloom this week.

Goo Goo Dolls, the band who wrote the once chart-topping power ballad with the namesake of the purple flower, is set to croon with “American Idol”-product Daughtry and special guest Plain White T’s on Monday at the Lifestyle Communities Pavilion.

“We’ll be busting out all of the radio songs and some older stuff as well,” said Robby Takac, bassist for Goo Goo Dolls.

Although “Iris” might be a fan favorite, one of Takac’s favorite songs to perform on tour is “Slide.”

“We always play it super early in the set, and it’s the first song that everybody knows,” he said.

Click to enlarge.

Takac said he hopes fans will be pumped when they hear familiar songs like “Slide,” but he also hopes the fans will take in Goo Goo Dolls’ new material.

The Buffalo-based alternative rock band has been around for almost 30 years, and Takac said he and the other members will continue going strong. In fact, the band released its 10th studio album, “Magnetic,” in June 2013.

“Certainly, right now, we’re not slowing down,” Takac said. “We’ll be playing straight through 2014 into 2015, do another record, after that probably head out on tour again.”

Plain White T’s, a pop-punk band from Chicago who broke out in 2007 with the ballad “Hey There Delilah,” shares the bill with Goo Goo Dolls on Monday evening.

The band hopes to bring a laid-back vibe to its performance.

“We just try to go out there and be very chill,” said Tom Higgenson, lead singer of the Plain White T’s. “We don’t go out like big rock stars.”

Higgenson said touring with Goo Goo Dolls and Daughtry has been a blast.

“Every night after the show is like a big summer camp. Everybody hangs out on the tour buses, we all have some drinks together, there’s lots of barbecuing backstage and stuff,” Higgenson said.

The fun, Higgenson explained, doesn’t just stay backstage, though. The Plain White T’s keeps its shows entertaining for the crowd.

“If by the end of the show we can get everybody singing and everybody dancing and smiling, then we know we did our job that day,” Higgenson said.

He added that the band plans to bring some new tunes to the stage to switch things up from previous shows.

He also wants fans to tweet at them for suggestions of places to see in Columbus pre-concert.

“Honestly, at these venues, the places are so damn big, that we’re basically backstage or on our bus the whole day, because it’s such a pain in the a– to leave to get out anywhere,” Higgenson said. “If anybody has any ideas, though, what to do, hit me up and we’ll try to head out and do some stuff in Columbus.”

To those who have never been to a Plain White T’s show, he notes that “it will be the most exciting half an hour of your life.”

Doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets are $40 the day of the show and are available through ticketmaster.com. The LC Pavilion is located at 405 Neil Ave.