Today we have an important message from contributor Javier, who used their googling skills to find precious info about a 1997 concert.
I couldn’t locate a setlist.fm entry for this one, but the good news, which gives us hope, is that apparently this concert was recorded by someone. Javier provides more insights in his comments:
The Goo Goo Dolls in the Disney Grad Night 1997…
How are you? It’s been a long time since I posted anything and I apologize if I haven’t been able to. I have some interesting news to give about a bootleg that should be searched and that is from a presentation in 1997, it was filmed, according to the following story that I found on a website:
“Friday, April 25 to Saturday, April 26, 1997 was Grad Night in Walt Disney World (Orlando, Florida). Departure from my high school by bus at 4PM on the 25th, and back in Fort Lauderdale at 8:30AM on the 26th. It took 5 buses to fit our whole class.
Performances by the Goo Goo Dolls, David Lee Murphy, Aaliyah and Az Yet, on four separate stages. Their playlists were repeated three times between 9PM and 3AM. The Goo Goo Dolls performed “Name” one of our class songs (for my high school). The performances were filmed and I am hoping they will show up on YouTube someday. I don’t remember which other songs they performed.”
We could deduce that the show was recorded and filmed, I sent the link to the website.I hope that this material from 1997 comes to light very soon, one of those years where little is known about the band, greetings and sorry for the delay.
If you happen to have a copy of it and would like to share it with other fans, please consider contacting us.
Thanks Javier for the info. Much appreciated!
Temple of Goo - The rarest Goo Goo Dolls releases, for real Goo fans only 
those Dizzy era pics lol crazy how hollywood everything got so fast
The angst and raw desperation in that Hold Me Up wail stopped me in my tracks the first time I heard it. And some of the live versions …. whew. John had a lot inside of him back then.
Man you put things so well Shura! “That hold me up wail” coincidence or not, I’m listening to just the way you are right now! It’s at the solo part right now—I honestly think it’s one of the best solos John pulled off, along with Naked and Never Take The Place Of Your Man. But seriously, like I said before, that part gives me chills! He did have a lot inside…I wonder if that’s why he decided to include that in the song. I don’t even remember what my first impression of the song was, but I know it was a good one.
Definitely one of my fav solos!
The Just You The Way You Are lyrics are classic old school Johnny. The brutal honesty of the first line, then its so self effacing and he’s kind of shuffling around until wham pivots 180 degrees and bares his soul.
He was still young then, and orphaned, practically living on the street. The plea for emotional help and some stability sounds so real. It’s almost uncomfortably personal but also universal. Which right there is prob John’s genius. He does pretty much the same in Iris.
“The plea for emotional help” is really the best way to describe it, and it’s also so relatable! I mean, so many people in the world are suffering from like anxiety and the such and so I feel like that’s when the universal part of the song came in.
I remember I think it was Robby who said that their first three records were mostly just kind of a mark of where they were in life. They weren’t doing it as a professional project, they were doing it because they loved it. So maybe hold me up was kind of a therapy record for John. It was clear he was changing, so I bet he was writing a lot of these songs as he was thinking about his life so far. And yeah, I’ll bet the fact that he was an orphan still scared the hell out of him. He was what? 23, 24 when they were writing songs for that record.
and yes, John is a genius songwriter. I heard someone say this in a comment on YouTube one time, and I’m going to repeat it now because I loved it so much. Thank you, God, for this boy and his guitar ❤️