“Unplugged: A Tribute To MTV”, A Band Offering A Unique Take On MTV Nostalgia. Their Goo Goo Dolls Tribute Show Is Coming Soon! Send Us Your Questions For An Interview With Them!

A few day ago I was contacted by someone representing a very interesting project, which will soon focus on our favorite band in the form of an upcoming concert in February. Furthermore, we are planning to do an interview with at least one of the members of such initiative. We ask our readers to forward us the questions they would like to ask them.

In an email that quickly piqued my interest, Paul Wanecski presented himself as one of the members of “Unplugged: A Tribute To MTV”, a Buffalo, NY-based band (The same city the Goo Goo Dolls hail from) that covers a pretty long list of bands, by also replicating the mood and musical ambiance the latter expressed when performing at one of the most viewed TV events since the late 1980’s.

Did the Temple Of Goo Special Releases “Melodic Minimalism Part I and Part II” leave you with wanting more of those acoustic versions of Goo Goo Dolls classics? This is your chance to treat your ears with something just as unique.

“Unplugged: A Tribute To MTV” is a tribute band which tries to recreate the amazing, mesmerizing, and captivating performances only the MTV Unplugged series was capable of offering. The MTV Unplugged concept was as easy as it was successful: intimate, low-key, relaxed live takes whereby the bands would play only unplugged versions of their songs. The program ran pretty much consistently ever since 1989, and with scattered episodes since 2010.

Paul’s band aims at re-enacting those marvelous shows, through a number of concerts, some of which have already taken place. As I stated before, they cover different bands, and the Goo Goo Dolls’ turn is coming up soon.

Below you can find a picture of the band, taken from their Official Website.

In their own words, this is what they’re all about:

Paul is eager to let the Temple Of Goo readers know the following:

We’ve teamed up with Music Is Art (while Robbie is on tour in Australia) to perform the televised Goo Goo Dolls Storytellers set, plus selections from their infamous 4th of July show, as the 20th Anniversary is in 2024!

We wanted to start the conversation about who we are, so any questions, just ask!

Yes, you read that right. The Goo Goo Dolls themselves gave them their blessings to Paul et al. for the February concert, where “Unplugged: A Tribute To MTV” will be performing live takes from two of the most loved Goo shows ever: Storytellers and Live In Buffalo 2004. Furthermore, the project has now an official connection to Robby Takac’s not-for profit organization Music Is Art. Let’s hear it directly from Paul with more information on such connection, and on the matter of performing Goo Goo Dolls songs in general:

We typically only play about 4-5 shows a year and this one was a dream of mine prior to starting the band. The Goos are a historically hard band to cover but to be able to link it in with Music Is Art was the most critical piece. Had we been unable to do that, we wouldn’t be doing the show. This will actually be the third time in 12 months the band will have played Town Ballroom and since we never play the same show twice in an area, it allows us the flexibility to perform consistently if we wanted to. As stated before, our goal is to make unique music experiences for people that come see us and we couldn’t be more excited about this show; the Goos are probably the hardest musically we will ever perform which is why you don’t see bands attempting the material from the 5th album on.

Given the main focus of Temple Of Goo, that is older Goo Goo Dolls material, I asked whether or not they would somehow be inclined to also include pre-“A Boy Named Goo” tunes within their performances. This was his response:

We won’t be doing much off the first few albums because we are focusing on setlists that didn’t contain much to begin with. To be fair, our life would be a lot easier if we did because a song like “Fallin’ Down” isn’t as complicated as a song like “Iris”. We also will be joined by a very talented and accomplished cello player, Alex Collins, who will be filling that orchestral space which is so prominent in the songs the Goos chose to perform in both Storytellers and the 4th of July show.

Getting recordings of earlier Goos stuff could be a fun side project. Since we certainly aren’t a Goos cover band, we usually only have the time learn the songs for the next show (which are often months apart). With the current format of our performances, we are often learning about 20 new songs per show and only have a few that are staples to the setlist. Even still, I have some ideas.

Alright, I know know you’re all asking the burning question: When and where will the Goo Goo Dolls Unplugged Tribute Concert take place? The answer lies below:

Interested in participating? You can visit this page to buy tickets and reserve a spot for yourself to this special event. You can check the official flyer for the event below:

Don’t forget to visit their webpage for pictures, videos, and a listing of all the past events (labeled as Seasons and Episodes) the band has done so far.

Feel like you want to get in touch with them? You can do so by visiting their Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter profiles.

Paul et al. are willing to establish a rapport with the Temple Of Goo readers. We are planning to do an interview with at least him, and maybe more members of the band. We encourage you to send us the questions you would want to ask them, either by commenting on this post or by writing us an email. If anything goes smoothly, this will be the first official Temple Of Goo interview ever!

In the meantime, best of luck to Paul and all of the other “Unplugged: A Tribute To MTV” members. We’re sure their initiative will go a long way, for a long time!