The next release from contributor Christina is a very special concert which marked the first time then-newest drummer Mike Malinin played with the band in front of a crowd.
On February 4th, 1995 the Goo Goo Dolls played at the Dragonfly, a club located in Los Angeles (now called Dragonfly Hollywood). The event was a peculiar one. Just fresh of a dispute between former drummer and original member George Tutuska, which led to the latter being kicked from the band, John et al. decided to replace him with Texas born-and-raised Mike Malinin, who is in this occasion introduced to the fans for the first time.
In my opinion, Mike’s performance has always been overall very good and he has taken pride in honoring George’s legacy by playing the pre-“Dizzy Up The Girl” songs in the stile the original drummer exhibited. I noticed very small variations between Tutuska’s and Malinin’s performances in reference to older material. I respect Mike for that reason, on top of being a down-to-earth and easy-going guy who never got crazy over having become an international star.
The Goo Goo Dolls had Malinin in charge of drumming duties until 2013, when another dispute between the two parties led to Mike being replaced with another instrumentalist.
As far as the show we share today is concerned, it is your typical “A Boy Named Goo” track listing with most of the songs taken from the then-latest two albums. Quality-wise, I’d say it is decent. This is not a soundboard recording, unfortunately.
Nevertheless, this concert represents a pivotal event in the career of the band, and we are glad it finally found its way to the Temple’s archives. Many thanks to Christina for forwarding it to us. Her comments about the show are below:
Sounds like a very intimate gig. They make a few playful jabs Mike’s way so the “Mike’s First Show” label seems true. The show seems plagued with technical difficulties, which John makes a handful of agitated comments about between tracks, but the band sound great anyway. “Flat Top” cuts off halfway through – a fansite from the time lists the same, so I think that’s just the copy that made its way around. (As a note I did do some audio editing on this one: not sure if the original bootleg is just wonky or if something got messed up between generations, but I’ve removed excess silence from the start of tracks and a couple little riffs that were duplicated across tracks.)
You can listen to the concert below. Download links are available at the end of this post.
TRACK LISTING:
- Just The Way You Are
- Burnin’ Up
- Fallin’ Down
- Million Miles Away
- Banter
- Lucky Star
- Cuz You’re Gone
- Laughing
- Banter
- Long Way Down
- Banter
- Only One
- Stop The World
- Banter
- Impersonality
- Already There
- Naked
- Flat Top
- There You Are
- Never Take the Place of Your Man
Temple of Goo - The rarest Goo Goo Dolls releases, for real Goo fans only 
I forgot to mention the guy at the end of this bootleg who really, really — and I cannot stress this enough — REALLY wants the band to play “Up Yours.” A word to future concertgoers… don’t be that guy. lol
The Goo version of Freebird
Definitely a pivotal show and we’re fortunate to have this recording no matter the quality. Mike made a good first impression imo
These few weeks in LA was the time John always said he started drinking heavily again, the weight of George’s dismissal on his shoulders. Would be another 20 years before he would get permanently clean. Interesting to think about while listening. “The year of the weasel” indeed
Incidentally, at 28:00 min in is that “Alison” Braun who “hooked (them) up with the gig”? The one whose ass John says he will have to kiss? Interesting. Another few days in February maybe! lol