The last few times that the Goo's have played a hometown show the band seemed listless and dazed by the whirlwind of friends and family that besieges them whenever they return home. All those demands seemed to leave little energy for the band's performance and left a feel that sometimes they were trying too hard to please too many folks. The performances were tentative at times and the boys didn't seem to be having fun. This is of course solely my opinion, but I have been to quite a few Goo's shows over the years including The Continental days and feel qualified to say that. 
Now I know that calling Salamanca a hometown show is a little bit of a stretch but it was the closest the band would be coming to Buffalo on this part of the tour. The full house at The Events Center on the Seneca-Allegany Casino on August 23, 2008 still had many familiar faces from home in the crowd who made the trip down for the show. The band hit the stage and tore thru sizzling versions of "Long Way Down", "Here Is Gone", "Big Machine" and "Slide" while barely coming up for air. You knew this was going to be a special night. Robby then took over on vocals to remind us older folks of the days before the slick rock ballads became the Goo's trademark with stunning versions of "Another Second Time Around" and "Tucked Away". Robby rough hewed vocals added sharp contrast to Johnny's vocals. You still have to truck out the hits and the Goo's have plenty, "Black Balloon" replete with bouncing black balloons courtesy of the crowd, "Name", "Feel the Silence", "Naked" and "We'll Be Here" were but a few they covered. They finished the show with some of the strongest material in their repertoire with Robby handling another favorite "Slave Girl" followed by "Before It's Too Late" from the Transformers soundtrack, "Better Days" a huge crowd pleaser, "Let Love In" and "Iris". Their two song encore included "Without You Here" and a run thru Tom Petty's "American Girl". This was truly one the best performances I've seen from the Goo Goo Dolls in quite some time. For more upcoming shows at the Seneca Allegany Casino go to www.senecaalleganycasino.com