For those of you who like the Goo Goo Dolls- and live concert DVDs you wont be dissapointed. If you have HDTV-and in particular a large screen- run and get this. Most of the other reviews failed to point out this was specially filmed in HDTV.

The surprise of thid DVD is the rain- I mean it poured on the 4th of July in Buffalo and they didnt stop the concert or dissapoint the thousands that came to see the band. The fact that Buffalo is home and their families and friends were all there probably propelled them to continue. Most bands doing a promo-4th of July gig would have bailed. Its actually funny to watch the band smiling and laughing during "Slide" - its raining so hard it seems ludicrous to continue. They probably threw out at least 10 guitars. With the high def cameras the rain has an almost MTV video style look to it- but its not staged-its real.

Final note- the "backdrop" to the concert is one of the most incredible art-deco buildings standing- Buffalos City Hall. The lighting of the building and the ornate columns and sculpture is pretty spectacular.

The Goo Goo Dolls are a pretty class act- to not dissapoint their fans and to play the entire show out. They love their roots and it shows.

By the way- the sound is FINE. Its a concert video-the crowd etc is not distracting -in fact Im gonna say after watching it a couple times you feel apart of it.

15 years into the Goo's career, the band has resisted releasing a proper "greatest hits" album. 2001's "Ego, Opinion, Arts & Commerce" compilation was a mixed bag of some (but not all) hits, early songs and obscurities.

Now comes "Live in Buffalo" (20 tracks, 77 min.), which for all practical purposes is a "greatest hits live" collection. All the classics are here, from "Name" (their biggest hit, as unreprestative as it is of their overall sound), to "Black Balloon", "Slide", "Broadway" and of course "Iris". While of course Rzeznik is the prime writer behind the Goo's, I'm glad that Takac gets a few tracks, including the excellent "January Friend", "Smash" and "Tucked Away", all of them all-out rockers, reminiscent of the early Goo days.

While near impossible to detect from the CD audio quality, the accompanying DVD shows that a torrential down-pour almost brought the show to a halt close to the end of the show. So the better for the band to soldier on! I've been a fan of the Goo's since the early days, and unlike some fans, do not begrudge at all the mainstraim succes the Goo's have obtained, straying from the early day "punk-rock" sound. Until we get a proper "greatest hits" CD, this is as good as it gets, and well done at that.

This album shows the incredible outgoing talent Goo Goo Dolls have been expressing over the past years.. You get a taste of their energy on stage, and their emotion with John's beautiful acoustic guitar playing.. You also get a taste of John's abilities on the electric guitar, his solos are simply amazing.. This shows most of their hits over the past years in a raw pure form, untouched through the studio editing, and at a level of unbelievable skill which stands out and never leaves your memory.. definately worth the buy.. and the listen.. You WON'T be disapointed..

This has to be the best live show I've ever seen and it's so great to see the love between the band and the audience! I don't understand the "esp" person's comment about that energy being a negative thing? what? And that in the dvd, first one hears the crowd and then the songs begin... Well, isn't that why we're watching the dvd, to see the band and the crowd and HEAR the great songs? The cover of "Give a little bit" is the best cover of any song in years. Loved it!

A greatest hits compilation this is not - how could it be with "Long Way Down" "Slave Girl" "Fallin Down" "On the Lie" "We are the Normal" "Girl Right Next to Me" "Out of the Red" "Domino" and "James Dean" omitted?

But as a concert dvd it's surprisingly good. The spirit of the show is really captured - from Johnny Goo's snarky sidebars, to Robbie doing the Pogo, to the water-splattered from-the-crowd camera shots.

The track list is a bit weighted towards the later albums (nothing from Goo Goo Dolls or Jed, only Two Days in February and Cuz You're Gone representing Hold Me Up and Superstar Carwash respectively, and even their first hit album - A Boy Named Goo - only contributing Name and Naked, for a total of four songs from their first five albums)but Dizzy Up the Girl and Gutterflower are certainly not subpar material. They are, in fact, two of the best albums to come out in the past eight years.

And when your first commercial release in three years contains no new original material, it helps to play songs the entire crowd, and not just the die-hards, know all the words to.

There was some slight censorship (Robbie Tacac's defiant and thrilling scream of "F**K this rain!" was overdubbed as "Screw this rain!" and Johnny Rzeznick's taunting his bandmates into joining him back onstage after their managers turned their amps off was completely cut off of the dvd, though it's included in part on the audio cd), which was a little disappointing.

But somehow, with all the limitations that the business side of music and the technical difficulties that come with producing a video in a torrential downpour, the dvd captures that elusive something, that purely... Goo Goo Dolls feeling of expecting the worst and laughing in its face that turned some South Buffalonian kids into international superstars.

These guys simply don't give a sh-t if you rain on their parade. And that's why we love them.