Goo Goo Dolls at Empower FCU Amphitheater | September 3, 2026
There is something fitting about a band from Buffalo arriving at Central New York’s largest outdoor stage in early September — a Thursday evening, late summer light fading over the lawn, and a catalog heavy enough to carry the weight of three decades. The Goo Goo Dolls bring their Summer 2026 tour to Empower FCU Amphitheater on September 3, with support from Neon Trees, and the match of artist to setting to season feels right in the way that a handful of shows each year actually do.
About the Goo Goo Dolls
John Rzeznik and Robby Takac formed the Goo Goo Dolls in Buffalo in 1985, and the band has spent four decades building one of the more durable catalogs in American pop-rock — a run of radio success that reached its commercial peak in the late ’90s but has refused to recede gracefully into nostalgia. “Name” arrived in 1995. “Iris” followed in 1998, and the conversation around that song has only grown louder: it achieved Diamond certification in 2025 and accumulated over a billion streams that year alone, driven in part by a TikTok resurgence that introduced it to listeners who weren’t born when it was recorded. Whether that constitutes a second life or an ongoing first one depends on how you count.
The Summer 2026 run — more than 30 dates between July 24 and September 6 — follows a Las Vegas residency at The Venetian in May and a Canadian tour with Dashboard Confessional in the spring. The band released the Summer Anthem EP in August 2025 on Warner Records and performed an NPR Tiny Desk Concert that demonstrated, for anyone who still needed convincing, that these songs don’t require arena production to work. Neon Trees, who bring their own catalog of alt-pop radio hits as support on most dates, round out a bill that offers two recognizable acts for the price of one evening.
About Empower FCU Amphitheater
Empower FCU Amphitheater sits at 490 Restoration Way in Syracuse, with 5,000 pavilion seats and a general-admission lawn that holds several times that. The lawn is where this show will be remembered — a warm September evening, the sun off the stage by 8 PM, and a band playing songs that people have been carrying around for 25 years. It is a better setup than most. Buffalo is 150 miles to the west, close enough that the Goo Goo Dolls will recognize a significant portion of the room.
Tickets & Show Details
The Goo Goo Dolls play Empower FCU Amphitheater on Thursday, September 3, 2026, with a 7:30 PM start. Tickets are on sale now, ranging from $44.00 to $201.00. Venue upgrades available include Lawn Chair Rental, Fast Lane Access, Premier Parking, and Blanket Voucher.