ST. LOUIS — With his 15th studio album arriving at the end of August, Goo Goo Dolls bassist Robby Takac says the hardest part of touring is locking in the set list.

“It’s been tough now for 10 years to make a set list because we know every night we’re leaving without playing songs people want to hear,” Takac says.

Takac says they — Takac and vocalist and guitarist John Rzeznik — have their dirty dozen, a list of songs like “Iris” and “Slide” that they can “play in their sleep.” But they spent a month rehearsing the other 12 songs on the set list before going on tour as they balance introducing fans to new music while hitting all the classics.

The Grammy-nominated duo will release their new, seven-track EP at the end of the month, “Summer Anthem,” after hitting the stage at St. Louis Music Park on Aug. 21.

Opening for them is alt-rock band Dashboard Confessional. The Goo Goo Dolls knew some members of Dashboard Confessionals from joint features on MTV shows in the early 2000s. But they’d never toured together. Takac says the two bands have been on a good run since embarking on the 40-city “Summer Anthem” tour together in July.

“So much of this is about the personalities that are out there with you and if the bands get along ... and these guys are great,” he says.

The Goo Goo Dolls have made a living out of getting along. The band formed in the late 1980s, but Takac and Rzeznik didn’t gain mainstream popularity until 1995 with the release of their album “A Boy Named Goo,” which housed the breakout single “Name” and went double platinum in the U.S.

After that, Takac admits there was pressure to produce another hit. It was especially heavy for Rzeznik, who wrote the majority of the band’s songs. The Goo Goo Dolls, though, have continued to ride the changing tides of the industry during times when other bands haven’t been able to.

“Bands, most of the time, can’t make it through a hit single,” he says. “Like the realities of the business and how this whole thing works is enough to tear most bands apart.”

A few years later, the band released “Iris,” a feature on the “City of Angels” soundtrack. The heartfelt ballad became a defining moment for the Goo Goo Dolls. It shot to the top of the charts internationally after its release in 1998, remaining on the Billboard Hot 100 for 14 weeks and reaching RIAA diamond certification in 2024.

The Goo Goo Dolls landed in a sweet spot in the late 1990s, right when rock ‘n‘ roll and pop music collided, giving rise to a collection of groups like Matchbox Twenty, Third Eye Blind, Collective Soul and more known for creating memorable alt-rock songs, whose lyrics continue to resonate with new generations of listeners.

Twenty-seven years after its release, “Iris” is trending again thanks to a viral TikTok trend and a new lyrics video released by the band in April. The song has now amassed 4.2 billion streams on Spotify. Takac says it’s rare for bands to be around decades after a hit record.

“Lightning struck a few times for this band,” he says. “It doesn’t often happen that way for people.”

But Takac and Rzeznik know that “Nothing Lasts Forever,” as noted in the title of their new single from their forthcoming album. Rzeznik co-wrote the song with Grant Michaels and producer Greg Wattenberg in 2024, between the band’s touring in the States and doing flyaway shows in South Africa and Australia. They released the song in July, followed by “Not Goodbye (Close My Eyes)” in August.

When comparing the new records to songs from the band’s start, Takac says, “You would never be able to convince someone that that was the same band.” With the pressures associated with the music industry, the band’s lucky to be still rocking out 40 years later.

“This business has changed so drastically that you really just have to see what comes next,” he says.

Now the duo that created a top-selling song are fortunate to still be touring and making new music. They’ve grown with the industry, remained creative despite mounting pressures and held on to their love for live performance.

And Takac says they intend to keep it that way.

“We’ve never gone anywhere. We don’t plan on going anywhere,” he says. “So let’s see where we go.”

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If you go

What: Goo Goo Dolls "Summer Anthem" tour with Dashboard Confessional

When: 7:30 p.m. Aug. 21

Where: St. Louis Music Park, 750 Casino Center Drive, Maryland Heights

How much: $97.15-$727.50

More info: ticketmaster.com

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