The Goo Goo Dolls have paused their Canadian tour after frontman John Rzeznik fell ill.
The band announced on Thursday, April 2 that the 60-year-old singer has been diagnosed with pneumonia, prompting the cancellation of their scheduled performance that night in Hamilton, Ontario.
In a statement posted to Instagram just hours before the concert, the group wrote, “With sorrow and gratitude, we must cancel tonight’s show at TD Coliseum in Hamilton, ON, as John has been diagnosed with pneumonia.” The band added that ticket holders will receive refunds through their original point of purchase.
The Hamilton date marks the third consecutive show the band has been forced to cancel. The “Iris” hitmakers had already called off a March 30 performance at GFL Memorial Gardens in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, shortly before showtime, and subsequently canceled their April 1 appearance in Oshawa, Ontario.
Despite the setbacks, the band says it hopes to resume the tour soon. According to the statement, they are aiming to return to the stage Saturday in London, Ontario, as the Canadian run continues through the rest of the month.
Upcoming dates include a stop in Ottawa on April 6, followed by performances across several provinces, including Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
Looking ahead, the Goo Goo Dolls are also scheduled for a five-night limited residency in Las Vegas in May before launching a U.S. summer tour in July.
The Goo Goo Dolls’ hit “Iris” has been enjoying a massive TikTok-led resurgence of late, becoming the most-streamed 1990s song in the U.S. in 2025. This revival is driven by Gen Z/Alpha nostalgia for the 90s, viral TikTok trends, the 2024 film Deadpool & Wolverine, and a popular 2026 "What were you like in the '90s?" social media trend. The song has gained over three billion streams on Spotify and consistently hits the Global Top 50.
Rzeznik wrote the acoustic guitar–driven song for the 1998 film City of Angels. The tune was created by putting his guitar into an alternate tuning — B D D D D (no high E string).
“I originally wrote it on a guitar with four strings, because I was trying to drop the notes in pitch, and I didn’t really know what I was doing,” Rzeznik told Guitar Player in 2024.
![Goo Goo Dolls – Iris [Official Music Video] [4K Remaster] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/NdYWuo9OFAw/maxresdefault.jpg)
The song benefitted in the studio from the addition of session guitarist Tim Pierce, who added lead electric guitar to the track after bringing all his gear to the session for what was originally just a mandolin overdub.
Rzeznik said he had always hoped to play the song’s guitar solo himself, calling it his “biggest regret.”
The scale of the success marked a major career shift for us as a band. This was the one that really took everything up another level in terms of recognition and success.”
— John Rzeznik
“My favorite part of the song is the slide guitar solo,” he said. “Which I wanted to play!
“Iris” was a massive success for the Goo Goo Dolls, and appeared on both the City of Angels soundtrack and the group’s own album Dizzy Up the Girl.
As Rzeznik tells Guitar Player, the success of “Iris” was a significant turning point in the Goo Goo Dolls’ fortunes and musical direction.
“The scale of the success of this marked a major career shift for us as a band,” he says. “This was the one that really took everything up another level in terms of recognition and success, and it definitely shut the door on the portion of our career before that.”
