Goo Goo Dolls perform Slide as America marks 250 years of independence
Goo Goo Dolls turned “Slide” into a semiquincentennial singalong on CBS’s July Fourth special. The three-hour broadcast tied 1990s nostalgia to a coast-to-coast patriotic spectacle.
The Goo Goo Dolls brought “Slide” to CBS’s live July Fourth special as the network turned America’s 250th birthday into a national singalong. The three-hour program, hosted by Tony Dokoupil and Nischelle Turner, aired Saturday from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET and originated live from the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C.
The booking carried more than nostalgia value. By putting a 1998 hit into the center of a semiquincentennial celebration, CBS leaned on familiarity as an organizing principle, pairing the Goo Goo Dolls with other widely recognized acts including Zac Brown Band, Jon Batiste and The War and Treaty. The effect was a soundtrack built to feel shared rather than specialized, a reminder that milestone television often reaches for songs viewers already know well enough to sing back.
CBS framed the broadcast as a coast-to-coast celebration of America’s 250th birthday, and the lineup reflected that scale. The special included select performances recorded at other July Fourth events across the country, with Queen Latifah appearing from the America 250 concert at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and The Roots and Jill Scott featured from the One Philly: Unity Concert for America in Philadelphia. CBS also incorporated moments from Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Charleston, New York, Mount Rushmore and Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
The program also marked the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, North Dakota, tying the holiday production to a larger civic and historical message. That blend of concert footage, landmarks and institutional milestones gave the special a museum-piece quality at times, but the music remained the engine. The Goo Goo Dolls’ “Slide,” a late-1990s staple, sat alongside contemporary and cross-genre names in a way that suggested the audience CBS wanted to reach was broad, multigenerational and comfortably mainstream.
Organizers said the night would culminate with what they called the largest fireworks show in American history over Washington, D.C., closing a broadcast designed to move from pop recognition to national spectacle in one uninterrupted primetime block.
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