Goo Goos’ Inner Children

Toward the end of the Goo Goo Dolls’ rambunctious set at the Bren Events Center at UC Irvine on Wednesday, bassist and sometime vocalist Robby Takac pointed out with a certain aw-shucks charm that all he could think to say about the show was “This is fun, isn’t it?”

And the nearly full house of fun-loving concert-goers roared its approval. The Goo Goo Dolls can afford to have fun these days--it’s payback for the decade and a half of hard work the Buffalo, N.Y., trio has put into its music.

After three albums of scruffy Replacements-esque pop that culminated in 1990’s “Hold Me Up,” the Goos tempered their raucous edge, and the group’s output in the ‘90s has been dominated by a steady string of mature, radio-friendly pop rock tunes that waft into your head and stick there with Velcro-like tenacity.

But lurking behind the effortless adult rock facade of hits such as “Name,” “Long Way Down” and “Iris” are pleasantly piquant elements from the group’s past that only come to life on stage.

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Songwriting prowess aside, the Goo Goos pack the kind of impressive chops you’d expect from a band that’s been together a long time, though Takac, front man/heartthrob John Rzeznik and drummer Mike Malinin (plus touring band members guitarist Nathan December and keyboardist David Schulz) only flaunt them fleetingly.

Highlights of Wednesday’s set included jammy outbursts during “Naked” and “Flat Top,” which featured a brief detour into Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” as well as some striking fretwork from Rzeznik.

For the most part, though, the group’s seasoned playing manifested itself in a focused approach that kept the hour-plus set on track despite technical glitches that left the band suddenly unplugged during the encore and a distracting stream of bras, T-shirts emblazoned with declarations of love, and other clothing items directed at Rzeznik, who promptly incorporated them into his colorful, smart-alecky stage banter throughout the evening.

Earnest and energetic as Tonic’s opening set was, the Los Angeles-based trio, whose second album, “Sugar,” just hit the stores, doesn’t have the songwriting skills or the unruly edge of the Goos.

After making a grand entrance with the droning, epic prologue from Led Zeppelin’s “In the Light,” the group settled into an hour of songs that were competently played, reasonably engaging and full of heartfelt energy.