WINNIPEG - They're still known best for this little radio ballad you might've heard of, but as The Goo Goo Dolls from Buffalo ably demonstrated on the weekend, they're much more than just one-trick ponies.

Playing to an enthusiastic Saturday night crowd of about 1,400, the alt-rock idols quickly reminded their fans that they've been plugging away at this music-biz stuff for more than two decades now. And during that time, they've cranked out some extre-e-mely catchy (and radio-friendly) rockers, before and after striking gold with The One That Everybody's Heard Of.

The band's core contingent -- frontman Johnny Rzeznik, bassist Robby Takac and drummer Mike Malinin -- took to the stage after an extended set of guitar noodling, and once joined by a backup guitarist and keyboard player, ripped into the opening chords of Stay With Me, from their latest disc Let Love In.

Clad in a black tank top and sporting a shag haircut (the latter a holdover from the band's late '90s heyday), Rzeznik proved to be an energetic and endearing presence, though we could have done with a little less of the studied point-at-the-balcony posturing he's so fond of. Takac, meanwhile, was happy to whirl around in Rzeznik's wake like a Ritalin-deprived court jester, grinning maniacally up at the audience while slapping the bejeezus out of his bass.

By the second song -- the bouncy hit Slide -- the template for the show had pretty much been set, and Rzeznik found himself with an entire floor's worth of fans willing to lend a hand during the choruses.

"It's OK to sing and yell and scream, and do all those things that stroke my ego," Rzeznik said half-jokingly, before spinning through Feel the Silence, Black Balloon, and Naked, then ceding the centre mike to Takac (who handled the lead vocals during the band's Replacements-influenced early days) for Smash and Tucked Away.

Though Takac's higher-pitched voice was harder to hear, he's clearly the hard-rockin' yin to Rzeznik's acoustically-inclined yang

Throughout much of their economic 75-minute set, the band seemed to be feeding off the audience's collective response, so it was especially fitting that they closed with a faithful cover of Supertramp's Give A Little Bit, with its time-honoured exhortation for "a little bit of your love."

Earlier in the evening, Hamilton troubadour Tomi Swick delivered a well-matched set of songs from his debut disc Stalled Out In the Doorway.