Goo Goo Dolls

No matter how desperately loyal you might be to Minneapolis music, there’s no use begrudging the Goo Goo Dolls for taking the Replacements’ sound farther than the Replacements themselves ever could. As an enlightening exercise, erase the sales figures from your memory, spin the Goos’ new Gutterflower and Paul Westerberg’s new Stereo/Mono back-to-back, and ask yourself which act sounds more vital. That said, we still don’t change the station when one of Johnny Rzeznik’s endlessly soundtrack-friendly rock confections comes creeping through the speakers. From the pre-breakthrough anthem “We Are the Normal” (co-penned by Paul) to the critically undervalued Dizzy Up the Girl to the new stuff, there’s plenty to like about this trio that began as a drunken cover band in Buffalo, New York. And if you wanna boil it down to hooky singles from soundtracks to drippy romance movies, we’re uncomfortably split on the question of “Iris” versus “Dyslexic Heart.” While the rudiments of their writing may have moved toward the center, word is that the Goos still exploit the energy of live performance with bar-band enthusiasm. Northrop may not be 7th Street Entry, but it’s not Target Center, either. Northrop Auditorium, (612) 624-2345