Near the start of Matchbox Twenty's set Tuesday at Mohegan Sun Arena, singer Rob Thomas told the crowd, "For the next hour, hour-and-a-half, let us be the house band for your good time."

Mission accomplished.

MB20 fired up the packed arena with a set that bounced with more of a rock edge and invigorating energy than the songs have on record. Frontman Thomas held sway with his expressive, idiosyncratic voice and his rock-star-by-way-of-Everyman presence. (I did, though, miss the between-song comic patter Thomas serves up so engagingly in his solo concerts.)

While Thomas was wonderful, rhythm guitarist Paul Doucette proved to be the real sparkplug of the evening — moving and dancing and attacking his guitar work like a pint-sized Lindsey Buckingham. And he'd occasionally bang on a drum or pound on a piano for good measure. That guy gives intensity a good name — fun, fun, fun.

Indeed, the musical camaraderie between all the MB20 men was part of what made the evening work so well.

Well, and the songs are kind of catchy, too. Some of the songs from the new "North" CD — MB20's first album in five years — drew as passionate responses from fans as the older hits; the quirky, jangly "She's So Mean" and the dramatically building "English Town" were stand-outs.

MB20's current tour has them co-headlining with the Goo Goo Dolls, and it's a kindred-spirits bill. Each band has been together for a long time (MB20 formed in 1995, the Goos in 1985) — reuniting even after lengthy breaks in between projects. Both hit it big with radio-omnipresent pop-rock tunes in the late 1990s, led by the monster hits "Iris" (Goos) and "3 A.M." (MB20). Both just released their first new albums in a few years.

And both are compelling in concert.

While the Goo Goo Dolls couldn't match MB20's sheer electricity, they were still plenty good. Johnny Rzeznik's vocals were strong and his guitar-playing effective. So was his understated humor.

Introducing "Name," Rzeznik noted that he wrote at age 14 and released it when he was 28. It was, he said, what really started the Goos as a band and changed their lives. He joked, "This one is so old, sometimes I forget the words."

He had something to say about the new ones, too, from the June release "Magnetic." At one point, Rzeznik said, "You know what time it is? It's time to learn a new song."

And he wasn't kidding about learning it: the words were helpfully projected on a screen above the band. "Come to Me" is a beautiful love song, with a lilting grace to it. Often, new songs just mean time for fans to head to the bathroom or the beer line, but concert-goers cheered after this tune with genuine enthusiasm.

"Now, see, wasn't that fun?" Rzeznik said.

As was, of course, "Iris," which is not only the Goo Goo Dolls' biggest hit but was also recently named the top song in the 20 years of Billboard's pop songs chart. That sweeping, grandly romantic piece still has the power to get an arena full of folks singing and swaying.

And a side note: Goo Goo bassist Robby Takac stepped up to sing lead a trio of tunes — with his weirdly nasal, pinched singing voice ... that I've somehow grown to really like over the years. So sue me.