3 words for Yeah Yeah Yeahs - 'yes, yes, yes!'

After two previous First Avenue concerts that truly were something like a phenomenon (as one of her songs promises), Karen O had permanently asserted herself as one of rock's greatest roaring front women. Saturday's return engagement to Minneapolis' landmark club by her bound-to-be-legendary New York band, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, proved how well she can purr, too.

Simply put, not enough rock shows are as thrilling as this one. Even with a mellower, synthesizer-laden new album, the divinely devilish Miss O and her bandmates were able to grab the sold-out crowd from the get-go and not let go.

Their peculiar form of captivation started with the mere sight of the lanky but limber 30-year-old singer. She came out wearing what can best be described as a glow-stick facial wrap, under which she cooed the sly opening tune, "Heads Will Roll." The mask finally came off, the stage lights burst on, and guitarist Nick Zinner's amplifiers lit up for "Phenomenon."

Riotous moments like these are commonplace at Yeah Yeah Yeahs shows. After tearing through a string of similarly thrashing gems, though, including "Gold Lion," "Rich" and the frazzled new track "Dull Life," the concert took a new turn. And that's when things really got exciting.

With help from an auxiliary fourth band member who rotated between keyboards, guitar and bass (the latter a new thing for the YYYs), the group refocused on downbeat but more complex material. It started with the dark 2004 B-side "Miles Away," followed by the haunting, barren ballad "Skeletons," during which the crowd stood still and glued to the stage.

It says a lot about O's talent and sheer charisma that she was as mesmerizing standing in one place singing these tunes as she was bouncing around the stage wildly. She proved she has a pretty good soft singing voice, too. Zinner and drummer Brian Chase were equally impressive in the next two songs, creating an innovative, atmospheric, U2-ish drone in the digi-poppy "Softshock," which masterfully whirred straight into the bouncy new hit "Zero."

The classic Yeah Yeah Yeahs returned for the encore, seemingly recharged and hardened by the show's softer montage as they rolled through the howling scorcher "Date With the Night," their burning opus "Cheated Hearts" and their biggest hit, "Maps." Our first hint at the group's quieter mastery, "Maps" culminated with O creepily pulling her microphone cord across her throat as if she were committing rock 'n' roll suicide.

"Sometimes I think I'm bigger than the sound," she sang in "Cheated Hearts," and the lyric never sounded less like bragging.

See the YYYs' set list at startribune.com/poplife. Chris Riemenschneider • 612-673-4658