You know how people in a group get all hyped and silly when they're in front of a TV camera? A similar thing apparently happens when music stars know their performance is going to be on television.

That was case with Rascal Flatts Friday night at sold-out Xcel Energy Center -- a concert that was being filmed for a March 12 ABC television special. No, they didn't get all silly, but they sure seemed hyped.

Gary LeVox, lead singer of the superstar country trio, was looser, more enthusiastic and lighter on his feet than ever before. (Of course, he's lost so much weight of late that maybe he should be renamed Gary SlimFast.) That made the performance seem fresher, more focused and more fun than any of the Rascal Flatts' six previous Twin Cities headline shows.

Credit the 11 cameras (four on cherry pickers) at the X. Or maybe the three days of setup and rehearsal there. Or special guest Natasha Bedingfield, the British pop star who sang a duet with LeVox that's heard on Rascal Flatts' current "Nothing Like This" album.

The trio's current tour celebrates their 10th anniversary as a recording act. Rascal Flatts has sold 20 million albums, scored 12 No. 1 country hits and filled arenas, fairs and festivals thanks to their own kind of 4H Club: harmonies, hair, humor and heart-tugging songs. Their tunes tend to be built around simple emotions delivered by LeVox's choir-boy tenor, supported by the pretty, peerless harmonies of bassist/pianist Jay DeMarcus (LeVox's first cousin) and guitarist Joe Don Rooney.

DeMarcus, the resident cutup, joked about how the band receives e-mails complaining about songs not performed (he cited "My Wish"), and Rooney supplied the occasional hot guitar licks, including the Jimi Hendrix version of "The Star Spangled Banner" at the end of the Rascal Flatts hit "Unstoppable."

It would be easy to quarrel with Friday's set list, which included snippets of many rock classics. While the Eagles' "Take It To the Limit" was a cool showcase for the trio's vocal harmonies, the closing medley of straight-up covers of Boston's "Long Time," Kansas' "Carry On, My Wayward Son" and Edgar Winter's "Free Ride" seemed little more than an opportunity for LeVox to show off his high voice on the soaring rock on which he was raised. And closing the 105-minute concert with Rascal Flatts' own "Summer Nights" on the coldest night of the winter, frankly, seemed more cruel than ironic.

The two opening acts -- Chris Young and Luke Bryan -- didn't live up to Rascal Flatts' opening acts on their previous two Twin Cities tours, Darius Rucker and Taylor Swift.

For set list, go to startribune.com/artcetera Jon Bream • 612-673-1719