On a night when the Minnesota Twins capped an improbable two-month run to claim the American League Central, only minutes after St. Paul native Joe Mauer had snatched the batting title from Derek Jeter and the division from the ailing Detroit Tigers, a visibly moved Craig Finn took the stage in New York City: "You're gonna hear a little bit about the Twins tonight," he said.

At the merch table lay Boys and Girls in America, the Hold Steady's newest, and Irving was jammed with nakedly excited drunks, all jostling to wish the band well. Finn urged the crowd to call in sick the next day, pointing ominously at the double neck slung around guitarist Tad Kubler's neck. As with the new record, the concert began with Sal Paradise, but with a bit of a wink. "Boys and Girls in America, they have such a sad time together"-- except tonight, anyway.

Few New York bands in recent memory enjoyed their own crowd the way Finn & Co. did on Sunday night. As the band's parents blew bubbles from the upper deck, Finn threw Nixonian peace signs at the crowd until it roared back twice as loud. "Hi, we're the Hold Steady-- What are you guys doing here?"

Down the street the Mountain Goats were pulling down similar rapture and, in tribute, Finn held his hands up and formed a heart in the air. And though his manic, unpredictable timing was in fine form, we learned something about the band's newest material: these were songs as this band has never had before, anthems designed for help from massive crowds, pieces to be sung instead of talked out. "Massive Night"-- dedicated to "anyone who vomited at their senior prom"-- was almost dangerous in its swelling WHOA-OA-OA; as the song continued and continued to grow, amazement battled widespread grins across faces in the crowd.

Things returned home, as they do for the Hold Steady-- there was a stunning moment when Finn, yards away from the mic, echoed his own "bright new Minneapolis" line from "Party Pit", as if to himself-- when, mid-"Your Little Hoodrat Friend", Finn told the crowd that "Wherever you're from, one of the least attractive traits a person can have is disavowing where they come from...and this is where I'm from," before returning the song's City Center and the crowd's increasingly raucous cheers.

Finn announced a nearby afterparty before throwing first Budweiser, and then himself into the crowd. When he returned, he exhorted us to clap some more-- "You'll have just a little more fun, I promise"-- and then, now encore-clad in Twins legend Hosken Powell's 1979 baseball jersey, led the room in one last song ("Most People Are DJs", as close to a New York anthem as the band possessed) before heading off to the rest of the night.