David Lee Roth, the flamboyant lead singer of Van Halen, once said that "rock critics like Elvis Costello because rock critics look like Elvis Costello."

If that's true, it stands to reason that rock critics like The Hold Steady because rock critics look like The Hold Steady. But they also like The Hold Steady because The Hold Steady is awesome, which the band proved last night at Lulu’s Nightspot, 129 1/2 Pugh St.

It’s amazing that a group of such average-looking guys — sporting receding hairlines, ungroomed beards and conspicuous glasses — can be anything but average. The band kicked off its night with five songs from its most recent release, Boys and Girls In America, energizing the crowd immediately.

That energy never faded, and it took a whopping 45 minutes into the set before The Hold Steady took the momentum down a notch with the balladic "First Night." But even when the pace went from frenetic to soothing, the band built up to an emotional climax to end the song on the same level of energy at which it started.

Craig Finn, the band's lead singer, sings with the same prosodic delivery live as he does on studio albums, cramming a mouthful into a single line of a song. But in concert, he also adds vocal affectations and dynamics to every word, changing emphasis here and there. It not only changes the tone of the song, giving it new meaning, but it also connects the story to the audience.

He sings with his hands like some people speak with theirs. He gets as close to the audience as possible, hanging off the front edge of the stage. He forces the crowd to sing and clap with him, like on the infectious chorus of "Chips Ahoy," but all along the audience was looking for an excuse to sing and clap anyway. Everyone ends up happy.

Finn doesn't so much sing with the crowd, but he makes the crowd sing with him. He sounds like your new best friend, staying up and telling stories all night long.

But the emphasis on Finn's novel-with-musical-accompaniment vocal style isn't meant to take away from the greatness of the rest of the band. Lead guitarist Tad Kubler played solos like he was shooting lasers from his guitar. Pianist Franz Nicolay's riffs filled the room, sinking into the walls and shooting through the audience, all while he jumped and shouted along with everyone else in the crowd.

Finn gave his props to opener Illinois, hinting that it wouldn't be the last time the two bands played together. Illinois deserved the support, having put on a rocking set of its own. But the Bucks County natives had no chance of matching The Hold Steady. Then again, most bands don't.

While The Hold Steady’s first half of the set was all energy, eventually all good things must come to an end. Each song carried a role in the set list, going from the success story of “Chips Ahoy” to the debauchery of "Party Pit" to the hangover of the set’s closer, "Killer Parties." The show went from ecstatic to despondent. But in sharing that despondency with the crowd, The Hold Steady made everyone ecstatic.