About 15 minutes before The Hold Steady hit the U.S. Cellular Stage Thursday night at Summerfest, a minor debate was raging near the Leinenkugel beer stand.

"We have to stay," a semi-hip looking guy in his early 20s told his female companion. "You're going to like these guys."

"I don't know," the girl said. "What do they sound like?"

"You have to hear them," the male companion said. "I think you're going to like them..."

"But, I kind of wanted to see O.A.R.," she said.

"Trust me on this one," the male said. "Give it a couple songs. If you don't like it, we can leave."

Conversations like this one may have been common Thursday night, where a large but not uncomfortable crowd treated first-time Summerfest visitors Craig Finn and The Hold Steady like old friends.

Maybe the hipster dude should have told his date that the group from Brooklyn by way of Minnesota is regarded as one of the better bar bands in America; that made it a perfect choice on a warm summer night.

The band, featuring Whitefish Bay native Galen Polivka on bass and Janesville's Tad Kubler on lead guitar, hit the ground running just after 10 p.m. and quickly converted the uninitiated with full-blast readings of "lyrically dense" songs like "Chips Ahoy," "Sequestered in Memphis" and "Slapped Actress."

Finn, dressed in a plaid shirt that looked like it came off the rack at Old Navy, played the role of the anti-frontman with aplomb, varying between speaking and shouting tales of love, breakups and debauchery while dancing spastically with nary a hint of self-consciousness.

Songs from the groups fifth studio album, "Heaven is Whenever," nestled among older tunes like "Constructive Summer" and kept the rapt attention of the crowd. While the sweeping nature and dense lyrics often draw comparisons to Bruce Springsteen, The Hold Steady owes more to Minneapolis pioneers like the Replacements, Husker Du and Soul Asylum.

For fans slightly disappointed that "Heaven is Whenever" was a step sideways rather than forward, the live show was a reaffirmation of the reasons they fell in love with the band in the first place. The band appeared in top form heading into a pair of homecoming shows slated for the weekend in Minneapolis, where their music is played regularly at Target Field and other sports venues.

In a recent interview about "Heaven is Whenever," Finn said: "When you're making your fifth record, you think, 'I'm not a household name, but maybe we're part of the establishment now...' I think the tone or the voice of the record is imparting wisdom.

"What I'm trying to say is, 'It's going to work out all right if you just know what you want to do.' A girl who interviewed me said she felt like it was a really cool older brother talking to you."

Sometimes, your older brother turns you on to cool music that makes you wonder "How come I never hear this on the radio?"