Each decade has its true believers - the ‘70s had Bruce Springsteen, the ‘80s had The Replacements, the ‘90s had Guided by Voices, and the aughts have The Hold Steady.

For the length of an album or concert at least, these acts prove that rock ‘n’ roll has the power to move you, change you and bring you together with a room full of strangers.

Maybe The Hold Steady’s performance Saturday night at Czar in Ybor City wasn’t quite that magical. Craig Finn’s vocals were too low in the mix, and he’s got words and a a voice worth hearing.

Fortunately, many in the crowd knew the lyrics as well as Finn, seemingly, and sang them back to him throughout the set.

Technical carping aside, the set still was enough to justify the massive hype The Hold Steady has received since the release of its third album, “Boys and Girls in America,” in late 2006.

Finn didn’t look the part of a rock ‘n’ roll saviour. With his receding hairline, glasses and a beard that screamed “lost razor” more than “fashion statement,” he was the least rock ‘n’ roll looking member of his own band. His moves were similar to a young Elvis Costello - gawky, arms tight to his body, frequently seizing the microphone with both hands. But Costello never smiled this much, never openly gave himself over to the unabashed joy of making loud music with a great band the Finn did.

The band quotes easily from a host of rock ‘n’ roll sources - “Hot Soft Light” had a hard, Thin Lizzy swing, while “Southtown Girls” was Americana made epic by the swirl of guitars and Franz Nicolay keyboards.

Clad head-to-toe in black save for a bright red tie, Nicolay looked like a character from an early Springsteen song - surely he has Spanish Johnny on speed dial. Swigging from a bottle of wine, he was Finn’s suave foil and stage right cheerleader, taking the lion’s share of the background vocals and giving many of the songs a rich, epic feel with his keyboards.

The set closed with a slow-building “Killer Parties,” which gave Ted Kubler a chance to show off his guitar hero chops. Finn brought a large chunk of the crowd on stage, even handing over his guitar to a fan and finishing the song on Nicolay microphone. It was a fitting close to a set that suggested music as a unifying source isn’t such an antiquated idea after all.