The anticipation leading up to Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band’s Sunday night concert in HSBC Arena built over the months preceding the event, and became palpable over the course of the past 10 days, following the last sale of the last ticket for the show. By midday on Sunday, the city was Springsteen’s. There were folks hanging around looking for tickets, people hoping for a good spot in the pit based on the lottery wristband policy, and folks who’d just plain blown off the Bills game to come downtown early and tailgate.

Springsteen and Co. always draw, and draw big. But this time was different. First of all, Buffalo was the final stop on the “Working On A Dream” tour, and final shows on Springsteen tours are always killer. But the hint has lingered in the air, turned into a fait accompli in the minds of some fans, and a nagging tug of doubt in the minds of others — could this be the final E Street Band gig ever? Would Clarence Clemons’ health issues become too much for the “Big Man” to endure next time around? Had this magnificent band run its course?

Springsteen and the band weren’t offering any defining clues. In fact, this gig was so fiery, so passionate, so frankly youthful in its energy, its relentless pace, and its unfailingly evident belief in the power of rock ’n’ roll as an agent of transformation, that it seemed like the first gig by a new band than it did the final one from a crew of veterans.

In keeping with that idea, Springsteen opened with a brand new tune, the defiant “Wrecking Ball,” a song that could’ve been written for Buffalo — it’s a tune that stares economic dissolution in the eye and dares it to take its best shot.

From there, it took no time for the place to erupt, as Springsteen and band dug into the timeless “The River” for a pair of barnburners in the form of “The Ties That Bind” and “Hungry Heart.” Springsteen was in fine voice, his power undiminished by the passage of time, apparently. The title song from “Working On A Dream” followed, and its Roy Orbison-like cadences offered a more powerful attack on stage than in the song’s recorded form.

Springsteen then introduced his first album, the earthy, funky “Greetings From Asbury Park, N. J.,” which the band performed in its entirety, completing the cycle begun at the beginning of the fall leg of the “Working On A Dream” tour, which found the band playing every album from its inception through 1984’s “Born in the USA.”

Audio slideshow with Jeff Miers

“Greetings” was never really a full-on E Street Band album, mostly because the record failed to capture the band’s live sound, favoring instead a bohemian post-Dylan folk style that never really suited Springsteen. The songs, though, are magnificent, and the manner in which the band performed them on Sunday, can now take their place alongside the man (and the band’s) best work.

“Blinded by the Light” suggested the boardwalk funk that would flourish on the group’s second album, “The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle,” and handily outshone its studio version. “Growin’ Up” has shown up often in live sets over the years, and was stunning here.

But it was the rarely performed pieces like the dark, brooding “Mary Queen of Arkansas” and “The Angel” that offered the biggest surprises. These songs simply grew wings in their new arrangements. And of course, “For You” — a street poet’s take on the Romantic tradition in literature — simply reached its fingers into the chest and squeezed the heart for four minutes or so.

“Lost In the Flood” is Springsteen’s first proper epic, and it was played with bountiful fire on Sunday, particularly by the rhythm section of drummer Max Weinberg and bassist Garry Tallent.

“Greetings” completed, the band launched into a set that, in itself, probably would’ve justified the price of admission for most in the full house. “Waitin’ On A Sunny Day” led nicely into a poignant “Promised Land,” and then Springsteen mentioned longtime co-conspirator Steven Van Zandt, who happened to be celebrating his birthday.

Springsteen, following the presentation of cake and candles, introduced “Steve’s favorite song,” the “River” outtake “Restless Nights,” which was played beautifully and lent additional power by the harmony vocals of Van Zandt and singers Curtis King and Cindy Mizelle. Van Zandt also was treated to one of “Working On A Dream’s” most infectious tunes, the Byrds-like beauty “Surprise Surprise.”

The “request” section of the gig followed, and Springsteen— who’d spent much of the evening either reaching into the audience or diving headlong into it — gathered the signs begging for specific tunes from the crowd, while the band jammed its way through Booker T and the MG’s “Green Onions.”

A pair of holiday tunes — “Merry Christmas, Baby” and “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town”—were greeted tumultuously, as was the “Tunnel of Love”-era tour favorite “Boom Boom,” a cover of the John Lee Hooker tune.

The band just did not seem to want to stop, for reasons that were abundantly obvious — if this was indeed it, then one of the most passionate and powerful groups in history is saying goodbye. I don’t know, though. These guys seem to be just getting warmed up. I think they just might be back.

Regardless, Sunday’s show was absolutely sublime. It was everything a great rock ’n’ roll show should be — intense, joyous, deeply musical, irreverent, sensual, romantic, incredibly fun. No band does it better.

Concert Review

Bruce Springsteen and the EStreet Band

Sunday night in HSBC Arena