21:31

From The Guardian’s Lauren Gambino in Buffalo tonight...

After three false starts, a tuft of unruly white hair finally emerged from a sea of fresh-faced supporters. Bernie Sanders strode confidently to the podium and leaned forward, hands grasping the sides, eyes scanning the university stadium where more than 6,000 supporters encircled him.

Sanders pumped a fist in the air and the thunderous applause became impossibly louder. Outside, 5,000 more people who had sloshed through the wrap-around line to see him were not let into the arena.

“I can’t believe how many people are here,” he said, explaining that he had just come from greeting the supporters who stayed to watch a broadcast of the senator’s speech.

“This is a campaign on the move and your presence here tonight tells me how much energy and enthusiasm we have,” he said. The crowd banged their feet on the stadium seats and cheered.

The New York primary will be a consequential one for the Vermont senator who needs a strong showing, if not a win here, to prove his campaign has the momentum to justify a fight to the end. Sanders has won eight of the last nine nominating contests, yet has hardly dented Hillary Clinton’s significant delegate lead.

On Monday night, Sanders drew boos from the audience when he mentioned his opponent’s ties to Wall Street and hearty laughs when he called on her to release the transcripts of the paid speeches she gave to Goldman Sachs and other big banks.

The speech must have been good to get such a high speaking fee, Sanders chided, posturing whether it was written in “Shakespearean prose”.

“Buffalo,” Sanders carried on the joke. “Are you ready for this dramatic announcement? I am prepared to release all of the transcripts of all of the speeches … That’s pretty easy. There were no speeches.” The crowd roared with laughter.

Sanders went on to hit Clinton for taking money from super PACs, her vote to authorize the war in Iraq and her positions on fracking and trade.

“I voted against every one of these disastrous agreements,” Sanders said, goading cheers from a crowd of Buffalo residents battered by manufacturing job losses. “Secretary Clinton supported virtually every trade policy.”

But the loudest boos were reserved for the great Republican provocateur: Donald Trump, who was holding a rally in the state’s capital at the same time.

“I know a lot of Americans are worried about Donald Trump,” Sanders said. “It ain’t going to happen ... because national poll after national poll, we defeat Trump by double digits but it is also not going to happen because the American people understand that our strength is in our diversity and we will not allow Donald Trump to divide us up.”

Drawing his hour-long speech to a close, Sanders encouraged New Yorker to vote, promising them that with a large voter turn out, “we are going to win.”

“On April 19,” Sanders said, making his closing pitch, “New York can make history. Let’s do it!”