A really powerful show last night, as this was Springsteen : Solo and Acoustic. The audience was given instructions to keep quiet and seated. No flash, no cell phones, no intermissions, no food/beer sales once the concert started.

Bruce played for 2.5 hours, using various instruments: guitar, harmonica, piano, harp and ukulele. The audience remained relatively quiet, as instructed, which allowed the volume to be turned way down on certain parts of songs. He also used a special microphone to create distortion in a couple of songs, kind of like the sound from a 1940's phonograph.

The setlist was a good part from his latest CD "Devils and Dust", but plenty of others spanning the last 30 years. He pretty much stuck to the Steinbeck-type songs about the lives of people living in tough times, and the importance of family and faith. Songs that are both sad and inspiring.

This was not an E-Street band concert. No Born to Run, nor Born in the USA. No fist-pumping anthems. The sound and feel was something like that of Bob Dylan or Tom Waits. Plenty of between-song stories about his youth and inspiration, gave the feel of VH1 Storytellers.

Check this show out if he comes to your town.