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TORONTO - Bruce Springsteen has two musical personas. The best-known -- and most beloved -- is the wild rock 'n' roll leader of the E Street Band who last visited these parts with a feverish show in September 2003 at SkyDome.
And then there's the more serious, acoustic folk troubadour who plays alone on stage, like Springsteen did way back in January 1996 at Massey Hall during his first-ever solo acoustic tour.
Last night, Toronto fans saw the return of the more contemplative singer-songwriter as his one-man show landed at the wildly inappropriate Air Canada Centre in support of his latest solo album, Devils & Dust, released in April.
If ever there was a concert crying out for an intimate setting, this was it.
Instead, about 8,000 people -- who snapped up tickets for the ACC's concert bowl setting in one day -- found themselves watching him perform alone in a hockey arena.
Thankfully, it was Springsteen before them playing on a theatre-like stage complete with curtains, chandeliers and moody lighting, along with two smallish video screens.
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There's a reason they call this guy The Boss, who is a riveting storyteller, especially when you're forced to really listen to the words.
"I can use as much quiet as I can get tonight, other than that, enjoy yourselves," Springsteen cautioned concert-goers, who never-the-less whistled and yelled "Bruuuuce!" whenever they felt the urge.
Later in the two-hour-and-10-minute show, while introducing the new song, Long Time Comin', he asked people to hold off on the whistles until the end of the tune.
"I go crazy when I hear that," he said.
The 55-year-old New Jersey native opened with a stirring rendition of Into The Fire, from his 9/11-inspired release, 2002's The Rising, which was made with the E Street Band.
Given the terrorist attacks in London one week ago, it seemed an appropriate choice.
But it didn't take long for Devils & Dust to rear its head with the title track, another emotional highlight of the evening.
And while Springsteen may have not been backd by a band, he brought enough instruments with him, alternating between playing piano, harmonium, organ, acoustic guitar and harmonica.
He also played with his vocals, sometimes backing away from the microphone, while other times using vocal distortion or a falsetto voice for mixed results.
Set standouts included The Rising's Empty Sky and the title track, Long Time Comin' - which he dedicated "to the moms and pops," Highway 29 from 1995's The Ghost Of Tom Joad, the new songs All I'm Thinkin' About, Reno, The Hitter, and Matamoros Banks, 1987's Brilliant Disguise and 1978's The Promised Land.
Springsteen also shined whenver he explained how a song came about, like the 1972 gem, For You, saying it was one of the first love songs he ever wrote because his father told him growing up they were government propaganda to encourage people to get married and pay taxes.
Or the new song, Jesus Was An Only Son, in which the lapsed Catholic talked about imagining Jesus owning a bar with Mary as the barkeep.
"There's something about those bartenders," said Springsteen with a grin.