It was almost unbelievable. There I was, in the Dane County Coliseum. Bruce Springsteen was playing one of his rock anthems, “Promised Land.” The 8,000 people in the place were sitting and so quiet you could hear a pin drop, were it not for the music emanating from the stage.

Of course the reason we were all so quiet, instead of singing along with our fists pumping in the air, was the intimate nature of last night’s concert. Billed as a solo acoustic show, Bruce alternated between playing guitar, piano, and even a pump organ on a few songs.

With the music so stripped down, the quality of Springsteen’s song writing skills were brought to the forefront. At times he even seemed to be channeling Woody Guthrie, or Bob Dylan — alone on stage with only his guitar and harmonica for accompaniment. That was especially true when he sang “Matamoros Banks,” a song about people crossing deserts, mountains, and rivers, just to enter the southern border of our country in search of a better life.

As expected, most of last night’s songs were from Springsteen’s latest release, Devils and Dust, including one of the best of the night, “Jesus Was an Only Son.” However, the back catalog was also well represented. Often when he played those older songs, the lyrics sounded familiar. But in their stripped down and reworked form, the songs were difficult to identify, until he got to the chorus. That was the case for me when he brought out a ukulele and sang “Growing Up.” In addition to being a nice surprise on the set list, “Blinded by the Light” was another example of the way Springsteen experimented with his songs in the intimate format.

Near the end of the show he expressed some regret for not performing in Madison for such a long time (apparently his last concert here was in the early 1980’s). He also told us that next time, he’d come around with the E-Street Band. Sounds good Bruce — count me in.