Critical and Commercial Reaction
The show was definitely a challenge to its audience, especially when presented in a cavernous arena. Casual Springsteen fans, if they came at all, would leave a bit bewildered. The faithful often found the shows rewarding. In retrospect, however, some fans wondered if some of the limitations of the tour might have been overcome if Springsteen had stuck with his original small-band lineup. However, others believe the Devils and Dust tour was Springsteen at his best, creating some of the most exciting shows longtime fans have ever seen. Springsteen played a total of 140 different songs during the tour. Few artists have ever played such a large variety of songs during one tour. Springsteen showcased his musical talent and made fans want to follow him on tour from the excitement created by so many different songs being played each night. The Devils & Dust material had been the ones most using the offstage instruments, and these fans believed even more would have helped, as effective large-group versions of that album's "Devils & Dust" and "Long Time Comin'" proved on the following year's Sessions Band Tour.
Critical reaction to the Devils & Dust Tour was generally favorable. Daily Variety reviewed a Los Angeles show by saying, "On a night that can be described as nothing short of magical, his solo show was a dream come true ... nearly every moment in the 2½-hour show resonated with truth." Billboard called the show "spare and pensive", noting that "the artist has consistently changed up the set list and reinvented dozens of songs from his more than three-decade career." The local Asbury Park Press portrayed Springsteen's attitude during the show as " has seen some things, heard some things and done some things — most of them terrible, some of them extraordinarily wonderful. As the pilgrim stands before the crowd, he makes no grand pronouncements. He seems puzzled by both the evil and the beauty in the world." LA Weekly was less impressed, objecting to Springsteen's choice of unfamiliar material and that he "insists fans neither clap nor sing along." New Jersey's Upstage magazine liked the show in general, but felt that the use of off-stage musicians was unsettling, saying "the idea of a solo acoustic tour loses something when it features other musicians who are neither given credit for their work nor seen on stage." (In the final two shows of the tour, Springsteen brought out and introduced the off-stage keyboard player, Alan Fitzgerald, and played with him on-stage.) The Austin American-Statesman found the show uneven, with Springsteen unlikely to gain new fans from it.
Attendance was disappointing in a few regions where Springsteen's drawing power had gradually been showing weakness, and everywhere but in Europe tickets were easier to get than in the past. Nevertheless, the tour did well commercially overall. Billboard reported that "Springsteen's stripped-down Devils & Dust tour did big business in 2005, grossing more than $33.4 million from 65 shows reported to Billboard Boxscore, 46 of them sellouts."
The Devils & Dust Tour subsequently won the Billboard Roadworks '05 Touring Award for Best Small Venue Tour, an award based on sales.
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