[8] The first group of shows ran through the end of the year in major media centers such as Los Angeles, the San Francisco area, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston.

[12] A family man with three small children at the time,[13] Springsteen took off the summer of 1996 and then started again in the U.S. in mid-September, playing smaller markets and colleges, as well as local stops in Asbury Park and his old St. Rose of Lima School in Freehold, and finishing in mid-December.

Advertisements tried to make this clear, and all show tickets were printed with Solo Acoustic Tour on them[18] to give audiences a firm understanding of what to expect.

The Asbury Park Press characterized a November 1995 Count Basie Theatre show as Springsteen "spinning his acoustic tales of desperation and hope ... he played with power and poise ...

"[20] The collection Hard Travelin': The Life and Legacy of Woody Guthrie, edited by Robert Santelli and Emily Davidson, found praise for the tour, saying the album's songs gained onstage and that the shows, "although hushed and void of the anthemic rockers that made him the greatest performer that rock has ever known, managed to bring Woody Guthrie back to life again.

"[5] Jimmy Gutterman's Runaway American Dream: Listening to Bruce Springsteen criticized the first leg of the tour for producing "the most dour performances of his career".

Several shows have been released as part of the Bruce Springsteen Archives: Greetings from Asbury Park, New Jersey The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle Darkness on the Edge of Town The River Nebraska Born in the U.S.A.