It's hard to say which was more to blame: Beck, with his sometimes over-adventurous sonic gimmickry; or the Roy Wilkins Auditorium, with its always sub-par, cavernous acoustics.

Either way, when the two met up Tuesday night in St. Paul, the results were messy, murky and maybe the most disappointing rock show of the year.

Beck is usually pretty reliable. The California-baked folk/rock/hip-hop collagist even rose above the Wilkins din in 2005 for a memorable show. Touring behind his new Danger Mouse-produced CD, "Modern Guilt," though, he seemed absolutely unhappy to be back.

Typically a ham between songs, the singer, 38, barely spoke a word, hid under a hat half the night and was about as animated as last week's presidential debate. He abruptly walked off without thanking the crowd before one encore, and finished at 90 minutes on the nose.

But who could blame Beck for wanting to cut this one short? His pleasant surprise of an opener, "Loser," was ruined by an intentionally grungy treatment unintentionally made worse by the terrible sound. The 4,000 or so fans had trouble singing along; it was that bad.

Things didn't improve much as he quickly tore through nine songs in a half-hour, including "Nausea," "Girl" and the new "Soul of a Man" -- each muddied by the rushed pace and crummy acoustics.

The low point of the concert was about as low as it gets. Beck and his four bandmates stood side-by-side holding digital beat machines and wearing microphone headsets to perform two songs semi-a-cappella. However, Beck was barely audible through his headset during "Hell Yes." Instead of just bagging the gimmick, they went into "Clap Hands" with whirring feedback filling in for his still-lost voice. Why don't you kill me, indeed.

The problems weren't all technical. Even the most pristine acoustics in the world couldn't have livened up the drab downers "Walls" and "Missing." Beck also tried a little too hard to update some of his standards. "Devil's Haircut" and "Think I'm in Love" were played in an extra-hazy fashion that sounded like when the Monkees tried to pass for a psychedelic rock band (or, for that matter, they sounded like opening band MGMT).

Things finally looked up near the end, with straight and mellow versions of the more-acoustic gems "Golden Age" and "Lost Cause." Then he encored with a fun, mod-rocky cover of Bob Dylan's "Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat." Unfortunately, it was one of many times it sounded as if Dylan was singing instead of Beck.

See Beck's full set list at startribune.com/poplife. chrisr@startribune.com • 612-673-4658