What was up with the sound at Bob Seger's concert?

We know it's not Xcel Energy Center because sonically, it's one of the finest arenas in the country. But Seger's 14-piece Silver Bullet Band sounded inexplicably muddy throughout the 130-minute performance Thursday. It was so bad that a professional who works in the concert business texted me three times during the show complaining about the sound.

Oddly, the sound was much more clearly defined up in the press box, where I went to write my review and heard the final five songs. And I've never experienced superior sound in the press box high above the arena floor; in fact, usually the sound is inferior up there.

In my review, I kind of flippantly attributed the muddy sound to a throwback to the days of old. Just like when people held up lighters (not the de rigureur cell phones) during "We've Got Tonight" at the X. Just like the set list.

Didn't have space in the review to give props to saxophonist Alto Reed for his solos, especially during "Turn the Page" when he started wistfully and ended up sounding lonely.

Here is the set list:

Roll Me Away/ Trying To Live My Life without You/ The Fire Down Below/ Mainstreet/ Old Time Rock 'n' Roll/ Downtown Train (Tom Waits)/ Ramblin' Gamblin' Man/ Real at the Time/ Good for Me/ Shinin' Brightly/ Travelin' Man/ Beautiful Loser INTERMISSION (all 8 minutes of it) Nutbush City Limits / Come To Poppa/ Her Strut/ Twin Silver Line/ We've Got Tonight/ Turn the Page/ Sunspot Baby/ Horizontal Bop/ Katmandu ENCORE Against the Wind/ Hollywood Nights ENCORE 2 Nights Moves/ Rock 'n' Roll Never Forgets