Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band play 2 sold-out benefit shows

ASBURYPARK, N.J. – Bruce Springsteen is performing two benefit rehearsal shows on the city’s boardwalk to give fans a preview of his new album and upcoming tour.\nThe shows, Monday night and tonight at the oceanfront Convention Hall, quickly sold out, with fans paying $100 to hear the Garden State’s favorite son perform on his home turf.\nConvention Hall isn’t far from the clubs – many now closed – where Springsteen and the E Street Band rose to fame in the 1970s. Springsteen has used Convention Hall for other pre-tour rehearsals in the past. A native of nearby Freehold, the 58-year-old rocker still lives in Monmouth County.\nSpringsteen and the band are set to begin a tour to promote their new album, “Magic,” which is due out Oct. 2. The tour will open with a show in Hartford, Conn., that night.\nOther concert dates include Oct. 9 and 10 at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, N.J., and Oct. 17-18 at Madison Square Garden \nin New York.\n“Magic” is the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer’s first album recorded with his longtime New Jersey mates since the Sept. 11-inspired “The Rising” in 2002. Their 15-month tour to publicize the album has sold out stadiums and arenas around the globe.\nAside from the atmospheric title track, “Magic” returns Springsteen to rock ‘n’ roll, and all 11 songs are new. He also released a solo acoustic effort, “Devils & Dust,” in 2005 and the folk-inspired “The Seeger Sessions” last year.\n“Magic” features guitarists Steve Van Zandt and Nils Lofgren, bassist Garry Tallent, drummer Max Weinberg, keyboardists Danny Federici and Roy Bittan, “Big Man” Clarence Clemons on saxophone, violinist Soozie Tyrell and vocalist Patti Scialfa, Springsteen’s wife.