WHICH rock star performed to average audiences of 25,000 people in 2002 and 2003... but is playing to a few hundred avid fans in the south this weekend?

It's a question to stump most pop quiz anoraks, but it really won't worry Nils Lofgren, one of rock's great unsung heroes and a guitar player respected around the world, too much.

Nils is in the UK for an 18-date acoustic tour, taking in the newly-refurbished 600-seater Brook in Southampton tomorrow.

As a key member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band since 1984, he has played before millions in theatres and stadiums around the world - including an estimated three million people in 120 concerts during The Rising tour.

But he's also a star in his own right and accompanied by Buck Brown, a member of his electric backing band, he's aiming to give his eager fans another taste of his songwriting ability and that distinctive voice.

His 36-year career really took flight as rock legend Neil Young's 17-year-old guitar player and after forming Grin he launched a successful solo career in 1979 which has seen him headline thousands of major concerts with his own band and produce many critically acclaimed albums.

The day before he left to fly to Britain, he was performing to thousands of fans at the final Vote For Change concert with Springsteen and his fellow E-Streeters, but said: "I'm really excited to come back to the UK. We're going to do an acoustic duo and we're in pretty good shape. I'm looking forward to letting people know we're still around and I'm hoping after I get back in November that we're going to start working on another solo record for my website."

Admitting that the days of lucrative record deals are behind him, Nils says: "The music business is just so crazy I just don't see myself hooking up with a record company anymore. With my website, it's much more grass roots. It's smaller numbers, but it's very authentic and it's really how I started 36 years ago."

But the electric guitar for which he's famed hasn't been packed away completely on this UK tour.

"The show is mainly acoustic, but I'll pick up the electric occasionally and do some soloing and stretching out and I'll go over to the piano and sit down and play the piano for four or five tunes," says Nils.

"We cover a lot of territory with a lot of different sounds, trying to keep it fresh for the audience."

Nils Lofgren is at The Brook, Portswood on Saturday, 23 October. Tickets: £24. Box office: 023 8055 5366.