Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band

When I saw The Boss and the E Street Band on tour this summer, I remarked to a friend that it felt like a farewell show. It wasn't sad, but there was an air of melancholy that stood in stark contrast to his prior visit ten years earlier.

Watching Road Diary, it's clear this was the intention, though probably not as a farewell. Springsteen and company are old now. They've lost friends and family. As he says in the heartbreaking Last Man Standing, Bruce is now the one who has to remember, as all others are gone.

It naturally leads to a more somber act that mixes the jubilant hits with sorrowful ballads and tender goodbyes.

But it's not a goodbye, at least that's what The Boss says. "After 50 years, it's too late to stop now."

In Road Diary, that's as close to Bruce and the band as you will get. Part documentary, part concert video, and with a helping of fan commentary, it's a bit of everything, yet very little of something.

We get stories of the early years on the road and tidbits of how long it took for the E Street Band to take off. There are funny moments with the band picking up where the mercurial Springsteen calls it a day. Time affords them familiarity, and in the best parts they share a portion of it with us.

But this is almost a hagiography. A Bruce-approved, written, and produced companion to the tour. It shows precisely what he wants us to see, and like his set lists, it's a precisely manufactured whole. In typical Springsteen style, that means it's hugely satisfying, but there's a level of fabrication and mythology that never allows us in.

Which is fine, after all, Bruce doesn't owe us anything more. But it also means that if you're a fan of the E Street Band, you won't learn anything new here. If you're not, you'll wonder at the prickly dealings with the band, and why Springsteen remains so aloof about certain topics.

When the focus is on the music, Road Diary soars: Bruce and the band still blow minds around the globe, just as Steve Van Zandt hopes they would. Fans speak of how much the music means to them, and how profoundly the hopes and dreams of these New Jersey natives have shaped the way we see the world.

It's here that Road Diary works best and leaves a lasting impact. If we can't hear it from Bruce in words, we can hear it in the music. After all, it's the music that has connected us throughout the decades, and it's a lasting conversation that will continue long after the last man standing has gone.

Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band is on Disney Plus now.