Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band Documentary Review

I have some history with “The Boss.” I have been listening to Bruce Springsteen since I was around seven years old. My dad would play the Born In The USA album in the car all the time. One song I remember distinctly is “I’m Goin’ Down,” which is still my favorite Springsteen track to this day. 

As I started to watch the 2024 documentary, one thing I noticed was the amount of honesty Springsteen always has. He is a very honest person, whether it’s an article, his music, or documentary; you get the real Springsteen. 

The documentary begins with Springsteen on stage and, then, fades to him back in the studio and talking about how COVID changed everything. “[I] wanted to have the biggest party,” he said on his current tour. The beginning of this documentary is chill and you feel like you're there with him and the band rehearsing. It’s humbling. 

The documentary introduces each member with them talking about their time with the band and how they got started which I find very interesting. 

The current setlist for his show is thirty-two  songs, around two to three hours of music. He wanted to go through his eras of music and catalog and play songs he had never played before. One song that stood out to me on the tracklist was “No Surrender,” which is personally one of my top five Bruce tracks.

As Springsteen  got older, the band played slower and so did he. One thing I admire so much is that he gives it his all, just like he did in the start. Springsteen is really the glue that keeps them together. He is the one that started this whole band. Without him, they would have no jobs, and he would be working in a factory in Jersey.

I was very happy to learn about Clarence Clemons, who was the trumpet player for the E Street Band. I had always wondered about him mainly because of watching the “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” music video because he had always really stood out to me. They had a very close relationship and, as Springsteen refers to him as “highly irreplaceable.” Clemons’ nephew took the spot of him in the band when he left. 

Springsteen’s work ethic is highly admirable to me. His band members talked about the metaphor of them being a train at a stop. Once the train is at the stop, they will work non-stop until they get it right. I love that.