Danielle Solzman
Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band gives fans a front seat in this intimate doc about the band’s 2023-2024 tour.
In my history, the combo of Thom Zimny and Bruce Springsteen never disappoint. Zimny got the opportunity to be a fly on the wall during the latest tour. The results are stupendous but I would not expect anything different. My only complaint about this documentary is that it is not longer. Okay, okay, I really just wanted to experience the full three-hour (and change?) concert. We’re talking about Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band here! If you were not able to take in one of the band’s concerts, this is certainly the next best thing.
The 2023-2024 tour was the band’s first tour since before the pandemic. Letter to You was recorded in November 2019 with a plan to tour in 2020. Unfortunately, Covid-19 meant having to place their tour plans on the back burner. Only the Strong Survive was a Springsteen cover album in 2022 and did not feature the E Street Band. However, the album features “Nightshift,” which is sung on the tour. All this is to say is that it had been a long time since they were on the road together because of the pandemic. All these years later, the band still feels the losses of keyboardist Danny Federici and saxophonist Clarence Clemons. If you ever attend a concert, you know that they always pay tribute to them. Jake Clemons has carried on his uncle’s legacy in playing saxophone while also making it his own.
As things started shaping up for the tour, they gathered around to rehearse in Red Bank, N.J. After a few weeks shaking off the cobwebs and deciding on a setlist, the band would head over to a local arena to start preparations on staging. The rehearsals are led by either Bruce or Stevie Van Zandt. From there, it’s the daunting task going on tour, gear and all. It’s an intimate look at their process not just throughout the tour but the backstage moments that we wouldn’t be able to see otherwise.
“There are two things I try to accomplish in rehearsal,” Springsteen says. “One, you’ve got to shake the cobwebs off the band, off of all those years of inactivity. And two, you’ve got to find your setlist. That setlist is going to communicate the story you are trying to tell your audience this time around. The 25 songs I chose to focus on complete the narrative for what I wanted to say and it would let the audience know who I am at this point in my work life.”
The setlist makes for about a three-hour show. It’s the Boss so there are no complaints here. Well, except for not being able to attend one of their concerts since 2012.
Through intimate interviews with the E Street Band, we get an idea of how they feel about Bruce or the band. Drummer Max Weinberg had been disgusted with what rock had become in the early 70s. But in Bruce Springsteen, he saw a musician that brought it all back. Guitarist Stevie Van Zandt mentions how seeing Sam and Dave shows left an incredible impression on them. Springsteen’s wife, Patti Scialfa, reveals that she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2018 and this makes it tougher to go on tour.
“Bruce has tremendous confidence,” says Jon Landau, Springsteen’s manager and co-producer. “He knows these guys–they care.”
“It takes a lot of thought and detailing to make it all look tight and to be spontaneous at the same time,” Weinberg says.
During the tour, “Backstreets” leads into the roller coaster that is the rest of the show. The E Street Band leaves after performing “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out.” This song is the story of the band’s formation and it’s always a good tribute to the late Clarence Clemons with “Big Man joined the band.” Springsteen gives them a thumbs up and a pat on the back as they leave. He stays on with an acoustic guitar to tie up the show while singing “I’ll See You in My Dreams.”
“I stuck closely to the original setlist on the tour because it told the story I wanted to communicate: life, death, and everything in between,” says Springsteen. “Playing music as you get older is an interesting and tricky business. I plan on continuing until the wheels come off and for as long as the band will follow me. There’s one thing I know–after 50 years on the road, it’s too late to stop now.”
I’ve seen a good amount of music docs this year. What sets this one apart from so many of them is that it is not a career-spanning documentary. Well, maybe I should say partial career-spanning because so many others just focus on the earlier career. While Thom Zimny and Bruce Springsteen do spend some time on his time with The Castiles, it’s only because of telling a story when performing “Last Man Standing.” Springsteen is the last surviving band member of his 1964-68 high school band and so he does quite a bit of reflection. The big focus of the film obviously remains the tour and this is where the documentary does its job so well. It is very different from what they sought to do with Western Stars in 2019 or Bruce Springsteen’s Letter to You in 2020.
Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band is a must-watch for any fan of the Boss. It is one of the best music documentaries of the year. Hell, it’s one of the best documentaries of the year, too!
DIRECTOR: Thom Zimny
SCREENWRITER: Bruce Springsteen
FEATURING: Bruce Springsteen, Patti Scialfa, Roy Bittan, Nils Lofgren, Garry Tallent, Stevie Van Zandt, Max Weinberg
Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band will premiere October 25, 2024 on Hulu and Disney+. Grade: 5/5
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