Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band
(USA, 99 min.)
Dir. Thom Zimny
Programme: Gala (World Premiere)
It’s certainly unsurprising for people following Thom Zimny’s career that his latest film is another doc about Bruce Springsteen. Ever since Wings for Wheels, an exceptional look at the recording of The Boss’ Born to Run record, Zimny has served as an official chronicler, capturing the magic of Springsteen on Broadway, coming to TIFF with a look at the Western Stars record, and providing similar insight into the rocker’s latest recording, Letter to You back in 2020.
With Road Diary, Zimny wisely turns his focus onto perhaps the most dynamic part of Springsteen’s legacy: the live concerts for which he is so beloved. The residency on Broadway was an anomaly, of course, allowing the musician to not only be in one place for an extended time, but to be stripped of all the pomp and power of his multi-hour stadium shows and bring the narratives of his song writing into a focussed environment.
Road Diary, meanwhile, showcases the latest concert tour, taking place some six years after the reformed E Street band had played in front of live audiences. Fans are granted unique access to the origins of the tour, from casual rehearsals to run-throughs in an empty New Jersey stadium to raucous rock crowds captured during these 2023 shows.
While most of Zimny’s previous films have justifiably been centered directly on Bruce and his thoughts and feelings about the records, here the band members themselves get a chance to deliver their own reflections on their decades backing up the man. Tales of road weariness and sleeping in camper vans are contrasted with the modern mega shows, and the likes of drummer Max Weinberg, keyboardist Roy Bittan, bassist Gary Talent, and the “new guy,” the guitarist who’s been with the band since the late-1970s, Nils Lofgren, all provide entertaining and informative reminiscences.
The members discuss the various ways they integrate their sound into the whole, talking about the challenges and triumphs of transforming the songs from record to their live iteration. Joined by other newer members of the band, including those in the E Street Choir, the E Street Horns, and so on, each person receives an opportunity to reflect upon their craft and their place in the show.
In this way, it echoes in part Morgan Neville’s Oscar-winning 20 Feet from Stardom, a film in which Springsteen himself was a major participant, with Road Diary essentially asking each of these artists to momentarily take that walk downstage and be the center of attention.
The most famous current member of the E Street ensemble, apart from Max thanks to his appearances for years in Conan O’Brien’s band in the period when Springsteen disbanded his core group (part of the history notably absent here in the glowing, celebratory doc), is, of course, Steven Van Zandt. Little Steven’s role as Silvio on The Sopranos would surely be enough for pop-culture immortality, but here the guitarist is given his due, somewhat sardonically noting that he’s been dubbed on this tour the official musical director “some forty years too late, but who’s counting?”
It’s Van Zandt who takes on the task of rehearsal after Springsteen, normally a stickler for hours of preparation, has learned to delegate. This is but one aspect of a changing dynamic whereby the stuff in front of crowd may still be at full effort, but other elements are showing what charitably may be called a greater efficiency from the leader at delegating, or perhaps less kindly a sign that even Springsteen is slowing down a bit as the years catch up.
The current tour is far more structured than previous ones, where often Springsteen would pull placards from the patrons and challenge the band to on the spot perform the tune. This kind of wild chaos could be exhilarating, but the looseness meant that some of the precision was also sacrificed.
The current tour takes lessons from the Broadway gig, where the same songs played in the same order in a narratively satisfying way, and doing the same with elements from Springsteen’s vast catalogue of songs. The likes of “Last Man Standing,” a deeply intimate song from his 2020 record about the nature of mortality, is buttressed against a driving take on “Badlands,” one of the standout tracks on his Darkness on the Edge of Town album, which, unsurprisingly, Zimny also has made a fine documentary about the recording of.
From Springsteen’s partner on and off stage Patti Scialfa discussing her reduced role due to a cancer diagnosis, to reflecting upon the loss of core E Street members Danny Federici and “The Big Man” Clarence Clemons, the notion that these are aging rockers is never far from the fore, and that they’re racing down the road while they can. The late-saxophonist Clemons, so integral to both the sound and the image of Springsteen’s music, is now joined on stage by Clarence’s nephew Jake. Playing his uncle’s horn and mouthpiece, it’s a direct familial connection that has been continuous for half a century from the tiny clubs in Red Bank and Asbury Park to the massive crowds of today.
While Springsteen appears immortally young, there are signs that he needs to fight the tendencies of older age slipping in. Max reflects bemusedly that during rehearsals the tempo was way down, and they had to look back at some of the explosive excitement of the shows of their youth to bring back some of that electricity. Springsteen wears wristbands to protect against injury, and the others surely won’t be confused for being part of a teenage rock combo.
However, the youthful exuberance that may be lost is replaced by unparalleled experience, and the ability of this group of musicians to truly rock out is a thing to behold. Along with additional musicians and singers, the current iteration has a direct link to the soul reviews from the likes of Sam and Dave or James Brown, the hard rockin’ shows of Springsteen’s 1970s’ heyday, and the anthemic stadium celebrations that characterized the Born in the USA heyday.
The film also hears from fans from all over Europe, members of Springsteen’s congregation that gather at these shows year after year to take in his epic performances that consistently run over three hours. Their shared love is palpable, but the most singular thing they provide is a sense that, after the COVID lockdown, one needs to take in these communal experiences while one still can. At the end of the day one will surely only regret the Springsteen show that one missed, not the one they sacrificed time and money to attend.
In the end, Road Diaries is little more than an unadulterated, unabashed celebration of this period of Springsteen’s career, letting members of the band to shine, and providing footage from this run of live shows. For fans, this is obviously more than enough to justify seeing. For others who really don’t get what the big deal is, or audiences who have never lined up early for wristbands to get into the “pit” and try to get close to the stage, they may see why the world of live entertainment is where Springsteen truly is The Boss.
