Bruce Springsteen on Disney+ Doc ‘Road Diary,’ Longevity and Audience Connection
London got a taste of The Boss on Friday evening.
Bruce Springsteen took to a smaller stage than he is used to in the British capital on Friday evening, discussing the concert documentary Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band during an event organized by Disney+, which will premiere the film with Hulu on Oct. 25.
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Following a screening of the doc, a Q&A that featured The Boss, who was welcomed with a standing ovation, long-time friend and band member Stevie Van Zandt and director Thom Zimny, as well as producer and Springsteen manager Jon Landau, provided additional insight. The session was moderated by Scottish radio DJ and TV host Edith Bowman.
“If you get the art right, the music right and the band right, you go out and play every night like it’s your last night on Earth,” Springsteen said about the longevity of the band. “That was the serial philosophy of the band, and we’re sticking to it.”
Van Zandt added that a shared vision rather than a focus on financial success was key. “This was a complete artistic adventure right from the beginning,” he said about the band. He also drew laughs when he highlighted that Springsteen was the band leader and offered that democracy doesn’t work for bands, so they need “benevolent monarchy.”
Springsteen and Van Zandt also highlighted that with advancing age, mortality has naturally become a bigger theme and topic for the band, which was a key part of the latest world tour that the film captures. “It’s all about mortality, but we balanced that with vitality,” said Van Zandt. “We are not going out quietly. We brought a hurricane!”
Asked how it was to watch the doc now, Springsteen quipped that he slept through most of it. But he later shared that the work onstage requires much focus. “The key is you have to look into the audience and find yourself. I look into the audience every night and can find myself in any individual,” he shared. “It could be a kid or anyone. The audience has to recognize themselves in you, too.”
Concluded Springsteen: “It’s a deep experience and connection that we’ve had with our fans for 50, 60 years. The night you look out, and you don’t recognize yourself, it’s the night you go home.”
Bob Geldof, filmmaker Gurinder Chadha, and actors Roschdy Zem and Viveik Kalra were among the people in attendance on Friday evening.
The film is touted as the “most in-depth look” at how the band prepares for live performances and features unprecedented behind-the-scenes access to its 2023-2024 world tour. Longtime Springsteen collaborator Zimny (Springsteen on Broadway) directed and executive produced it alongside Springsteen, Adrienne Gerard and Sean Stuart.
Road Diary features perspective from Springsteen himself, along with interviews with longtime musical collaborators, such as guitarist Van Zandt, drummer Max Weinberg, Landau, and wife and musician Patti Scialfa.
Springsteen, 75, is also set to get another film treatment. In April, 20th Century and Disney said they had landed Deliver Me From Nowhere. Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart) will write and direct the feature based on the 2023 book Deliver Me from Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska by Warren Zanes. The Bear star Jeremy Allen White is set to portray the Boss in the movie.
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