How Bruce Springsteen Doc ‘Road Diary’ Captures Band’s Live Magic and Uncertainty About His Future
Bruce Springsteen could sense that his current tour with the E Street Band would be unlike any of their previous efforts. Filmmaker Thom Zimny, who has collaborated with the music legend for the past 24 years, had the same hunch.
This feeling of capturing a unique moment in time, which began to take shape as the world emerged from the isolation of the pandemic, led to Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band. Premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 8 before hitting Hulu and Disney+ on Oct. 25, the documentary feature shows Springsteen and his bandmates coming together to shake off the rust before their first live shows together in six years, which they performed for audiences yearning for the return of live entertainment. (An exclusive clip from the movie can be seen above.)
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Road Diary not only features perspective from Springsteen himself but also interviews with longtime musical collaborators such as guitarist Steven Van Zandt, drummer Max Weinberg, manager Jon Landau, and wife and musician Patti Scialfa. In addition to highlighting the importance of communal experiences, the film shows the 74-year-old Springsteen, who has dealt with health issues in recent years, grappling with uncertainty about how much longer he can provide the electric live performances that have long been his signature.
“It became very clear to me that Bruce’s choices of songs, and the speeches that he had between songs, all reflected this moment of a conversation he’s having with his audience about his place in the world now — and an acknowledgment of the mortality,” Zimny tells The Hollywood Reporter. “Every one of the band members demonstrated this idea of gratitude to come back to this space of being with a live audience and have another chance to perform these songs everywhere. There was this sense and awareness of time.”
Among the film’s highlights are those interactions between Springsteen and the band that offer insight into their dynamics, given that the singer rarely allows recordings of his concert preparation. One memorable moment shows Little Steven organizing additional rehearsal for the band without Springsteen’s involvement, due to the guitarist’s personal concerns that the group wasn’t yet ready to perform. These behind-the-scenes moments reminded Zimny why he first fell in love with Springsteen’s music as a 16-year-old New Jersey native who would ride his bike along the state’s coastline.
“The unspoken language of collaborating with a band is what I was trying to share with a viewing audience as a filmmaker: the band leader, Bruce, [and] the musical director, Stevie,” Zimny says. “Those are the things that are hard to capture in film because you have to be around for a long time, and they happen in glimpses and moments.”
By coincidence or not, Road Diary will be available for streaming less than two weeks before the U.S. presidential election. While the film doesn’t focus on politics, it’s clear that Springsteen — who has been a staunch critic of Donald Trump and whose music was part of President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign — has a knack for uniting listeners, regardless of where they stand on the aisle.
“The fans all talked about their sense of community and that, in this space of the concert halls, things were a little less lonely in the world,” Zimny shares. “I tried to find that with eyes — eyes taking in the show. I really wanted to have a film that conveyed that universal idea of music being a positive force in our lives, and this being a community that went beyond politics or anything like that. It is just a space to feel alive again.”
Coming out at a time when music-focused films (think Bob Marley: One Love and Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour) are as successful as ever, Road Diary includes interviews with young followers to underscore Springsteen’s continued relevance. Also likely to increase interest in his catalog among Gen Z music fans is Deliver Me From Nowhere, the forthcoming biopic from 20th Century Studios that stars The Bear standout Jeremy Allen White as Springsteen when he was recording the emotive 1982 album Nebraska. Zimny says of that movie, “It wasn’t really part of the doc, but at the same time, as both a filmmaker and a fan, I’m thrilled to hear about it and can’t wait.”
Ultimately, the director’s aim with Road Diary is that it feel similar to attending a Springsteen concert. “You want your film to be loud, exciting, emotional [and with] moments of humor, and that at the end of it, you step away with an understanding of yourself that you never imagined you would get when you stepped into the concert,” Zimny says. “My hope with Road Diary is that you recognize some of the beauty of the experiences with Bruce — and learn some things about yourself.”
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