Music

In the new Thom Zimny documentary Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band — which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last night (Sept. 8) and premieres on Disney+ and Hulu on Oct. 25 — we see under the hood of arguably the best live performer in rock ‘n’ roll, as The Boss meticulously “shakes the cobwebs” off his colossal band in preparation for their 2023-2024 world tour.  

After being forced off the road for six years because of the global pandemic, during which he turned 70, Springsteen chose the setlist with care and precision to “let the audience know who I am at this point.” At its core, though, Road Diary is about exceptional commitment and a lesson to all bosses on how to be firm and respectful to get the best out of the people who work for you, something Springsteen alluded to in the post-screening Q&A.

Zimny, who directed other Springsteen’s docs (2019’s Western Stars, 2018’s Springsteen on Broadway, 2010’s The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town, 2005’s Wings for Wheels: The Making of Born To Run) and countless music Springsteen videos, sat with The Boss, his manager Jon Landau and E Street guitarist and musical director Steve Van Zandt in the balcony of Roy Thomson Hall. Together, they watched the first public screening along of Road Diary with 2600 other people, including the Governor of New Jersey, Phil Murphy. 

On the red carpet before the screening, Zimny told Billboard, “I was hoping with the film to give the casual fan a sense of Bruce, but also the über fan approach. What I wanted to show was there’s elements of a brotherhood that you see in how they first greet each other — nothing is staged, none of it is rehearsed. I sat there for days filming them, and what came across for me — and what I think is unique compared to the other docs — was this musical language that they have, where they work out songs… So, I think, the big surprise is how deep that bond is. You see it in the footage, and then you see them share that with the crowds.”

Interspersed with that beautiful bond is Springsteen’s current mindset: bracing his own mortality. From being the only surviving member of from his first band, the Castiles, which he joined at 16 (captured in the song “Last Man Standing”), to the “terrible blows to the [E Street] Band” when Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici died too young — in 2011 and 2008, respectively — and the final scene of Springsteen dancing with his mom, Adele — who died in February at 98 (and to whom Road Diary is dedicated) — Springsteen, now 74, is feeling nostalgic, contemplative, appreciative and a little bit melancholy.

There is also a brief but startling revelation in the documentary when his wife — and band member — Patti Scialfa, 71, says she received a diagnosis in 2018 of early-stage multiple myeloma (blood cancer), which she says “affects my immune system” and makes it “challenging” to tour.

Still, despite the undercurrent of “I’m getting old,” Road Diary is more joyous than anything — which is no surprise to any Springsteen fan, given the still-jubilant nature of his live shows. It serves as a blueprint for how a band can still sell out arenas and stadiums around the world many decades after its formation, from Springsteen’s meticulous guidance of the E Street Band to his six-cylinder live presence — and, as the doc reveals, getting in the gym the next morning after a show. Plus, as he promises in the film (and has recently affirmed on tour), he plans on “continuing until the wheels come off. After 50 years on the road, it’s too late to stop now.” 

Though fans know there are often spontaneous moments in concert — though fewer on the current outing than in years past — Road Diary shows the high level of planning and practice that go into each show.  

On the red carpet, Van Zandt tells Billboard that even 50 years later, there’s no strolling into rehearsal with a “‘Sorry I’m late. I overslept.’ No, that would be a different band,” he says with a loud laugh. “This movie does lift the curtain, the backstage curtain, the rehearsal curtain. I’m not sure we’ve ever done that to this extent. So, you’re gonna see the band [and] how it works.”

Springsteen’s long-time manager Landau tells Billboard he likes how Zimny includes archival footage that shows “the history of the emergence of Bruce as a performer,” from the shy teen that Van Zandt met when they were both teens, “into what we think is the greatest live artist in the world. We try to show how that happened.” Though the doc includes a good deal of footage from the current tour, Landau says, “We really wanted to tell the story of Bruce, the live performer, artist, and what goes into it. And I think that what will surprise people is that it’s actually a very emotional film.”

Springsteen didn’t do any interviews on the red carpet, but did join Zimny, Landau and Van Zandt onstage for a brief, 15-minute post-screening Q&A. As always, Van Zandt played the perfect hype man, prepping his question for Springsteen with a wind-up: “So, alright, for you, I got a big question now, so bear with me for 60 seconds. This is your question, baby. Get ready!”

He proceeded with a lengthy set up which included a spot-on summation of the film, describing it as “the explanation of your roots and methodology as a band leader, the explanation of how a band works, how it functions [and] what it takes to do what we do.” Van Zandt then asked Springsteen, “Did the realization of being that ‘Last Man Standing’ from your first band reawaken your love of the band interaction, and how that affects your work and ultimately the communication to an audience?”

Springsteen answered that he is “completely committed to everything that I do, but the band is the band,” and that onstage he’s not alone; he’s surrounded by his bandmates. He reflected on how the “natural order of things” is that bands break up and quips how, “They can’t even get two guys to stay together, Simon hates Garfunkel, Sam hates Dave, the Everly Brothers hated one another… but if you do it right, and we have, I would call it a benevolent dictatorship.”

And, he knows just how lucky he and his ongoing band members are. “We have this enormous collective where everyone has their role, and a chance to contribute, and to own their place in the band, and this is what people want from their work, and I wish it on everyone,” he continued. “We don’t quite live in a world where everybody gets to feel that way about their jobs or the people they work with, but I sincerely wish that we did — because it’s an experience like none I’ve ever had in my life. If I went tomorrow, I’d be, ‘It’s okay. What a f–king ride.”