The charisma and electricity of Bruce Springsteen’s presence makes Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band one of the most exciting and thoroughly pleasing musical stories to ever hit the big screen.
Starting off with narration from Bruce, audiences are treated to the behind the scenes work of the lead singer and band as they prepare for their 2023 world tour. Springsteen reflects on how the COVID pandemic shut the world down where stadiums sat empty and live music stopped playing.
With the pandemic over, Bruce wanted to tour, and the time was right for the decades-old band to hit the skies and fill the stadiums. The only problem was that it has been over five years since the E Street Band played live, and they needed to shake the cobwebs off before playing for stadiums filled with tens of thousands of fans.
The film progresses with behind-the-scenes views of the band rehearsing, and then as the tour kicks off, front row center seats of the performance and a special view from the stage as the group brings their musical might to the masses. For the set list, Bruce has carefully curated songs throughout the band’s albums to tell a story that is deeply meaningful to him.
One might think, oh another vanity project from a fifty-year-old band that is trying to prove its worth in today’s music world. If you thought that, then you have never heard Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band play.
Director Thom Zimny created a film that is not just a concert film about the tour, it also speaks to the philosophy that Bruce and the band have for their music. This is a group of musicians who have something to say, who want to provide a show that is of the highest caliber and something that the audience will remember.
From getting loose and ready to rock, Road Diary also reflects on where the band has come from, and how everyone got to be hanging out with the same people for over fifty years. Max Weinberg, Stevie Van Zandt, Patti Scialfa, Nils Lofgren, Jake Clemons, and producer Jon Landau all contribute to the discussion about the history of the group and the trials and tribulations of making the performance be the best they can be. There are moments of laughter with some somber reflections about how life takes a turn, and things change when your relationship spans over five decades.
Jake Clemons replaced his uncle Clarence, an original band member on saxophone, who died in 2011. Patti Scialfa reveals she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2018. Everyone has seen change since the group first came together, but what matters is the music, and the love that each of them has for one another.
There is an audible sense of awe that one will get at watching the group pack stadiums around the world with thousands of screaming fans, but the moments that Road Diary looks back at makes one appreciate that this group of talented musicians hasn’t forgotten their roots. From touring in a small van in the early 70’s to graduating up to a motorhome that had room to sleep in between journeying to gigs, there is a lot of love for the past, as the E Street Band looks forward to the future.
Springsteen himself is adamant that he loves his work and looks for meaning in his music, but respects the notion that the music the band plays is meant to be entertaining. He, and the rest of the band want the audiences to remember the performance they see on the tour as the most exciting moment in music.
Commitment to maintaining an authenticity to the work is necessary to ensure that a fifty-year- old band can still bring the music to the masses. Bruce Springsteen has no intention of quitting and plans to do this work until the wheels come off. It’s hard to not want to jump up and cheer as the film progresses through the tour and works to the conclusion and Springsteen’s last song of the night.
There is a somber elegance as Springsteen stands before the cheering audience without his band, (they have retired for the night), and he sings “I’ll See You in My Dreams” before the crowd. To the fans who revel in the presence of their favorite musician, they cheer, but Bruce Springsteen has something else to share.
He loves his job, his bandmates, and the idea of making music for others to enjoy. Bruce Springsteen knows that the E Street Band is getting on in years, and the tours and albums are fewer in the future than the past, but Bruce Springsteen is not going to go silently into the night. His music, his friends and his fans matter to him, and he will continue to give his best to ensure that the people who grew up with the E Street Band’s music, or the new fans who just discovered this group out of New Jersey, will come to their show and be wowed.
In the final moments of Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band rock and roll will take center stage, and if you were not a fan of Bruce and the band before watching the film, you will be as the last credit rolls on this performance of a lifetime.