Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

Thom Zimny’s Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, premiering October 25 on Hulu and Disney+, follows the iconic rocker and his legendary band as they head out on their 2023 tour. They haven’t been on the road for years and the core band members are in their seventies, but that doesn’t stop them wanting to capture the same energy they started out with decades ago.

The pounding backbeat of the band, Max Weinberg, complains that “She’s the One” is dragging too much in rehearsals and doesn’t have that “manic, out-of-control way we played 50 years ago.” Newly-minted musical director Steve Van Zandt — who quips that this promotion is about four decades late – also cracks the whip, not wanting to be a group of “old men going through the motions.”

Zimny tells the story of the tour and how we got here through old photos, archival footage, talking head interviews and current performance footage. We also get to hear from the missing men, late band members Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici, whose archival interviews also help to weave the tale of a hungry young band in a van that morphed into rock gods through the dint of hard work and soaring three-hour long concerts.

The backbone of this doc is the fact that Springsteen is ditching the usual free-flowing, ever-changing set list. He wants the twenty-five or so songs to tell a story about life, love, loss and living. He knows that there must be some fan service, saying that during the pandemic, “I made a promise to myself, to my fans and to my band that if we got through this, I’d throw the biggest party I could.” At the same time, the 75-year-old has been dealing with the loss of friends and the cancer diagnosis of his wife and bandmate, Patti Scialfa, who is still able to make occasional appearances with the band. A Springsteen concert is always an event that touches the fans, but this tour plans to be even more cathartic and celebratory of the human condition.

Zimny’s documentary isn’t a tell-all and it doesn’t dig for dirt. As a frequent Springsteen collaborator, Zimny is helping to tell the story Bruce wants told, while not ever feeling like a puff piece. Though being at the concert is still the best way to experience Bruce and the band, Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will have you cranking the volume during the songs so you can feel them in your ears and in your heart.