WARNING: SPOILERS ahead for Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.
Hulu and Disney's new documentary Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band reveals never-before-seen details and footage about the legendary singer/songwriter. A native of Freehold, New Jersey, Bruce Springsteen is one of the most prolific American singers, songwriters, and rock n roll artists who has ever lived. He established the E Street Band for the recording of his debut album Greetings from Ashbury Park, N.J. in October 1972. The E Street Band originally consisted of Garry Tallent (bass), Clarence Clemons (saxophone), Danny Federici (keyboards), Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez (drums), and David Sancious (keyboards).
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Road Diary offers views a behind-the-scenes look at the rehearsal process leading up to Bruce Springsteen's current world tour with the E Street Band. The tour began on February 1, 2023, in Tampa, Florida, and is set to conclude on July 2, 2025. Springsteen was forced to miss multiple dates of the 2023 tour due to an illness. The current E Street Band consists of Roy Bittan (piano, synthesizer), Nils Lofgren (electric and acoustic guitar), Garry Tallent (bass guitar), Max Weinberg (drums), Steven Van Zandt (lead guitar), Jake Clemons (saxophone), Soozie Tyrell (violin), Charles Giordano (organ), and Patti Scialfa (background vocals), who has appeared at selected shows due to her health.
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Road Diary initially premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2024. The documentary is directed by Thom Zimny, who has shot many of Springsteen's other documentaries such as Bruce Spingsteen's Letter to You (2020) and Springsteen on Broadway (2018), music videos like "Radio Nowhere" and "Western Stars", and several live concert specials. Zimny has also been behind the creation of the recent Beach Boys documentary on Disney+ and 2018's Elvis Presley: The Searcher. Road Diary currently has a 90% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes and is streaming now on Hulu and Disney+.
10 Bruce Promised The E Street Band A Big Comeback Tour After Covid
Around the 2-minute mark in Road Diary
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One of the first things that Bruce reveals during his narration in Road Diary is that he promised himself, the fans, and the E Street Band that as soon as the worldwide pandemic and lockdown were over, they would start planning another world tour. The words he uses specifically are "If we ever got through this, I'd throw the biggest party I could." Bruce emphasizes how it is his purpose in life not only to write songs and make music but to be on stage with thousands of people and share the experience of being alive. It's evident that even as he ages, his spirit and fire for his passion have not cooled down by even one degree.
9 Bruce Accomplishes 2 Crucial Goals During The Start Of Every Rehearsal
Around the 4-minute mark in Road Diary
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Also in the opening minutes of Road Diary, Bruce dives right into his rehearsal process with the E Street Band and reveals the two essential things he tries to accomplish at the start of every tour. The first is that he must find a way to shake the cobwebs off the band in order to get to the heart of the process. This allows for a much more fluid creative process that doesn't feel like simply going through the motions. Since it was the group's first tour in six years, there were extra cobwebs to shake out due to the excess years of inactivity. Number two is to find the right setlist, which ultimately communicates the story that the band wants to tell at that point in time.
8 The E Street Band Rehearsed Without Bruce For The First Time Ever
Around the 21-minute mark in Road Diary
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Road Diary reveals that for the first time in the band's storied career, the E Street Band rehearsed without Bruce. The documentary points out of Bruce was not as strict or obsessive about rehearsals as her had notoriously been in the past, relying on his faith in the abilities and experience of his band members. Even though Bruce was acting in good faith, guitarist Steven Van Zandt suggested that he should stick around with the bad just to fine-tune some things. Bruce agreed and named him the official music director of the tour, which makes Steve laugh in the documentary. "40 years late, but fine." Bruce was worried about "getting too good" and being too tight for the live shows.
7 Bruce Knew The Tour Setlist From Day One Of Rehearsals
Around the 32-minute mark in Road Diary
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Bruce came into the rehearsals on day one with a complete setlist with up to 30 songs. The final setlist ended up being a total of 28 songs that started with "No Surrender" and ended with "I'll See You In My Dreams." Bruce makes it clear throughout Road Diary that his setlist is very intentional and aligns with the story that he wishes to tell at this point in his life. However, he doesn't reveal too much about what that exact story is, enlisting the fans to decipher his code for themselves. Some people interviewed in the documentary found a common theme of facing one's mortality, particularly with the inclusion of the song "Last Man Standing".
6 Bruce & The E Street Band Gather In A Circle Before Each Show
Around the 37-minute mark in Road Diary
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Bruce and the E Street Band have a brief but significant ritual that they do before all of their live performances. The bandmates all collect backstage and wait for Bruce to arrive at the set where he always walks over with something new to contribute and set the tone for the night. It's revealed that sometimes Bruce will say a joke while other times he chooses to be more solemn, but the notion of his words is emblematic of the very purpose of the concert as an improvisational encapsulation of the current moment. The E Street Band all gathers in a circle in order to bond before hitting the stage for their 3-hour sets.
5 Bruce Works Out In The Gym The Morning After His Live Shows
Around the 44-minute mark in Road Diary
Bruce remarkably has loads of energy at his age even in the mornings after giving his all to his live performances. One band member reveals that he would catch Bruce in the gym on the morning after their show day at 7 AM working out. Bruce said to him, "That's how I like to see my guys, in the gym ready to go." The bandmate, who was a new addition to the crew, called Bruce very impressive and was surprised to see him in there. It shows how locked in Bruce is about performing at his best so he can then give the audience his best on stage.
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4 Bruce Continues To Leave Space For In-Concert Improvisation
Around the 59-minute mark in Road Diary
While Bruce and the E-street Band are years past their "Stump The E-Street Band" Tour during which they would take random suggestions from fans, Bruce still makes sure to leave room for improvisation and humor in his modern live sets. The setlist for Bruce's 2023-2025 tour is locked in but each show provides a new opportunity to add something new to the song or switch things up based on the context and the energy around them. This is why Bruce asks as a conductor on the stage for the E Street Band as well. They constantly watch him and go off his cue so that there is always an element of surprise, even for the bandmates themselves.
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3 Bruce Tells A Current Story Of His Life Through Old & New Songs
Around the 80-minute mark in Road Diary
The point of Bruce's current tour as portrayed in Road Diary is to communicate a modern story to his audience using both new and old songs. Several of the new songs from Bruce's 2020 album Letter to You had never been performed live before but still fit into the overarching layout of Bruce's vision. Bruce routinely plays "Badlands", a song he wrote in 1978, after "The Rising", a song he wrote in 2002, before kicking off his encore with 2020's "Burning Train" and playing some of his greatest hits, "Born to Run", "Glory Days", "Dancing in the Dark", and "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out". This arrangement isn't meant to capture Bruce's entire life, but rather his perspective right now.
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2 Europe Is Bruce & The E Street Band's Second Home
Around the 70-minute mark in Road Diary
While Bruce sells out arenas to packed crowds all across the United States, he consistently sells out entire stadiums when The E Street Band goes to Europe. Road Diary reveals that Bruce and the band consider Europe an inviting second home where the fans are warmly passionate and expressive, perhaps more than American citizens. They greatly enjoy playing in Barcelona, Spain, and Milan, Italy, where they have historically had incredible support and showing from fans. Road Diary features plenty of footage from the international legs of Bruce's current world tour that captures this sentiment.
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1 Bruce Announced That He Plans To Go On Tour Again Soon
At the end of Road Diary
In case there was any concern, Bruce Springsteen makes it crystal clear at the end of Road Diary that he and The E Street Band have no plans on pumping their touring breaks anytime soon. With their current tour expected to end in summer 2025, it could very well be that Bruce will have another setlist in mind ready to go for 2026, depending on what he is trying to communicate once this tour is over. Bruce may want to shift his focus back to the studio to record what would be his 22nd studio album but there was no mention of that in Road Diary.
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The Road Diary soundtrack features all the live performances seen in the documentary from "No Surrender" in Tampa to "I'll See You In My Dreams" in Italy. New versions of other Springsteen classics such as "Prove It All Night" and "Backstreets" are also available to stream on the Road Diary soundtrack album, which is available on major music streaming platforms such as Apple Music and Spotify. With Road Diary, Bruce Springsteen proves that he is a true master of songwriting and storytelling whose passion and poetry have lifted the spirits of millions.
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Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band
R
Music
Documentary
Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band offers an insider's glimpse into Springsteen's creative process, featuring behind-the-scenes footage of band rehearsals and backstage moments. The documentary provides fans with direct insights from Springsteen, enhancing their understanding of his musical journey.
- Director
- Thom Zimny
- Release Date
- September 8, 2024
- Cast
- Bruce Springsteen , Garry Tallent , Roy Bittan , Max Weinberg , Steven Van Zandt , Nils Lofgren , Patti Scialfa
- Character(s)
- Self
- Runtime
- 99 minutes
- Main Genre
- Documentary
- YouTube Trailer
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEgwAQUQh0s