Why only diehard Bruce Springsteen fans will love 'Road Diary'
You don’t have to be a Bruce Springsteen fan to enjoy “Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band,” but it would certainly help.
I mean, why would anyone who wasn’t a Springsteen fan watch a documentary about his 2023-24 world tour in the first place? Idle curiosity maybe? But director Thom Zimny’s film — Springsteen is credited as the writer — rewards the fanatic far more than the casual fan. If you are looking for a warts-and-all behind-the-scenes experience, well, you get only half of that.
The less-interesting half, frankly.
I say this as a Springsteen fan, not fanatic. I have seen him six times, which sounds like a lot, but in this universe it’s practically just dipping your toe in the water. He is unquestionably a fantastic live performer and, by his own admission, something of a control freak — you don’t get that good and that popular by accident.
The E Street Band hadn't played live together for 6 years
So the idea of seeing him at work putting the E Street Band through its paces after six years without playing live together was enticing. Especially since the show he opened the second leg of his tour with in Phoenix was among the best I’d seen. How rigorous must the rehearsals have been? How meticulous the staging?
Promise kept: I told my kid I'd take her to see Bruce Springsteen. It took 12 years
An hour and 39 minutes later, I don’t know a lot more than I did going in.
Certainly there is footage of the band getting back together to prepare for the tour, hugs all around, talk about how much they missed each other, how much they missed playing together, a separation compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic.
They all talk about how rusty they were at first, how slow they were playing the songs. Yet the footage we see from the rehearsal sounds concert-ready. Is this just the ignorance of the untrained ear? Or a decision on Zimny and Springsteen’s part to tell but not show how they worked out the kinks?
What is clear is something that David Remnick pointed out in his now-famous 2012 New Yorker story about Springsteen, “We Are Alive” — “The E Street Band members are not Springsteen’s equals.” They serve at Springsteen’s pleasure, and they are unanimous in their praise of him. As well they might be. He’s given them all prosperous lives. Guitarist and music director Steve Van Zandt comes the closest to talking about Springsteen as the friend he knew so long ago and not a near-mythical rock ’n’ roll icon.
Springsteen's 'Letter to You' figures prominently in the film
It’s also clear that Springsteen came to the tour with the idea of telling a story, one of experience and loss. He’s 75 years old now (still playing three-hour shows). He arrived with a pretty good notion of the show’s set list with songs from his 2020 album “Letter to You,” which explores the same ideas and which the band had never played live. Thus, the set list for the tour (which continues through July 2025) is more rigid than in previous tours.
There is plenty of concert footage, both from the current tour and archival footage of the old days. It’s a blast to see Springsteen and the band in the 1970s, manic in their pursuit of stardom and of what Springsteen still genuinely believes is the spiritual salvation music — and performing it — provides.
Zimny has worked with Springsteen for years, directing music videos and making-of documentaries about albums. (He also directed the Netflix film version of “Springsteen on Broadway.”) It’s clear he got access other filmmakers wouldn’t. It’s also clear that he got the access Springsteen allowed, nothing more.
Fair enough. This is Springsteen’s show, top to bottom. Maybe footage of fan after fan in Barcelona — one of Springteen’s favorite places to play, we learn — will convert some holdouts or doubters. More likely it will just confirm for Springsteen fans what they already believe, and that seems more likely to be what “Road Diary” is going for. On that front, it succeeds.
'Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band' 3 stars
Great ★★★★★ Good ★★★★
Fair ★★★ Bad ★★ Bomb ★
Director: Thom Zimny.
Cast: Bruce Springsteen, the E Street Band.
Rating: Not rated.
How to watch: Streaming on Hulu and Disney+ on Friday, Oct. 25.
Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. X: @goodyk. Subscribe to the weekly movies newsletter.