10 Biggest Reveals From Bruce Springsteen’s Road Diary Documentary

WARNING: SPOILERS ahead for Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.

The new documentary from Hulu and Disney Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band reveals never-before-seen details and images about the legendary singer and songwriter. Originally from Freehold, New Jersey, Bruce Springsteen is one of the most prolific American singers, songwriters, and rock n roll artists who ever lived. He founded the E Street Band for the recording of his debut album. Greetings from Ashbury Park, New Jersey 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).

✕ Remove ads

road diary offers behind-the-scenes views of 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 will conclude on July 2, 2025. Springsteen was forced to miss several dates on the 2023 tour due to illness. The current E Street Band consists of Roy Bittan (piano, synthesizer), Nils Lofgren (electric and acoustic guitar), Garry Tallent (bass), Max Weinberg (drums), Steven Van Zandt (lead guitar), Jake Clemons (saxophone) . , Soozie Tyrell (violin), Charles Giordano (organ) and Patti Scialfa (backing vocals), who has appeared on select programs due to her health.

✕ Remove ads

road diary initially premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2024. The documentary is directed by Thom Zimny, who has filmed many of Springsteen’s other documentaries, such as Bruce Spingsteen’s letter to you (2020) and Springsteen on Broadway (2018), music videos such as “Radio Nowhere” and “Western Stars”, and several special live concerts. Zimny ​​has also been behind the creation of the recent Beach Boys documentary on Disney+ and 2018. Elvis Presley: The Searcher. road diary It currently has a 90% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes and is now streaming on Hulu and Disney+.

10 Bruce promised the E Street Band a big comeback tour after Covid

Around 2 minutes into Road Diary

Bruce Springsteen with his guitar on a black background

✕ Remove ads

One of the first things 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 global pandemic and lockdown were over, they would start planning another world tour. The words he specifically uses are “IIf we ever get through this, I would throw the biggest party I could.Bruce emphasizes that his purpose in life is not only to write songs and make music, but also to be on stage with thousands of people and share the experience of being alive. It is evident that even as he ages, his spirit and his fire for his passion has not cooled one degree.

9 Bruce achieves two crucial objectives at the beginning of each essay

Around 4 minutes into Road Diary

Bruce Springsteen smiling in Curb Your Enthusiasm

✕ Remove ads

Also in the first minutes of road diaryBruce dives right into his rehearsal process with the E Street Band and reveals the two essential things he tries to accomplish at the beginning of each tour. The first is that you have to find a way to shake the cobwebs out of the band so you can get to the heart of the process. This allows for a much more fluid creative process that doesn’t feel like just going through the motions. Since it was the group’s first tour in six years, there were additional cobwebs to shake off due to excessive years of inactivity. Number two is finding the right setlist, one that ultimately communicates the story the band wants to tell at that moment.

8 The E Street Band rehearsed without Bruce for the first time

Around minute 21 in Road Diary

Bruce Springsteen in Pop's Biggest Night

✕ Remove ads

road diary reveals that for the first time in the band’s storied career, the E Street Band rehearsed without Bruce. The documentary notes that Bruce was not as strict or obsessive about rehearsals as she had been in the past, relying on his faith in the abilities and experience of his band members. Although Bruce was acting in good faith, guitarist Steven Van Zandt suggested that he should stick with the bad stuff just to fine-tune a few things. Bruce agreed and made him the official musical director of the tour, which makes Steve laugh in the documentary. “40 years late, but good.“Bruce was worried about”getting too good” and being too tight for live shows.

7 Bruce knew the tour setlist from the first day of rehearsals

Around 32 minutes into Road Diary

Bruce Springsteen in Letter to You 2020

✕ Remove ads

Bruce arrived at rehearsals on the first day with a complete setlist of up to 30 songs. The final setlist ended up being a total of 28 songs starting with “No Surrender” and ending with “I’ll See You In My Dreams.” Bruce makes this clear at all times. road diary that his setlist is very intentional and aligns with the story he wants to tell at this point in his life. However, it doesn’t reveal too much about what that exact story is, asking fans to crack its code for themselves. Some people interviewed in the documentary found a common theme in facing one’s own mortality, particularly with the inclusion of the song “Last Man Standing.”

6 Bruce and the E Street Band gather in a circle before every show

Around minute 37 in Road Diary

Bruce Springsteen lives in Copenhagen

✕ Remove ads

Bruce and the E Street Band have a short but meaningful ritual they perform before all of their live performances. All the bandmates gather backstage and wait for Bruce to arrive at the set, where he always arrives with something new to contribute and set the tone for the night. It is revealed that sometimes Bruce tells a joke while other times he chooses to be more solemn, but the notion of his words is emblematic of the concert’s very purpose as an improvised encapsulation of the current moment. The E Street Band gathers in a circle to bond before taking the stage for their 3-hour performances.

5 Bruce works out at the gym the morning after his live shows

Around 44 minutes in Road Diary

Bruce Springsteen playing guitar on the Howard Stern show

Bruce surprisingly has a lot of energy at his age, even in the mornings after giving his all in his live performances. A band member reveals that he would find Bruce at the gym the morning after his show day at 7am working out. Bruce told him: “This is how I like to see my boys, in the gym ready to start.“The bandmate, who was a new addition to the team, said that Bruce was very impressive and was surprised to see him there. It shows how focused Bruce is on performing to the best of his ability so that he can then give the audience his best at the stage.

✕ Remove ads

4 Bruce continues to leave room for improvisation in concert

Around minute 59 in Road Diary

Bruce Springsteen

While Bruce and the E-street Band are years past their “Stump The E-Street Band” tour during which they took random suggestions from fans, Bruce still makes sure to leave room for improvisation and humor in his performances on I live modern. The set list for Bruce’s 2023-2025 tour is set, but each show provides a new opportunity to add something new to the song or change things depending on the context and energy around them. That’s why Bruce also applies to be a bandleader on the E Street Band stage. They constantly watch him and deviate from his signal so that there is always an element of surprise, even for the bandmates themselves.

✕ Remove ads

3 Bruce tells a current story of his life through songs new and old

Around 80 minutes in Road Diary

Bruce Springsteen performing on stage

The goal of Bruce’s current tour, as described in Road Diary, is to communicate a modern story to his audience using songs old and new. Several of the new songs from Bruce’s 2020 album letter for you It had never been played live before, but it still fit the overall design of Bruce’s vision. Bruce regularly 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 biggest hits, “Born to Run”. “, “Days of Glory”, “Dancing in the Dark” and “Freezing of Tenth Avenue”. This arrangement is not intended to capture Bruce’s entire life, but rather his current perspective.

✕ Remove ads

2 Europe is the second home of Bruce and The E Street Band

Around 70 minutes in Road Diary

Bruce Springsteen speaking to the camera at High Fidelity

While Bruce sells out stadiums to packed crowds across the United States, he consistently sells out entire stadiums when The E Street Band travels to Europe. road diary reveals that Bruce and the band consider Europe a welcoming second home where fans are warmly passionate and expressive, perhaps more so than American citizens. They really enjoy playing in Barcelona, ​​Spain and Milan, Italy, where they have historically had incredible support and performance from the fans. road diary features many images from the international legs of Bruce’s current world tour that capture this feeling.

✕ Remove ads

1 Bruce announced that he plans to go on tour again soon

At the end of the route diary

Bruce Springsteen

In case there was any concern, Bruce Springsteen makes it very clear at the end of Road Diary that he and The E Street Band have no plans to take advantage of their tour breaks anytime soon. With his current tour expected to end in the summer of 2025, it’s entirely possible that Bruce has another set list in mind ready for 2026, depending on what he’s trying to communicate once this tour is over. Bruce may want to refocus on the studio to record what would be his 22nd studio album, but there was no mention of that in road diary.

✕ Remove ads

He road diary The 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 like “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 like Apple Music and Spotify . With road diaryBruce Springsteen proves himself to be a true master of songwriting and storytelling whose passion and poetry have lifted the spirits of millions.

01823009_poster_w780.jpg

Your rating

10 stars9 stars8 stars7 stars6 stars5 stars4 stars3 stars2 stars1 star Rate now 0/10 Leave a review

Your comment has not been saved.

Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band RMusicDocumentary

Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band offers an insider’s look at Springsteen’s creative process, with behind-the-scenes footage of the band’s rehearsals and backstage moments. The documentary gives fans direct insight into 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-running 99 minutes Main Genre Documentary YouTube Trailer https: //www. youtube.com/watch?v=GEgwAQUQh0s Expand

Leave a Comment