Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Road Diary’: A journey through time and music
When Bruce Springsteen stands on stage, guitar cocked behind him, it’s an image as iconic as Abraham Lincoln with an ax over his shoulder. This mythic pose of American nobility is captured in the documentary “Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.” The film follows Springsteen’s first concerts since the pandemic, as he reconnects with his legendary band, rehearsing for six days before embarking on a tour that spans from the U.S. to Europe, from 2023 to 2024.
Revisiting the past
Interspersed with grainy footage of Bruce performing in the ’70s and early ’80s, the documentary offers a stark contrast to the older, more stately Bruce we know today. Seeing the younger Springsteen bopping around the stage with flamboyant energy is almost shocking. The documentary highlights that Bruce originally recruited his buddy Steven Van Zandt as the band’s guitarist to free himself from holding a guitar, allowing him to dance more freely.
Bruce doesn’t move like that anymore. At 74, he embodies hard-won vigor, his youthful surliness evolved into a statuesque huskiness. He now resembles a mix of Robert De Niro and Ben Affleck, his face at certain angles reminiscent of a silver dollar. Yet, he remains as stubbornly alive as ever.
The timeless sound of the E Street Band
Now that Springsteen and the E Street Band, his musical blood brothers of half a century, are in their golden years, the meaning of their performances has shifted. They still sound fantastic—crisp, tight, rockin’, and vibrant. The E Street Band’s sound is ageless, but Bruce’s desire to share his personal journey means he now sings in a way that acknowledges the passage of time. There are moments when his lyrics touch on the darkness at the edge of death.
But only moments. What you hear in “Road Diary” is the life force of Springsteen as an artist. He plays several new songs, but the longevity of his old hits adds to their layered majesty. When Bruce unleashes the guitar solo in “Prove It All Night,” a song from 1978, it feels like a form that has faded from the center. Yet, the solo asserts that as long as Springsteen can make a guitar sound like this, rock ‘n’ roll lives on. This is music that transcends nostalgia.
The band’s reunion
“Road Diary” begins with Bruce reassembling the band, a mutual-admiration society if ever there was one. They have a sense of drama about honing their sound back to midseason form, which seems a bit overstated. True, they haven’t played together for six years, but even from the “rough” first rehearsals, they sound like a well-oiled machine. Bruce, if anything, has only become more polished and organized. He crafts a set list of 25 songs that tell a story of the past and present, youth and age, as meticulously as a novel.
A music documentary should celebrate its subject, and “Road Diary” does just that. Bruce talks about his love for the band, their greatness, and the additional members like the jazz/funk horn section, the soul choir, and percussionist Anthony Almonte. The band members reciprocate, expressing their admiration for Bruce and marveling at their ability to perform together after 50 years. While the 99-minute movie occasionally feels like an infomercial, Springsteen’s resonance and class as an artist shine through.
A tribute to longevity and loss
These musicians, including Springsteen’s wife of 33 years, Patty Scialfa, who reveals her diagnosis of early-stage multiple myeloma, have earned the right to celebrate their longevity and the joy they bring each other. The documentary’s acknowledgment of the loss of band members Danny Federici and the great Clarence Clemons is both stirring and sobering. Onstage during the tour, Bruce sings the Commodores’ “Night Shift” as a tribute to them, creating one of the concert’s showstoppers.
The film also delves into the perfectionism of the younger Bruce, who would have the band vamp for hours as he sound-checked every corner of an arena. Stories about the band’s early touring days and hearing Sam and Dave at a club in the early ’60s reveal the soul DNA embedded in the E Street Band’s sound. At the end, Bruce, speaking in voiceover, says he plans to keep playing in concert “until the wheels come off.” Watching “Road Diary,” you hope they never do.
For more on Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, check out the trailer.
For music enthusiasts, explore Bruce Springsteen’s latest album on Music Beep.