ROAD DIARY: UNLIMITED ACCESS TO THE BOSS’ TOUR
If you’re looking for a lift at this fraught moment, jump on Hulu and feast your eyes and ears on Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band as director Thom Zimny takes viewers backstage throughout the Boss’ bountiful 2023-24 tour.
The film’s parallel pleasures are its immersive concert footage—complete with the most detailed sound mix we’ve ever heard on TV, courtesy of the great Bob Clearmountain—and fascinating behind-the-scenes views of Springsteen and his bandmates as they build the show.
Accurately described in the synopsis as “the most in-depth look ever at the creation of their legendary live performances, including footage of band rehearsals, backstage moments, rare archival clips and personal reflections,” Road Diary is as revealing and uplifting as any music documentary since The Last Waltz.
It features candid interviews with guitarists Nils Lofgren and Little Steven Van Zandt (who doubles as music director), drummer “Mighty” Max Weinberg, bassist Garry Tallent, pianist Roy Bittan, Patti Scialfa, late saxophonist Clarence Clemons and late founding organist Danny Federici, whose spots are now occupied by Clarence’s nephew Jake Clemons and Charlie Giordano, respectively, as well as longtime manager-producer Jon Landau.
Zimny, whose credits include The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town (2010) and Wings for Wheels: The Making of Born to Run (2005), has long been an integral member of Springsteen’s team, and he’s captured the creative process of a great American artist in the autumn of his career with unprecedented intimacy and vividness. The show, with its narrative arc precisely laid out by Springsteen through his set list, packs an emotional wallop that is both deeply elegiac and thrillingly life-affirming. Don’t miss it.
