I was invited to The Academy Museum/David Geffen Theater in Los Angeles for a screening of the Thom Zimny film, "ROAD DIARY Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band," an original Hulu documentary that will premier October 24th on Disney+.
Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band offer the most in-depth look ever at the creation of their legendary live performances - sharing fly-on-the-wall footage of band rehearsals and special moments backstage - as well as hearing directly from Springsteen on the topic.
Fans get the chance to experience professionally shot footage from the 2023-2024 tour for the first time ever - while following the band through their one-of-a-kind preparation process, and onto performances for tens-of-thousands across continents.
“Thom Zimny really invited the viewer into the archival and 2023-2024 touring world of Springsteen and the deep bond Bruce and the E Street Band have with the audience. Bruce mentioned after the screening, "on stage you have to mentally project yourself into the audience."
Zimny, who has worked with Springsteen on projects for a quarter of a century, said during the Q&A session that the project unfolded as shooting was under way.
“I think it evolves every day that I was experiencing the band, filming and seeing what was going on. I think it’s a conversation that happens with Jon [Landau, Springsteen’s manager] and Bruce from day one and I just stay really open to what I’m experiencing. The first day of rehearsals. I was just so blown away by everyone’s sense of happiness and I knew that I wanted that to come across, that sense of gratitude that they can perform again. But by time I reached the American concerts and Europe, the film evolved. I think a big thing is to be open, not have a set POV. I go for the adventure.”
This might be one of the best edited music documentaries ever done. Zimny’s directorial endeavors began in the analog world, and his editing techniques with today’s technology were marvelously displayed on screen. On the red carpet, Thom told me, “One of the technical things working with a small crew on this documentary was that I was very influenced by the sixties style of filmmakers like D.A. Pennebaker. I’m really honing in using everything I can with modern technology and the language. The beauty of having the experience of cutting in film, editing, is that you develop your rhythm. I started off with a steenbeck or moviola and that was reflected in my editing today as a director editor. That was the grounding, and my education in film.”
Why now to reveal the behind-the-scenes machinations, at a Q&A following the event, 75 year old Springsteen weaved in a mortality theme and quipped, “Well, if we didn’t make it now, I’d be dead pretty soon so we got to make these while we can. That’s all there is to it. Like I say in the film, there’s a lot more yesterdays and goodbyes once you get up around where we are then there was 30 or 40 years ago.”
Zimny was asked about the genesis of the documentary, “I think it evolves every day that I was experiencing the band, filming and seeing what was going on. I think it’s a conversation that happens with Jon [Landau, Springsteen’s manager] and Bruce from day one and I just stay really open to what I’m experiencing. The first day of rehearsals. I was just so blown away by that sense of everyone’s happiness and I knew that I wanted that to come across, that sense of gratitude that they can perform again. But by time I reached the American concerts and Europe, the film evolved. I think a big thing is to be open, not have a set POV. I go for the adventure.”
I've been going to Bruce and the band's shows since 1974.
The 2024 documentary, written and narrated by Springsteen, ends with a quote on screen from the Doors’ James Douglas Morrison.
In the Q&A session at the venue, which also featured Landau and Springsteen’s longtime right-hand man Steven Van Zandt, and moderator John Sykes, chairman of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation,
Springsteen revealed the origin of the Morrison quote displayed on screen. Springsteen and wife Patti Scalfia attended the same Doors show at the Asbury Park New Jersey Convention Center in 1968, though they hadn’t met yet. They were in the same room.
One evening Bruce and Patti were talking about the ’68 Doors show and found the setlist online. “We got in bed and we said, ‘OK, we’re going to recreate the entire show,’” he volunteered. “I found live Doors cuts and we recreated the entire show from 1968 and listened to it before we went to sleep…Suddenly, I sort of went on a bit of a Doors binge and I started reading several books and I came across the quote and it just seemed like the perfect way to sum up what the band is about, what our relationship to our fans means, what our mission statement has been for the past 50 years. It just seemed to sum it up in those four very brief lines.”
In 2007 I interviewed drummer John Densmore, co-founder of the Doors. He relayed a Springsteen anecdote from their 1993 encounter at the Doors’ Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in Century City, Ca. “At the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, (Bruce) Springsteen came up to me and said, ‘I like your drumming. It’s so quiet, and then you drop a bomb.’ Thank you, Boss.”
