Are you ready for The Deconstruction of Bruce Springsteen? A new documentary co-produced and narrated by the veteran rock superstar is a curiously muted affair – and that is despite being packed with fantastic scenes of Springsteen and his incredible E Street Band tearing up stages around the world.
Road Diary is structured around the first half of Springsteen and company’s 2023-24 world tour, with footage taking us from early rehearsals in lifeless theatres and cavernous halls, following the huge ensemble around dull backstage corridors before bursting into musical action on arena and stadium stages. But while the tour regularly offered three hours of compelling thrills and emotion, the film is a stop-start visual essay on the structures and themes underpinning the experience.
The action (and the music) is constantly interrupted with talking heads from a huge cast of musicians and crew. But not Springsteen’s talking head. He restricts his own articulate observations to a measured narration. There are only rare moments when the star allows himself to be caught off guard, such as an amusing conversation filmed from a distance, with Springsteen arguing that the band have rehearsed enough. “There’s a certain percentage [of songs] that we’re gonna f— up anyway. That’s what [the audience] is paying for! They want to see it live, so that means a few mistakes!”
If only Springsteen the filmmaker had the courage of Springsteen the showman’s convictions. I don’t know if making this documentary was an afterthought by Springsteen and director Thom Zimny, but it is all tell not show. Where were the cameras when guitarist Stevie Van Zandt argued for more rehearsals? He amusingly admits, “I’m completely anal and I care about every note everyone does” but we only hear about it after the fact. Springsteen apparently capitulated by naming Van Zandt musical director of the band (“Which is nice,” grins Van Zandt, mischievously. “Forty years late, but nice.”)
Likewise, we hear about pre-show rituals of jokes and prayers, with band members recollecting standing in a prayer circle whilst Springsteen told them “the last time I played here I was supporting the band Chicago and I got booed off stage. It will not happen tonight! Somebody say Amen!” Yet we don’t see these moments unfold, which is a curious omission given that there were over 100 shows to catch such intimate action. That’s a lot of missed opportunities to put flesh on the bones of the drama. Road Diary is a fly-on-the-wall documentary where the flies seem to have always been crawling on the wrong walls and are desperately catching up later in the edit suite.