‘What a F-ckin’ Ride!’ Bruce Springsteen Hits Toronto for New Doc Premiere
You’re used to hearing the sound of “Bruce! Bruuuce! Broooooooooose!” in giant, rock-friendly arenas all over the world. The echo of fans screaming out Bruce Springsteen’s name in the Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, however, feels weird — the 2,600 capacity venue is pretty intimate compared to most places the E Street band and its leader play. (It’s more than twice as big as the Walter Kerr Theatre, where Bruce did his Broadway show in 2017, and has more seats than the St. James Theatre, where he did a limited encore run in 2021, but still.)
Yet the moment the man walked into the venue, casually strolling down the mezzanine’s stairs to take his seat for the premiere of Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at the Toronto International Film Festival, that low chant began growing louder and louder. People immediately sprang to their feet, clapping and hooting and snapping phone pics by the hundreds. Springsteen looked genuinely moved by it all, stopping to take everything in before grabbing his seat by the balcony, where he leaned over and waved to everyone before the lights went down. It was like seeing the Pope bless his congregation.
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Springsteen — along with director Thom Zimny, producer Jon Landau and the E Street Band’s musical director, guitarist and longtime Bruce foil Steven Van Zandt — were here to help present their latest documentary, which details the current E Street Band tour that kicked off in February 2023. Thanks to the pandemic and other factors, this would be the first shows that Bruce and the band had played together in six years — an eternity for a group that thrives on performing live. First, they had to “shake off the cobwebs,” Springsteen says, and the movie takes you inside the tiny black-box theater in Red Bank, New Jersey, where everyone gathers to rediscover the groove they’ll need to pull this off. Ever wanted to play fly on the wall for a E Street Band rehearsal? Step right up.
These early tune-up scenes are the best parts of Road Diary, and a fascinating look at how these musicians, most of whom have played together for over 50 years, work their way through a catalog of old and new songs. It takes a second for folks to get their muscle memory working, and fall back into the telepathy they’ve honed over decades onstage. A few new additions fleshing out the roster need to figure out how to sync up with the veterans. Everything starts out slow. Too slow for some of E Streeters, in fact; drummer Max Weinberg complains that everyone is playing “She’s the One” at a tempo so sluggish, “it’s [now] a ballad.” It’s a perfect behind-the-scenes peek at how a legendary band gets themself back into fighting shape. (Memo to Zimny: Release a five-hour, Get Back-style companion doc that’s just these guys rehearsing. We’d watch that in a New Jersey second.)
It’s quickly apparent that this tour is going to be different for a number of reasons besides the long stretch off the road. A horn section, some back-up singers and percussionist Anthony Almonte have joined the traditional lineup, which means new arrangements and finding space for them to do what they do. Gone is the human-jukebox vibe of previous tours, when Bruce would gather signs from audience members and play Stump the Band on a nightly basis. The singer has put together a specific set list, one that he says represents “the story I want to tell right now.” There’s an arc to not just what they’re going to be playing once things kick off in Florida, but when they’re playing it — a lot is made of the fact that something like “Backstreets” feels different when it’s following “Last Man Standing,” from the 2020 album Letter to You. Springsteen has a lot to say, and he wants these new shows to reflect that. There’s a narrative here, one that covers, per the Boss, “life, death and everything in between.”
Mortality is something very much on the 74-year-old’s mind, for a number of reasons. He’s still grieving the loss of both Danny Federici and Clarence Clemons, whose absence is still felt by their band members. His mother had been in ill health for a long time and died in February of this year. (The film is dedicated to her, and ends with Instagram footage of Bruce and his mom dancing to “In the Mood.”) Even though everyone is playing as amazing as they ever have, the band admits to feeling their ages. The bombshell that Patti Scialfa, a card-carrying E Street member since 1984 and Bruce’s wife since 1991, was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer, in 2018 and has drastically scaled back her stage time for health reasons surely played into it as well.
There’s a special urgency to this world tour, and Road Diary lets you see how that played out onstage. A handful of footage of the man at work, ranging from the opening salvo of “No Surrender” at that first concert back to Springsteen closing the show with a stark, solo rendition of “I’ll See You in My Dreams,” attests to a palpable carpe-diem vibe. All we’ve got is the here and now, that shared moment between artist and audience that can be raucous fun on a good night and transcendental on a great night, so let’s make it happen. It’s a feeling shared by the band, all of whom still live for that moment of communal uplift that comes with playing live and none of whom take this chance to do it one more time for granted.
When Road Diary devotes its time to fan testimonials and praising European audiences — they’re so enthusiastic! — or repeating the same platitudes about how great the group is (none of us need convincing at this point), it feels like nothing more than, well, a road diary. But when it digs into why this particular series of shows mattered so much to the people in the audience and those playing these songs — one person in particular — it becomes something special. This is Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, in prime form circa 2024. They will still convince you of the majesty, the mystery, the ministry of rock, or die tryin’.
After the screening, festival programmer Thom Powers brought Zimny, Landau, Van Zandt and Springsteen to the stage. (“That’s how the sausage is made!” Bruce declared, laughing uproariously.) He quickly ceded moderating duties to Van Zandt, who asked questions via his “mobile teleprompter,” a.k.a. his cell phone. The musician asked Zimny how it felt to have worked with Bruce on 14 films in 24 years, and how their relationship had deepened; the director said he benefited from a large amount of trust. Landau expanded on his comments in the doc about this being a more-emotional-than-usual tour, partially because of the age factor and partially because it seemed “summational… a history of the band to this point.”
Then it was Springsteen’s turn to speak. Asked by his bandmate how he felt these shows reflected 50-plus years of playing music with these guys, he replied, “We have the only jobs in the world where the people you went to high school with? At 75, you’re still with them. You live your life with them. You see them grow up, you see them get married, you see them get divorced, you see them go to jail, you see them get out of jail, you see them renege on their child payments, you see them pay up, you see them get old, you see their hair go gray, and you’re in the room when they die.
“In one way,” he continued, “I would wish you all such a lovely, complete experience with your good friends. On the other hand, it lays a weight on you… because of the time you’ve spent together and the things you’ve done. It reminds me of that scene in Blade Runner, where he says ‘I’ve seen seen things [you wouldn’t believe]…’ We’ve seen some of that shit!
“But if I had to go tomorrow,” Springsteen said, right before taking a final bow for the night, “I’d be OK. Because what. A Fuckin’ Ride!”
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