Steven Van Zandt on the New Springsteen Doc and How "Every Tour Could Be the Last"
91In the fall of 2020, Bruce Springsteen released Letter to You, his first new studio album with his legendary backing group, the E Street Band, in more than half a decade. Seeing Bruce live is practically a religious experience for die-hard fans, so expectations for the accompanying tour, the band's first in three years, were through the roof. However, the COVID pandemic destroyed those plans, and it would be another three years before the full E Street Band could finally return to the road in 2023.
Once they were back on stage, the adoring crowds got a somewhat different experience than they had been used to. Rather than the freewheeling, "anything goes" style setlists the band is known for, the shows instead followed a fairly rigid structure that was inspired a bit by Springsteen's 2017-18 Broadway residency and told a musical tale of human fellowship, mortality, and the ways in which rock 'n' roll can help us power through dark times. Along for the ride was filmmaker Thom Zimny, who serves as Springsteen's in-house documentarian and who was busy filming the whole thing. That footage has now been poured into a brand-new documentary titled Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, which premieres on Hulu this Friday, October 25.
Road Diary offers up a behind-the-scenes view of the tour, starting with the band finally getting back together for rehearsals, so it's no surprise that Springsteen's long-time E Street sideman, guitarist and singer Steven Van Zandt, plays a major role. The other E Streeters get plenty of screen time as well, and Zimny also uses the documentary to detail the band's early days, allowing for original members Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici (who died in 2011 and 2008, respectively) to factor into the tale, as well.
Earlier this month, I had the chance to talk to both Van Zandt and Zimny about Road Diary and all things E Street. In the following interview, we chat a lot about the documentary, of course, but Steven also discusses his role within the band and names what deep-cut Springsteen songs he'd like to play live. Zimny talks about how the filmmaking process works when Bruce Friggin' Springsteen is your creative partner. And finally, Van Zandt gives us the lowdown on no less than the state of rock 'n' roll in America today.
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