Bruce Springsteen‘s behind-the-scenes tour preparation process will serve as the center of the forthcoming documentary Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Premiering on Hulu and Disney+ this October, the feature will follow the musician and his band as they get ready to embark on their first tour in six years, a run that started in February 2023 and will extend through November 2024.
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s tour was marred by illness and complications from its start. Within two weeks of kicking off, guitarist Steven Van Zandt and violinist/singer Soozie Tyrell tested positive for Covid, causing them to miss a number of shows and raising concerns about the size of their touring party. Their saxophonist Jake Clemons and half of the E Street’s backup singers missed subsequent dates, too.
In March 2023, once everyone seemed to be in the clear, a number of dates were suddenly postponed due to “illness.” A few months later, in September, the band’s remaining scheduled tour dates for the year were postponed as Springsteen underwent and recovered from treatment for peptic ulcer disease. The tour resumed in March 2024. It has been a bumpy ride.
Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will zero in on the highlights of the tour. According to a release, the film will offer insight into Springsteen’s creative process through commentary from the musician and “fly-on-the-wall footage of band rehearsals and special moments backstage.”
“These conversations follow Springsteen closely as he develops the story he wants to tell with this tour’s set list — interspersed with rare archival clips of The E Street Band, underscoring themes of life, loss, mortality, and community,” the release reads. “In this way, it serves as an essential and never-before-seen chapter in an autobiographical series spanning Springsteen’s memoir Born to Run, Springsteen on Broadway, and the films Western Stars and Letter to You.”
The documentary was directed by Thom Zimny with Zimny, Jon Landau, Bruce Springsteen, Adrienne Gerard, and Sean Stuart serving as producers.