Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s new documentary, Road Diary, is set to premiere Friday, October 25, on Hulu. To promote the film, Springsteen and members of his famous backing group recently visited SiriusXM’s The Howard Stern Show.
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During the two-hour appearance, Bruce sat for a lengthy interview. He also performed a bunch of songs, both solo and with his E Street Band mates. You can check out the list of tunes they played at Setlist.fm.
Road Diary gives a behind-the-scenes look at Springsteen and the E Street Band’s preparations for their 2023-2024 world tour. One of the topics Bruce discussed with host Howard Stern was whether he preferred sitting at home and writing songs to spending all that time touring.
Springsteen admitted to Stern that he actually finds trying to write songs to be “pure torture.”
“Writing is really hard,” the Boss noted. “And you’re failing 90% of the time. You’re writing either stuff that’s mediocre or worse, and so, as I’ve gotten older, the only good thing is I’ve learned to recognize what’s mediocre and worse sooner.”
Springsteen also revealed that coming up with songs is sometimes feast or famine for him.
“I mean, I’ve gone for two years without writing a song and then written an entire album in three weeks,” he said.
The One Song That Came to Bruce in a Dream
Seeing how prolific a songwriter Springsteen has been over the years, Stern asked him if he ever wakes up with ideas for tunes running through his head.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever, ever done that,” Bruce said. He then recalled, “I think the only time I ever did that was I woke up in the middle of the night and wrote a song called ‘Surprise, Surprise.’ It was on a record called Working on a Dream [which released in 2009.] [I]t was the only song I’ve actually dreamt and then got up and written, you know, but I’m not sure it counts, you know?”
Describing His Songwriting Process
Noting again that he’s sometimes gone two years without writing a song, Springsteen then described what it’s like for him when he’s trying to come up with new material.
“You’re soul mining, is what I call it,” he said. “So you’re down in the soul mines, and just like any mine, you’re chipping away looking for a vein, right? Now, I’ve been lucky. I hit a lot of veins in my lifetime, but you do not know if you’re gonna hit another one.”
More About Road Diary
As previously reported, Road Diary will get its TV premiere October 25 on Hulu and Disney+. The film offers what’s being billed as “the most in-depth look ever” at the creation of the Boss and his group’s legendary concert shows.
Road Diary features behind-the-scenes clips at rehearsals and backstage, as well as performance footage. The movie, which is narrated by Springsteen, also includes interviews with The E Street Band’s members and rare archival clips.
Road Diary was directed by frequent Springsteen collaborator, Grammy- and Emmy-winning filmmaker Thom Zimny. Zimny’s resume includes such other Boss-related documentaries as Bruce Springsteen’s Letter to You (2020), Western Stars (2019), Springsteen on Broadway (2018), The Ties That Bind (2015), and The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town (2010).
Springsteen and the E Street Band’s Upcoming Tour Plans
Springsteen and the E Street Band will finish up their 2024 tour with a Canadian leg. The eight-date trek kicks off October 31 in Montreal and is mapped out through a November 22 concert in Vancouver, British Columbia.
The Boss and company also have 16 confirmed European shows scheduled for 2025. Those concerts are mapped out from a May 14 performance in Manchester, U.K., through a July 3 show in Milan, Italy. Visit BruceSpringsteen.net to check out his full itinerary.
Tickets for Springsteen’s concerts are available via a variety of outlets, including StubHub.
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