Communal Solitude: Western Stars at the Toronto International Film Festival, September 12, 2019

Bruce Springsteen introducing Western Stars at TIFF

Last night, Bruce Springsteen's new film "Western Stars" premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film consisted primarily -- at least in terms of time -- of live versions of the songs on the "Western Stars" album, performed at Bruce's barn in New Jersey over a period of several days, for an audience of friends. Bruce has put out accompanying video material to studio releases before; this took the concept to another level. I was among the fortunate 1800 or so to be in attendance at Toronto's Roy Thompson Hall for the first showing.

This film is for fans, especially for fans who'd like to see live performances of the new album. Bruce has been emphatic that he will not be touring behind this album, so this is likely as close as we'll come to seeing him perform it live.

An orchestra of approximately 30 members backed the live performances at the barn. Several members have toured extensively with Springsteen before, e.g., Patti Scialfa, Soozie Tyrell, and Charlie Giordano. The configuration of the orchestra was unusual, and perhaps dictated a bit by the amount of space in the barn: the string section was comprised primarily of violins and violas, along with two cellos. The brass section consisted of two trumpets and two french horns; the credits say that Barry Danielian played trombone, but I didn't see that in the film. There were no woodwinds in evidence, not even a saxophone. There were also about 5 backing singers, several of whom will be familiar faces to long-time fans.

The look of the film is wonderful. There are enough close-ups of Bruce so that a viewer can see precisely where Bruce's hairline is. But it's not just Bruce in focus; the orchestra is featured plenty as well.

The sound is even better. This music deserves to be heard in full fidelity, in a theater with a speaker system that can handle a large dynamic range. It's crisp, it's clearly defined. The shit just sounds good.

Before the film started, Springsteen came onstage to introduce it personally. He called the film a "meditation" on the album. The movie bits before the first song and then between the succeeding songs, largely filmed in the Southwest United States, contextualized his meditations. The repeating theme of the album is a tension between solitude and a yearning for community, with inclusions of discourses on love, the consequences of love (or hate), actions, spirituality, changes, aging, and even cars. If you're looking for surprising meanings in any of the songs, you may be disappointed: Bruce doesn't give away the ending of "Tucson Train" or what it is the singer of "Chasin' Wild Horses" shouldn't have done, nor does he suggest that any of the songs are intended as metaphors: if the singer is singing about lost love, then the song is about lost love.

While the song performances tended to stay pretty close to the album, there were some noticeable differences: Some songs included extended endings, most notably "The Wayfarer" with Charlie Giordano on a piano solo. Patti sang harmony for "Stones" and "Moonlight Motel," the latter with the live audience pointedly removed from the area in front of the barn's stage, with the chairs up on the tables signifying the place was closed.

Warner Brothers Chairman Toby Emmerich interviewing Thom Zimny and Bruce Springsteen

Several songs were substantially more up-tempo than on the album, particularly the singles. The album is laid-back; the live performances, not so much. In the album version of "There Goes My Miracle," the singer's miracle was walk walking away; in the live performance, she's really walk walking away. I like the faster pacing of these songs, and especially Gunnar Olsen's drumming and and Rob Mathes's conducting helping hold it all together. "Hello Sunshine" is the thematic climax of the film; Bruce introduced it as a benediction for love.

Several times, Bruce also alluded to the Southern California influences in these songs. "Sundown" was his shot at doing Jimmy Webb; "There Goes My Miracle" his Southern California Symphony.

Interspersed with the performances and vignettes, Springsteen and co-director Thom Zimny inserted both stock photos and videos, and also Springsteen archival photos and videos snippets. Most amusing were some home videos of Bruce and Patti that are likely from the early '90s. Bruce also resurrected stories that long-time fans have heard before in some fashion, some a long time ago. Such as the story he once used to introduce "I Sold My Heart to the Junkman." Yeah, it's back. That heart is still being returned. C.O.D. And it's still funny.

There is one nice surprise at the end of the film: a performance of Glenn Campbell's "Rhinestone Cowboy." Stay for it.

After the performance, Bruce and Thom came back onstage to do a Q&A with Warner Brothers Chairman Toby Emmerich. Bruce kicked back, the bottoms of his shoes plainly visible to the audience; he looked great and seemed glad his boots were on. His comments about Patti, in particular, were amusing; once referring to her glances as "frightening," but then coming around to calling the film a "love letter" to her.