Stevie Van Zandt on friendship with Bruce Springsteen: “That isn’t an act”

E Street Band guitarist Stevie Van Zandt has been friends with Bruce Springsteen ever since starting out in Asbury Park, New Jersey, and he realizes a friendship like that is very rare.

"You just don't have that many friends for 60 years. I think the fact that it survived some ups and downs, it says something about our nature," the rocker tells People. "The nature of the importance of friendship in general, which is what attracted me to being in a band rather than a solo show business person."

Van Zandt, who is the subject of the new documentary Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple, currently streaming on Max, says fans can see that friendship on display when they take the stage together.

“Fifty years later, how are we still playing to 300,000 people in one country in one week?" he says. "I think we're communicating that friendship, which is real with me and him. When they see us on the same microphone, that isn't an act. Nobody's that good an actor to keep this act up for 50 years."

He adds, "I think that's something that you cannot take for granted.”

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street kick off a two-night stand in the Netherlands on Thursday. The tour returns to North America on Aug. 15 in Pittsburgh. A complete list of dates can be found at brucepsringsteen.net.