Bruce Springsteen delivered a meaningful speech while reflecting on the work that went into his Road Diary documentary.
“We have the only job in the world where the people you went to high school with, at 75, you’re still with those people,” Springsteen, 74, said in a post-screening Q&A at Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday, September 8, about his bond with bandmates. “The same people that you were with at 18, at 19, 50, 60 years later, you’re still with those people.”
He continued: “You live your life with them, you see them grow up. You see them get married, you see them get divorced. You see them go to jail, you see them get out of jail. You see them renege on their child payments, you see them pay up. You see them get older, you see their hair go gray, and you’re in the room when they die.”
Springsteen hoped that fans would take away an important message from Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.
“You’re not alone. I can look to my left, Steven [Van Zandt] is there. To my right, Nils [Lofgren] is there. When [my wife] Patti [Scialfa] is able to make it, I can see her there,” he shared. “I can look around and see Jake [Clemons]. When I see Jake, I see Jake, but I also see Clarence [Clemons]. Roy [Bittan], Max [Weinberg]. So I’m not alone.”
Getting to document the milestones of five decades of playing with his wife, friends and bandmates, meant a lot to Springsteen. He also expressed surprise that the band was still together after originally forming in 1972.
Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa with E Street Band perform during the 1984 ‘Born in the U.S.A. Tour’ Getty Images/Bob Riha, Jr.
“Bands break up. That’s the natural order of things. The Kinks, The Who. All bands break up,” he shared. “They can’t even get two guys to stay together. Simon hates Garfunkel. Sam hates Dave. The Everly Brothers hated each other. If you can’t get two people to stay together, what are your odds? They’re low!”
Springsteen concluded by saying he had no regrets about his career with the E Street band, adding, “If I went tomorrow, it’s OK. What a f—king ride.”
The upcoming documentary featured footage of Scialfa, 71, discussing how she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer, in 2018. Scialfa said the medical condition contributed to her decision to step back from Springsteen and the E Street Band’s most recent world tour, which began in February 2023 and continues into July 2025.
“This affects my immune system, so I have to be careful what I choose to do and where I choose to go,” she said in the doc, according to Variety. “Every once in a while, I come to a show or two and I can sing a few songs on stage, and that’s been a treat. That’s the new normal for me right now, and I’m OK with that.”
Scialfa admitted she didn’t always feel “as needed” with the band, adding, “Because there were a lot of musicians on stage. I did the first couple of shows, and as I saw how it was all rolling, I thought, ‘This is good. This is completely intact. There’s not much room for me to add anything special.’ And the main thing was I have a record that I couldn’t have finished when Bruce was home because he’s in the studio all the time. So I took that opportunity to do my record.”
Rock Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band premieres on Hulu and Disney+ on October 25.
