Ailing Bruce Springsteen Reveals Dying Wish Days After 75th Birthday — Following Agonizing 'Monster Illness' That Forced Him to Axe Gigs

He recently pulled the plug on a string of shows as he was crippled and left unable to sing by a monstrously painful illness.

Now RadarOnline.com can reveal Dancing in the Dark rocker Bruce Springsteen's dying wish – shared two days after he turned 75.

The grizzled rocker, who marked the milestone on September 23 after spending years battling to stay trim and fit to get through his marathon E-Street Band gigs, said he wants to shuffle off while doing what he does best – performing.

He said: "Since I was 16, playing live has been a deep and lasting part of who I am and how I justify my existence here on Earth.

"I plan on continuing until the wheels fall off, and for as long as the audience will follow me. That's my job."

Springsteen makes the poignant admission in the upcoming documentary Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.

The blue collar hero – whose wife Patti Scialfa, 71, recently revealed her blood cancer battle – released his debut album Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. in 1973 and has performed with nearly the same band line-up for 40 years.

In August, he promised his fans that he won’t be slowing down, declaring at a show in Philadelphia: "We've been around 50 f------ years, and we ain't quitting! We ain't doing no farewell tour bulls---! Jesus Christ! No farewell tour for the E Street Band!"

The singer, renowned for stage performances that can go on for four hours-plus, added: "Farewell to what? Thousands of people screaming your name. That's all it takes. I ain't going anywhere."

But his fans feared the worst last year when Springsteen was forced to pull the plug on a series of gigs.

He said during a radio appearance in October: "Let me take a moment and thank my fans affected by our postponed shows for their understanding.

"I am deeply sorry but this belly thing, despite my ability to laugh at it, has been a monster and is still unfortunately rocking my internal world."

He tried to laugh off the sickness as a "bellyache", but admitted while saying he was "heartbroken" to have been forced to postpone concerts as he had been suffering a horrific stomach condition.

In September of last year, he axed all his remaining 2023 shows "out of an abundance of caution".

A statement shared on social media said he "continued to recover steadily from peptic ulcer disease over the past few weeks”.

Springsteen – who has admitted he was put on a "variety of medications" to deal with childhood trauma linked to his father’s verbal abuse – kicked off a hugely ambitious tour last February, marking his E-Street Band’s first US dates since 2016 and first international shows since 2017.

The statement announcing his peptic ulcer disease said Springsteen’s sidelining was "the decision of his medical advisors".

Springsteen admitted his ulcer pain got so bad he couldn't sing.

He said: "I had the stomach problem and one of the big problems was I couldn't sing.

"You sing with your diaphragm. You know, my diaphragm was hurting so badly that when I went to make the effort to sing it was killing me.

"So I literally couldn't sing at all. That lasted for two or three months.

"During the course of it before people told me 'Oh, it's going to go away', and 'You’re going to be OK'.

"You’re thinking like, 'Hey, am I going to sing again?'"

The 2023 E-Street tour was also marred by the illness of band members who got stricken with Covid, with Steven Van Zandt, Nils Lofgren, Jake Clemons, Soozie Tyrell and Lisa Lowell all missing shows.

Springsteen and his group relaunched his cursed 2023 tour – which the singer admitted saw his band members fall ill "one after another" – in March 19 in Phoenix, with the run having 52 shows that are set to last into November.

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