Bruce Springsteen announced Wednesday, Sept., 6, that he is indeed human and will need a few weeks off to take care of some health issues.

The 73-year-old rocker is in the middle of leg two of his North American tour where he has been leading two-and-a-half-hour shows in sports arenas and coliseums.

Yesterday on his social media channels and website he made the unusual statement that he will have to take a breather to handle "symptoms of peptic ulcer disease."

The affected dates are:

Thurs, September 7 – Syracuse, NY @ JMA Wireless Dome
Sat, September 9 – Baltimore, MD @ Oriole Park at Camden Yards
Tues, September 12 – Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena
Thurs, September 14 – Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena
Sat, September 16 – Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun Arena
Tues, September 19 – Albany, NY @ MVP Arena
Thurs, September 21 – Columbus, OH @ Nationwide Arena
Fri, September 29 – Washington, DC @ Nationals Park

Springsteen and his E Street Band just came off three huge shows at MetLife Stadium in his beloved New Jersey where he played to 50k a night.

How did he know he was home? One of the many signs being held up requesting a song said, "PLAY WHATEVER YOU WANT, BRUCE."

The Boss took that to heart by playing "Two Hearts" from The River. It's a tune from the 1980 double album he hasn't played since he was at the Stone Pony in 2018.

The last song Bruce played Sunday night was the Tom Waits cover he has only performed live 50 times, the sentimental "Jersey Girl"

Even though Springsteen is touring in quasi-support of his covers album of some of his favorite soul songs, he doesn't have a history of doing other people's music on vinyl.

One of the first artists he ever covered was Waits on the B-Side of, ironically enough, "Cover Me," during his Born in the USA reign of hit singles in the mid-'80s.

And if you look closely at the label, of that 45" you'll see Bruce, Clarence and the boys recorded "Jersey Girl" in 1981 at the Meadowlands. Back then they called the entire complex of the football stadium, race track and the Brendan Byrne basketball and hockey arena "The Meadowlands"

On July 9, Bruce Christened the Brendan Byrne Arena with six sold out nights to support The River. Last weekend he sold out three nights at the giant football stadium.

So full circle for him to play "Jersey Girl" across the way from where he originally belted it out.

Sharp eared fans of both singer-songwriters will hear that Bruce alters some of the lines and even added a verse. No need to dig through crates looking for the 45" single, Bruce was sure to put it in his first box set Live 1975-1985.

But back to 1981 when Bruce first covered the song... a few months later when he was on the West Coast, Waits was invited by the Boss to sing the song with him.

It's the only time they've ever done the tune together and it was fantastic.

The tour was scheduled to take a break in October and return in November with a stretch of shows in Canada and then the west coast. Get your tickets for those shows and updates about rescheduled gigs on Bruce's website.