Bruce Springsteen 'superfan' has spent thousands to see star play 70 times

A Bruce Springsteen super-fan who has followed "The Boss" all over the world has said he will do "anything it takes" to see the star play in his home city. Phil Beard said he's been waiting since 1981 for the rock legend to announce a gig in Liverpool, even telling the man himself at a meet and greet in 2016 “it’s about time you finally played there.”

The 71-year-old, from Formby, is hoping to bag himself tickets to the icon's gig next summer, when he plays Anfield alongside The E Street Band. The gig will be even more special for Phil, who feared he would have to stop travelling to see Springsteen play after being given a devastating diagnosis.

Phil first saw the singer play live in 1981 and has since seen 70 gigs, with his wife Eileen, 70. In 2016 he was lucky enough to meet Bruce Springsteen at a book signing in America, where he told him “we’ve come in from Liverpool today and it’s about time you finally played there,” and now he finally is.

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Phil, who retired from the Home Office in 2015, has been everywhere from Washington DC to Newark, Paris, Chicago and even Manchester to see the icon. But in 2021 the couple feared the end had come to their Bruce Springsteen shows after Phil was diagnosed with Multiple myeloma.

Phil said: “I couldn't walk, I was in so much pain. I was rushed to hospital and diagnosed with Multiple myeloma within days. Within two weeks I was put on a five month chemotherapy treatment and I had a stem cell transplant in 2022, which put the cancer into remission. It has remained in remission since then, for over three years.

“It will come back at some stage but in the meantime we are trying our best to do as many trips as we can and enjoy life as much as we can with all the challenges. After I went into remission and the nurses said I was well enough to travel again we decided to book a trip.”

Of course the couple headed straight to see The Boss and flew to a show in New York in 2023. In the last year they have seen Springsteen perform in LA, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh and will be going to Toronto in four weeks.

When Phil heard Springsteen had announced an Anfield gig in 2025 he knew he would be trying to get tickets. He said: “There is a presale on Thursday for tickets in Liverpool that we are trying for. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I think they will announce another night.

“For him to play Liverpool will be amazing. Liverpool is world famous for music, and not just for The Beatles, but for its contemporary art, it's so iconic and yet Springsteen in all the thousands of shows he has done across the world he has never played my home city.

“Here we are eight years later [from when Phil told Springsteen he needed to come and play Liverpool] and he is actually going to play at Anfield, for me to see him at Anfield, in my hometown, it would just mean so much to us.”

Phil continued: “It’s these kinds of things that keep me going in life, I'm so passionate about music, it really gives me a sense of purpose. We have seen about 25 shows in America, we have spent thousands and thousands of pounds on going to see him, but that's what we do.”

Phil recently learnt Springsteen’s wife, Patti Scialfa, has also been diagnosed with Multiple myeloma. He said: “It was just uncanny that I know what she has been going through these last six years.”