BUT... take this for what it is. I love Bruce, first metal front man I ever saw live, and is still the standard by which I measure all others, but he is a proud man. He's saying this because he CAN still deliver, and he has been delivering at some would say the highest level of his career on these last couple tours. The guy is a freak of nature; he got cancer and kicked it's ass all over the Hammersmith Odeon.
I think you wouldn't get that level of cocksureness if Bruce wasn't on the top of his game. (And of course, you have no idea whether he's had the conversation with Steve who said "if you go, we all go", making it a moot point.)