U2 to perform at MSG Sphere in Las Vegas, minus a quartet

NEW YORK (AP) — U2 will return to the concert stage for the first time since 2019, but without one of the original quartets, as drummer Larry Mullen Jr. is on the injured list.

The band hinted at reviving it on the biggest stage possible – in a commercial that aired during it. Super Bowl on Sunday – and announced that he will perform a number of shows this fall to open the new MSG Sphere location in Las Vegas.

The concerts will be devoted to the 1991 album “Achtung Baby”.

“We got to get back on stage and see our fans’ faces again,” band members Bono, The Edge and Adam Clayton said on Sunday.

No other dates outside of Las Vegas have been announced, though it’s unlikely the show will be made for just one city. In 2017 and 2019, the group toured around the world based on the Joshua Tree album.

Mullen is arguably the group’s founder; the four members met in his Dublin dining room to answer an ad he had posted on a high school bulletin board looking for musicians. U2 does not elaborate on his health, however The Washington Post reports In November, the drummer said he had problems with his neck and elbow that required surgery.

Only twice before had the band taken the stage without the four members — when Clayton left a concert in Australia in 1993 for health reasons, and after Mullen broke his leg in a 1978 motorcycle accident, according to Bono’s book, Surrender.

Mullen will be replaced in Las Vegas by Dutch drummer Bram van den Berg.

Next month, U2 plans to release a CD called “Songs of Surrender,” featuring re-recorded and reimagined versions of 40 songs from its catalog.

The Edge said he was impressed with the state-of-the-art sound and video system built for MSG Sphere. “We all thought about it and decided we’d be crazy not to accept the invitation,” he said.

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