U2 has remained intact with its original four members — Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen Jr. — since they formed. However, when they hit the Sphere in Las Vegas this fall, they'll be without Mullen.
Health issues are keeping Mullen away from Vegas as Bran van den Berg will fill in. Outside of the Sydney show in '93 that Clayton missed, it's unheard of that a member of U2 misses a show. But obligations need to be fulfilled, and a replacement drummer was needed.
In a new interview, Clayton updated fans on Mullen's status. The band last toured as a unit in 2019 when they brought their “Joshua Tree” retrospective tour to Australia and Asia.
“The whole band and I’m sure the audience are going to be very sad and miss Larry, but I think he is doing what Larry does, which is taking his health very responsibly and he wants to come back, He wants to be able to have a long career and continue his drumming,” Clayton said. “So he is taking care of those injuries. He is very much behind the idea of us going on stage with Bram. I’m sure for him, and I mean Larry, it is a difficult moment to know that your band is going on stage and you’re not with them.”
But then Clayton reflected on when Bono had to miss a special Times Square show. “But sometimes life deals these things, and I mean, there was a time when I think about it a few years ago when Bono couldn’t perform with us and Bruce Springsteen stepped in, which is quite a strange one as well,” he recalled. “And actually, Chris Martin did a turn as well, which is quite an extraordinary thing for U2 to play with these people as well, so it does happen in the life of bands.”
He is referencing when Bono had a bike accident and had to miss U2's show. Bruce Springsteen played two Joshua Tree tracks, “Where the Streets Have No Name” and “I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For,” whilst Martin filled in for “Beautiful Day” and “With or Without You.”
“And there was certainly a concert that I missed a long time ago as well, so it does happen,” Clayton said of the infamous Sydney show.
U2's Sphere shows will begin on Sept. 29 (ClutchPoints will be there on Sept. 30) and run through Dec. 16.