Subscribe
Follow Us
For the first time in nearly five years, U2 drummer Larry Mullen Jr. has joined Bono, The Edge, and Adam Clayton on stage to perform live.
On Thursday, May 22, 2025, U2 accepted an award at the Ivor Novello Awards. U2 became the first Irish songwriters to receive an Ivors Academy Fellowship award. They also performed at the event, which Universal Music Publishing UK posted on their Instagram.
U2 performed their signature hit, “Angel of Harlem,” from their Rattle and Hum album acoustically. Clayton and The Edge are using an acoustic bass and guitar, respectively, while Mullen is drumming on an acoustic guitar.
Recently, Bono claimed Mullen was “completely through whatever storm of injury he's been through,” and it appears he was not lying.
The performance comes after the premiere of Bono: Stories of Surrender at the Cannes Film Festival. The film chronicled Bono's solo Stories of Surrender Tour, where he performed U2 songs and excerpts from his memoir.
When did Larry Mullen Jr. last perform live with U2?
This is the first live performance by U2 with Mullen since December 15, 2019, when the band was in Mumbai, India, on the 2019 leg of their Joshua Tree Tour.
Mullen did perform when the band recorded the music video for “Atomic City,” in September 2023. However, that was not a proper U2 show.
He previously revealed that he required surgery to continue drumming. Mullen was candid, saying U2 would have to tour without him if they were to play live in 2023. While some may have thought it would be unfathomable for the band to go on without him, they started their blockbuster residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2023.
However, Mullen was unable to perform with them. He sat out all 40 shows of the residency, which spanned from September 29, 2023, to March 2, 2024.
In 2024, Mullen discussed his recovery, calling it a “slow” process. “I'm recovering. It's just slow,” Mullen said. “And yeah, I'm anxious to get back, and this was a very good way back in. You know, there's plans to go back into the studio and that. So, yeah, it's exciting, but it is slow.”
Luckily, it appears Mullen has recovered from whatever injuries he faced. The band is in the studio working on their next album, and this performance bodes well for Mullen's status for their next tour.
