U2 announce series of concerts in Las Vegas without drummer Larry Mullen

Irish rock band U2 have announced a series of live shows at a new spherical multimedia arena in Las Vegas on the sidelines of the Super Bowl. For the first time, the group will perform without one of its members: the ailing drummer and U2 founder Larry Mullen (61) will be represented by Dutch drummer Bram van den Berg. Mullen needs surgery this year and won’t be able to play as a result.

The concert series called “U2:UV (Achtung Baby Live At The Sphere)” is scheduled to start in September and open the MSG Sphere hall, as the band announced in a short film teaser at the NFL finals in Glendale (Arizona). U2 then want to perform on up to six weekends. Musically and in terms of stage technology, the shows are to be based on the successful album “Achtung Baby” and the associated tour “Zoo TV”. They are “more gigantic than anything Las Vegas has ever seen before,” said singer Bono (62) in a radio interview with Irish broadcaster RTÉ.

Huge arena

With “Achtung Baby” U2 heralded a creative turnaround in the early 1990s and initially irritated many fans of the old hits, but gained new followers. The album sold more than 13 million copies. The most famous songs include “One”, “Mysterious Ways” and “The Fly”. The event arena MSG Sphere will be the largest spherical structure in the world with a height of 102.41 meters and a width of 157.28 meters. It is planned that the hall will have a 160,000 square meter display area that will completely surround the audience.