Larry Mullen Jr co-founded U2 (Picture: Paul Natkin/Getty Images)
U2 drummer Larry Mullen Jr has revealed he won’t tour with the band next year if they hit the road, as he needs surgery to continue playing.
The star is a co-founder of U2 and has been part of the band since its formation in 1976.
He explained that he has injured his ‘elbows, knees [and] neck,’ and requires surgery, and that if the band go on tour next year, it won’t be with him.
The 61-year-old explained: ‘I really miss the audiences. I miss that interaction even though I’m sitting behind a drum kit … My body is not what it used to be physically. Like next year, I won’t be performing live next year. I don’t know what the band’s plan is. There’s talk of all kinds of things.’
Larry added to the Washington Post: ‘I have lots of bits falling off, elbows, knees, necks, and so during Covid, when we weren’t playing, I got a chance to have a look at some of these things. So there’s some damage along the way.
‘So I’d like to take some time, which I will do to get myself healed. And I really enjoy playing and I enjoy the process of playing and being in the company of creative people. I enjoy that. I don’t care if that’s big or small. It’s a bit like the sprout looking for water.’
Larry joined the rest of the band at the White House this week (Picture: Bonnie Cash/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
It’s not yet known whether the band will tour in 2023 (Picture: Dave J Hogan/Dave J Hogan/Getty Images for MTV)
Interviewer Geoff Edgers clarified on Twitter that Larry is not leaving the band or retiring.
Frontman Bono, who this week attended the White House alongside the rest of the band and stars like George Clooney for the Kennedy Center Honors, recently addressed rumours that the band will take on a Las Vegas residency in 2023.
He said on The Brendan O’Connor Show: ‘I can’t announce Vegas, you’d have to shoot me! But if it happens, I can promise you it won’t be like anything you’ve ever seen in Las Vegas or anywhere, ever.
‘There’s no place yet big enough. For us to go, it has to be something that no-one’s ever gone [to] before.’
U2 is made up of Bono and Lenny alongside The Edge, and Adam Clayton.
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‘I have lots of bits falling off, elbows, knees, necks.’
