With Bono’s recovery from back surgery expected to take at eight weeks, U2 today canceled its first-ever Glastonbury appearance and pushed this summer’s North American leg of the band’s 360° Tour to sometime in 2011.
U2 today revealed for the first time details about Bono’s condition, which it last week described as “an injury sustained during tour preparation training.” The band reports on its website that the frontman “suffered severe compression of the sciatic nerve… there was a serious tear in the ligament and a herniated disc.”
According to Professor Joerg Christian Tonn at Munich’s LMU University Hospital, who performed Bono’s surgery:
“Bono … was already in severe pain with partial paralysis in the lower leg. The ligament surrounding the disc had an 8mm tear and during surgery we discovered fragments of the disc had traveled into the spinal canal. This surgery was the only course of treatment for full recovery and to avoid further paralysis. Bono is now much better, with complete recovery of his motor deficit.”
U2 had been scheduled to headline the first night of the U.K.’s fabled Glastonbury festival, set for June 25-27. Bono is quoted on the band’s website as saying, “‘I’m heartbroken. We really wanted to be there to do something really special — we even wrote a song especially for the festival.”
As for the 16 North American dates, which had been scheduled to run from June 3 in Salt Lake City through July 19 in New Jersey (see full list below), the band’s management and promoters at Live Nation are working to book new dates sometime in 2011.
In a statement on U2.com, the band’s manager, Paul McGuinness, says:
“Our biggest and I believe best tour has been interrupted and we’re all devastated. For a performer who lives to be on stage, this is more than a blow. He feels robbed of the chance to do what he does best and feels like he has badly let down the band and their audience. Which is of course nonsense. His concerns about more than a million ticket buyers whose plans have been turned upside down, we all share, but the most important thing right now is that Bono make a full recovery.”
The band says information on rescheduled dates “will follow shortly,” and fans are encouraged to hold onto their tickets for the 2011 make-up shows.
See U2’s full tour dates after the jump…
U2 tour dates:
North America + Glastonbury:
June 3: Rice Eccles Stadium, Salt Lake City, UT
June 6: Angel Stadium, Anaheim, CA
June 7: Angel Stadium, Anaheim, CA
June 12: Invesco Field, Denver, CO
June 16: Oakland Colesium, Oakland, CA
June 20: Qwest Field, Seattle, WA
June 23: Commonwealth Stadium, Edmonton, Canada
June 25: Glastonbury Festival, UK
June 27: TCF Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, MN
June 30: Spartan Stadium, East Lansing, MI
July 3: Rogers Centre, Toronto, Canada
July 6: Soldier Field, Chicago, IL
July 9: Land Shark Stadium, Miami, FL
July 12: Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, PA
July 16: Montreal Hippodrome, Montreal, Canada
July 17: Montreal Hippodrome, Montreal, Canada
July 19: New Meadowlands Stadium, New York, NY
Europe:
Aug. 6: Stadio Olimpico, Turin, Italy
Aug. 10: Commerzbank Arena, Frankfurt, Germany
Aug. 12: AWD Stadium, Hannover, Germany
Aug. 15: Casa Arena, Horsens, Denmark
Aug. 16: Casa Arena, Horsens, Denmark
Aug. 20: Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland
Aug. 21: Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland
Aug. 25: Luzhniki, Moscow, Russia
Aug. 30: Ernst Happel Stadium, Vienna, Austria
Sept. 3: Olympic Stadium, Athens, Greece
Sept. 6: Ataturk Olympic Stadium, Istanbul, Turkey
Sept. 11: Letzigrund Stadium, Zurich, Switzerland
Sept. 12: Letzigrund Stadium, Zurich, Switzerland
Sept. 15: Olympic Stadium, Munich, Germany
Sept. 18: Stade De France, Paris, France
Sept. 22: Stade Roi Boudoin, Brussels, Belgium
Sept. 23: Stade Roi Boudoin, Brussels, Belgium
Sept. 26: Anoeta Stadium, San Sebastian, Spain
Sept. 29: Olympic Stadium, Seville, Spain
Oct. 2: Stadium, Coimbra, Portugal
Oct. 3: Stadium, Coimbra, Portugal
Oct. 8: Olympic Stadium, Rome, Italy
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- U2 postpones 360° Tour launch in Salt Lake City after Bono undergoes surgery
- U2 to release ‘U2360° at the Rose Bowl’ concert on DVD, Blu-ray in June
- U2’s ‘Artificial Horizon’ remix album to be released as triple vinyl set
- U2 taps Interpol, Lenny Kravitz, Fray to open 360° Tour in North America
- Vintage Video: U2 rings out the 1980s with New Year’s gig at Dublin’s Point Depot
- U2 ‘Artificial Horizon’ fan club CD features 13 remixes by likes of Trent Reznor
- Video: U2 live at the Rose Bowl via YouTube
- U2 tour dates: 360° trek returns to North American stadiums in June and July 2010
- Tracklist: U2’s ‘Unforgettable Fire’ reissue includes unreleased songs, live material
