U2’s Larry Mullen Jr. Isn’t Sure He Can Handle Full Shows After Neck Surgery: ‘If I Can Play for an Hour, That’s Enough’

U2’s Larry Mullen Jr. Isn’t Sure He Can Handle Full Shows After Neck Surgery: ‘If I Can Play for an Hour, That’s Enough’ https://ift.tt/wf1rsSo

In a digital cover story for ‘Rolling Stone,’ the drummer and U2 co-founder revealed that doctors advised him to retire following the injury

Larry Mullen Jr. in May 2018 in Las Vegas
Credit: Isaac Brekken/Getty

NEED TO KNOW

• Larry Mullen Jr. admitted he’s unsure he can handle playing full shows after having neck surgery
• The U2 drummer and co-founder told Rolling Stone he was “really in a bad way” by the 2019 leg of U2’s Joshua Tree tour
• U2’s new album Carnaval De Luz is due Nov. 13

Larry Mullen Jr. opened up about having neck surgery — and how it’s affected his ability to perform.

In a new Rolling Stone digital cover story interview published on Monday, Sept. 28, the U2 drummer and co-founder spoke about how he ended up “in a bad way” by the 2019 leg of U2’s Joshua Tree tour.

According to Mullen Jr., 64, he had a neck injury that prompted doctors to ask him to retire.

For years, he had been aware of his neck issue — a congenital fusion in a facet joint — which was exacerbated by his drumming.

“If you don’t do my job, you wouldn’t really notice,” Mullen Jr. told the publication, “and I got away with it for years.”

U2’s ‘Rolling Stone’ digital cover story
Credit: Viviane Sassen Studio

However, things shifted for the worse by the 2019 leg of U2’s Joshua Tree tour: Mullen Jr.’s pain couldn’t be ignored as the treatment he was receiving each night after performing was making his situation worse.

“By the time I came off the road, I was really in a bad way,” he said.

Mullen Jr. thought he’d “bounce back” because he always did.

“I did need time away,” he said. “I just would’ve preferred to have booked a flight somewhere as opposed to booking the trolley in the hospital.”

By the COVID-19 pandemic, Mullen Jr. was no longer playing drums because he was “too sore.”

“I realized that I was physically damaged beyond repair… I shut down, everybody had, and my body just went, ‘You’ve had enough,’” he recalled.

Bassist Adam Clayton said the band wasn’t sure if Mullen Jr. was going to “come back.”

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Still, when the idea of performing at the Sphere surfaced in 2022, Mullen initially “signed up to do it.”

“And then a couple of weeks later my physio said to me, ‘You won’t make it through rehearsals. So you need to undo that,’ which was very difficult, very complicated to undo it, ‘cause I’d made a commitment,” said Mullen Jr.

He also “absolutely understood” his bandmates doing the residency without him.

“That’s the cost of doing business. It is complicated being friends, being friendly, being in business. So yeah, we all have feelings. So I’m not gonna lie that it wasn’t difficult, but nobody imposed it,” Mullen Jr. added.

After Mullen Jr. performed on the one-off single “Atomic City” and appeared in the visual, U2 wasn’t sure if that was his final performance. Luckily, it wasn’t.

According to The Edge, the band’s forthcoming record Carnaval De Luz only happened because Mullen Jr. was able to return.

“I don’t think we would’ve made an album if Larry hadn’t been able to play,” he said. “We would’ve just gone, ‘Why? Why make an album without Larry Mullen on it? Doesn’t feel right.’”

According to Mullen Jr., his neck surgery came with dangers, and his family wasn’t on board with it.

“If you’ve got the head and the heart, I’m a head guy,” he said. “I’ll do the calculation, the logic. But my desire to play again overwrote that.”

Three or four months after the surgery, Mullen Jr. was able to start drumming again, but he “realized that I was playing differently.”

“Everything was different. My body didn’t work the same way as it used to,” he said.

But after returning to the basics, he began doing sessions with the band.

Larry Mullen Jr., The Edge, Bono and Adam Clayton of U2 in July 2018 in New York City
Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty

While Mullen Jr. isn’t sure if he can play through an entire show, he’s going to do what he can.

“Even if I can’t play for two and a half hours, if I can play for an hour, that’s enough,” he said. “I’ve had it so good that I’ll accept that.”

U2 is set to release their 16th album Carnaval De Luz on Nov. 13.