LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Live Nation has confirmed that the U2 360° North American Tour, as well as the band's Glastonbury appearance, will be postponed until 2011 due to the band's frontman Bono recovering from emergency medical treatments.
U2's Bono has now been discharged from Ludwig Maximilians-University (LMU) Hospital in Munich where he underwent emergency surgery on Friday, following a back injury. In order to fully recover, he is under
doctor's orders to start a rehabilitation program and to recuperate for at least eight weeks.
Bono's recovery however, means that 16 shows on the band's tour — from Salt Lake City on June 3rd, through to New Jersey’s Meadowlands Stadium on July 19th, are being pushed into 2011.
According to Billboard, more than 1 million tickets had been sold for the postponed shows, adding up to more than $100 million in box office revenue. Big numbers to be sure but Live Nation will likely not take a huge hit from the postponment in the long run. Some one-off dates such as Glasto will be unable to be rescheduled but most dates will be rebooked and the tickets have already been sold.
"There are any number of areas of financial impact on something like this, and it’s obviously a different scenario when you cancel something versus reschedule something. I’m confident we can put back things to where there is not severe financial impact. I think one thing that has been proven historically about U2 as a band is first and foremost they always want to put things back in place for their fans and fulfill the shows that they’re committed to. I’m sure we’ll figure it out." Arthur Fogel, Live Nation's head of International Touring told Billboard.
U2's manager, Paul McGuinness, was also at the Hospital in Munich and said, "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. We’re working as fast as we can with Live Nation to reschedule these dates.”
"It was obvious from our telephone conversation that U2 are hugely disappointed. Clearly, they were looking forward to playing the Pyramid Stage as much as we were looking forward to watching them. At this point, we have no comment to make about possible replacements for U2's Friday night slot. Instead, we would simply like to send Bono our very best wishes for a full and speedy recovery." said Glastonbury producer Michael Eavis.
Additional details on rescheduled dates will follow shortly and fans are encouraged to hold on to their tickets. – CelebrityAccess Staff Writer
