U2 drummer Larry Mullen Jr. continues to make positive progress following the neck surgery he had in 2023 which forced him to miss the band’s groundbreaking residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas.
Bono offered an update on his current condition earlier this week while he and the Edge were in Tulsa, Oklahoma to accept the Woody Guthrie Prize for 2025. Addressing the absence of their longtime bandmates — Mullen and bassist Adam Clayton — the singer said, “They are in mighty form — and Larry has been just playing at his absolute best….his drumming is just incredible.”
The drummer has been in the studio with the group in the past year as they work on new music (including some recordings helmed by Brian Eno) and made a surprise appearance with U2 back in May when they were honored at the Ivor Novello Awards in London. Mullen was the unexpected guest as they played a couple of songs. His casual drumming on the body of an acoustic guitar during a rendition of “Angel of Harlem” was one highlight of the night. It was his first performance with the band in over five years.
Backstage that night, Mullen admitted it had been harder than he’d anticipated and expressed how much he was enjoying being with the band in the studio again. “It was difficult being away because of injury,” he said in a conversation with the BBC..”So I’m thrilled to be back in a creative environment, even if I’m not 100% there and I’ve got some bits falling off. It’s just the most extraordinary thing, When I was away from the band, I missed it, but I didn’t realize how much I missed it.”
Listen to Bono Discuss Larry Mullen Jr. and Adam Clayton in Tulsa
Bono Also Shared a Preview of The Music U2 is Working On
During the Woody Guthrie Prize ceremonies at Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa on Oct. 21, Bono and Edge performed a selection of favorites from the U2 catalog during a 45-minute acoustic set, including “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and “One.” They also honored Guthrie himself, offering up a snippet of “This Train is Bound for Glory” on the tail of “Running to Stand Still” and a worthy harmonica solo from the singer. Also, a piece of “They Laid Jesus Christ in the Grave” found its way into their rendering of “Pride (in the Name of Love).”
Watch Bono and the Edge Perform ‘Running to Stand Still’ in Tulsa
The city is home to the Bob Dylan Center and during a discussion with producer T Bone Burnett, Bono shared that the folk legend provided an important gateway. “Bob Dylan really did bring us to a place where the song was an instrument to open another world,” he said. “And, the world of Woody Guthrie, I probably wouldn’t have entered — personally speaking — without Bob Dylan.”
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He spoke in a hopeful tone about America and its future, but noted that in order to guide it to a positive place, would require citizens to stay focused and engaged.”America is the greatest song still yet to be written,” he explained. “The poetry is there but it’s still being written… don’t imagine it will continue to be extraordinary on its own, that if you fell asleep and woke up in twenty years, the world would be fairer or freer. It won’t, that’s not the way it works.”
Both Bono and Edge told Burnett that the protest songs they’ve written over the years come from a real place and it wasn’t something that could be forced. He then surprised the audience by sharing lyrics for a work-in-progress version of a song written about the killing of Awdah Hathaleen, the Palestinian activist and consultant who was murdered earlier this summer.
As the band’s official website confirmed, this was the first glimpse of the recent activity as they’ve been working on new music. The lyrics, as he shared them, are from a song reportedly titled “One Life at a Time.” “One father shot three children crying / If there is no law is there no crime / If there is no hope / What’s there to rhyme? / History is written one life at a time/ One life at a time.”
READ MORE: Could U2’s Next Album Feature Folk Music?
Watch Bono and the Edge Perform ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ in Tulsa
How U2 Writes Songs
Further insight into the band’s process can be found in Bono’s remarks about “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” something he reflected on during the conversation with Burnett after their Tulsa performance. “I heard the Bob Marley in that song, in ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday,’ I heard it tonight. Echoing his similar comments about protest songs, he added, “You can’t sit down and write a song about a subject. You can occupy a feeling.”
“This is where tone comes into it. It’s in the songs [and] in the sound. Maybe we just weren’t expert enough songwriters,” he mused. “And this often happens [with] the band’s music and often it’s Edge’s guitar playing or whatever. It kind of tells me as a singer what to be singing about. But in this case, it was Edge telling me what to be singing about. Like, it’s a song called ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday,’ what about that? And I had to find a unique way into it.”
“That’s why I love being in a band,” Edge quipped in reply, sparking a big wave of laughter from the Tulsa crowd.
U2’s most recent album, Songs of Surrender, was released in 2023. That record featured reinterpretations of songs from the group’s catalog. It was tied in part to Bono’s book, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story and the accompanying tour. Prior to that, the band’s last album of proper new songs was 2017’s Songs of Experience, which Bono referred to as “U2’s first rock record.”
Watch Bono Discuss U2’s Songwriting Process and ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’
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Gallery Credit: Matthew Wilkening
