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U2 Cuts Short Concert In Berlin After Bono Loses Singing Voice

"I'm sure this is not a big, big problem," Bono said, "but I'm gonna have to do something."
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By 

Reporter, HuffPost

U2 canceled a concert in Berlin on Saturday night after lead singer Bono lost his voice and was unable to continue, according to news reports.

A concertgoer told Entertainment Tonight that the band had just performed “Red Flag Day” then tried to play “Beautiful Day.” The group said it would take a 15-minute break, but later a management representative came onstage to say the performance was canceled.

Videos posted on social media showed Bono telling the audience: “I was ready to sing for you. Something’s happened and I think we cannot go on. It’s not right for you. ... I’m sure this is not a big, big problem but I’m gonna have to do something.”

It’s not clear whether the show will be rescheduled or money will be refunded to ticketholders.

The band had performed a full concert the night before at Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin as part of its Experience + Innocence Tour.

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The Edge, Bono and Adam Clayton of the Irish band U2 performing in Berlin on Friday night.
Frank Hoensch via Getty Images

U2 later posted a statement on its website:

We’re so sorry for tonight’s cancellation. Bono was in great form and great voice prior to the show and we were all looking forward to the second night in Berlin, but after a few songs, he suffered a complete loss of voice.
 
We don’t know what has happened and we’re taking medical advice.
   
As always, we appreciate our audience’s understanding and all our fans’ support in Berlin and those who travelled from afar. We will update you very soon.

The statement was signed “Adam, Larry and Edge.”

Before You Go

Bono on Spirituality
On the importance of music to his spirituality:(01 of09)
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"Words and music did for me what solid, even rigorous, religious argument could never do -- they introduced me to God, not belief in God, more an experiential sense of GOD."

- Excerpt from the introduction to Selections From The Book of Psalms. (credit:THOMAS SAMSON/AFP/Getty Images)
On the relationship between God and art:(02 of09)
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"Why do we need the lyric poetry of the Psalms? ... Because the only way we can approach God is, if we’re honest, through metaphor, through symbol. So art becomes essential, not decorative."
- "The Psalms," by Fuller Studio (credit:Francesco Castaldo/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
On why coolness doesn't count:(03 of09)
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"Coolness might help in your negotiation with people through the world, maybe, but it is impossible to meet God with sunglasses on. It is impossible to meet God without abandon, without exposing yourself, becoming raw."
- An excerpt from Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas (credit:Samir Hussein/Getty Images)
On what organized religion can become:(04 of09)
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"Religion can be the enemy of God. It’s often what happens when God, like Elvis, has left the building. A list of instructions where there once was conviction; dogma where once people just did it; a congregation led by a man where once they were led by the Holy Spirit."
- An excerpt from Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas (credit:THOMAS SAMSON/AFP/Getty Images)
On how he approaches faith:(05 of09)
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"I don’t let my religious world get too complicated. I just kind of go: Well, I think I know what God is. God is love, and as much as I respond in allowing myself to be transformed by that love and acting in that love, that’s my religion. Where things get complicated for me, is when I try to live this love. Now, that’s not so easy."
- An excerpt from Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas (credit:THOMAS SAMSON/AFP/Getty Images)
On religious instinct in the world:(06 of09)
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"Religious instinct comes out as gambling, as horoscope reading, as yoga, it’s everywhere. It’s supposed to be a secular society, but I look around: everybody’s religious. They’re superstitious, they pray when they think they’ve got cancer. It’s not that far below the surface. We’ve gone two hundred years since the Enlightenment, but science is starting to bow again."
- An excerpt from Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas (credit:Jordi Vidal/WireImage)
On the importance of being honest:(07 of09)
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"It's very important for Christians to be honest with God, which often, you know, God is much more interested in who you are than who you want to be."
- From a conversation with Focus on the Family (credit:Samir Hussein/Getty Images)
On how to choose a religious denomination:(08 of09)
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"I just go where the life is, you know? If it's in the back of a Roman Catholic cathedral, in the quietness and the incense, which suggest the mystery of God, of God's presence, or in the bright lights of the revival tent, I just go where I find life. I don't see denomination."
- From a Christianity Today interview (credit:Mark Sagliocco/Getty Images)
On finding what's sacred:(09 of09)
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"I enjoy the the test of trying to keep hold of what’s sacred, and still being awake, walking around, breaking through the plate glass window. It’s one thing being in that holy huddle; it’s another thing taking yourself out there into the world."
- As quoted in One Step Closer: Why U2 Matters to Those Seeking God (credit:THOMAS SAMSON/AFP/Getty Images)
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