Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Bono's Back Surgery Postpones U2 Tour

Saturday morning at 5:30am I wake to the sounds of helicopters flying over my apartment. They are loud and disruptive. I find out later its another car chase, a rarity for my neighborhood but common enough in the Los Angeles area. Since Friday night is poker night at my place I am usually a wreck the next day, even if I get to sleep in. This day starts with a bad omen (helicopters usually mean something awful is happening) as I toss and turn while trying to go back to sleep. Finally I give up and get up to make the coffee and fetch the newspaper. On the inside of the Calendar section I notice a small article with the tag:

BONO HAS BACK SURGERY.
It goes on to say:

BERLIN — The manager of U2 says that frontman Bono has undergone emergency back surgery in a Munich hospital after he was injured while preparing for the group's tour. Band manager Paul McGuinness, in an MP3 posted on the website, said Friday that because of the injury, the band's "360-Degree" June 3 show in Salt Lake City, Utah, has been postponed. It was not immediately clear if other dates also were canceled. McGuinness says, "We hope to get things resolved as soon as possible."

I had plans to see the band on June 6th in Anaheim for my birthday but I was more concerned for Bono's health. I started a 72 hour vigil where I kept checking the band's website and other news sources for updates. Emergency back surgery sounds frightening and I was hoping Bono would have a speedy recovery. The guy just turned fifty and deserved to have a much better birthday than this! If the tour was going to be canceled, then I had hotel rooms to cancel. By the time Monday rolled around I was definitely worried about the singer because there had been no updates and I was expecting the worst. Maybe he was paralyzed. Maybe he broke his neck. Finally on Tuesday the internet was full of news:

(CNN) -- U2 lead singer Bono has been discharged from a German hospital where he was treated for a back injury. The band's North American shows have also been postponed until next year. Bono suffered a serious back injury Friday while preparing for the resumption of the band's U.S. tour, the band said, and had emergency surgery. "Bono suffered severe compression of the sciatic nerve," Dr. Muller Wohlfahrt said. "On review of his MRI scan, I realized there was a serious tear in the ligament and a herniated disc, and that conservative treatment would not suffice. I recommended Bono have emergency spine surgery." Tonn said Bono was in severe pain and had already suffered partial paralysis in his lower leg when he was referred. Tonn said Bono is now "much better" and has regained all movement. "The prognosis is excellent, but to obtain a sustainable result, he must now enter a period of rehabilitation." Eight weeks of rehabilitation is considered a minimum, Wohlfahrt said.

"Our biggest and I believe best tour has been interrupted and we're all devastated," McGuinness said in the statement. "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."

I did not go to the U2 show at the Rose Bowl last October (soon to be a DVD) because that place is a zoo when there's 50,000 people in attendance, even crazier when there's twice that much. I watched the YouTube broadcast that night and loved it, and regretted my decision to stay home. Now I regret it even more. Another lesson that you can't take anything in life for granted. All the great rockers who've entertained us throughout the years will not be performing forever. So if there's someone out there you want to see, GO FOR IT.
It might be your last chance.