Some time ago, we informed about Larry Mullen Jr.‘s health issues and the fact that he wasn’t planning any professional activities this year to look after himself.
As it turns out, his bandmates in U2 are not going to wait for their friend and the band’s founding member to recover before they return to performing live. The band are going to do a series of shows to inaugurate the MSG Sphere concert venue at the The Venetian casino in Las Vegas. For the first time in history, the Irish rock legends are to appear live without their permanent sticksman. Who is going to fill in for Larry Mullen Jr.?
Bram Van Den Berg. Photo: tama.com
Last Sunday, the band announced that the fill-in drummer is Bram Van Den Berg of the Dutch band Krezip, who are very popular in Holand. The band have been active since 1997 r. and have announced their sixth studio album to be released in April this year. Van Den Berg has been a member of Krezip since 2005. He has also collaborated with acts such as One In A Million, VanVelzen, Drive Like Maria or Guild of Stags.
Bram is endorsed by Tama and Zildjian.
U2:
“It’s going to take all we’ve got to approach the Sphere without our bandmate in the drum seat, but Larry has joined us in welcoming Bram van den Berg who is a force in his own right…The Sphere show has been in the works for a long time. We don’t want to let people down, least of all our audience… the truth is we miss them as much as they appear to miss us… our audience was always the fifth member of the band. Bottom line, U2 hasn’t played live since December 2019 and we need to get back on stage and see the faces of our fans again.”
Bram Van Den Bergen. Photo: Redferns / Paul Bergen
Bram Van Den Berg has commented the situation on his Instagram account:
“Very excited about this opportunity to join Bono, the Edge and Adam onstage in Las Vegas. It’s big shoes to fill but Larry and the band have been so supportive, I can’t wait!“
