‘We’re Going Away Now': U2 Ends Tour on Cryptic Note
Is the Experience + Innocence tour going to be U2's last? A comment made by Bono in Berlin tonight could suggest that they may be considering calling it a day.
According to the Twitter account of u2gigs, a website dedicated to chronicling U2's concerts, Bono told the crowd, "We've been on the road for quite some time, just going on 40 years, and this last for years have been really something very special for us. We're going away now."
However, the person tweeting does not believe it's the end, noting that, with the exception of last year's Joshua Tree 30th anniversary tour, "[E]very final gig is the same: mass panic that this is the last gig. ... Ten bucks says I'll be covering another gig with you folks sometime down the track. I will concede that this is the first time the mass panic has at least seemed plausible. But there'll be *something* for Boy at 40 or [Achtung Baby] at 30, or a new record. U2 won't sit still and they won't break up, and they've got enough years ahead of them yet to fit in more gigs!'
Tonight's show was the last night of the trek, and it was a make-up date for the night back in September when the band abandoned their show when Bono lost his voice. He's also had a few serious health issues recently that may have contributed to his comments.
In 2015, he required five hours of surgery following a bike accident in which he sustained a facial fracture and four separate fractures in his left shoulder blade and arm. He also spoke last month of an even more serious issue that, without giving specifics, suggested it was life-threatening.
“It was pretty serious,” he said. “I’m all right now, but I very nearly wasn’t. I’ve had a lot of warnings. A fair few punches over the last years.”
That scare may have been the "major moment" he was referring to in the liner notes to Songs of Experience that he described as "a shock to the system. A shock that left me clinging on to my own life. It was an arresting experience. I won’t dwell in it or on it. I don’t want to name it.”