Bono in accident: ‘I may never play the guitar again’
Bono’s accident happened one day after the recording of the Band Aid single in London and now U2’s singer says he fears that he may never play guitar again following a bike accident last November. He made the comment in his A to Z of 2014, published on the band’s website.
Bono broke his arm in six places and fractured his eye socket, hand and shoulder blade in what he called a “freak accident” in New York. In the letter to his fans, he said he was unable to move around physically and would have to “concentrate hard” to be fit for U2’s next tour. At the time, the hospital where Bono was being treated said he had been involved in “a high-energy bicycle accident when he attempted to avoid another rider”.
The Irish rocker spoke this week about being on painkillers for weeks and said he had a “massive injury, I can’t blame on anyone but myself”. The 54-year-old Dubliner revealed he now had a titanium elbow. Bono said he “blanked out on impact and have no memory of how I ended up in New York Presbyterian with my humerus bone sticking through my leather jacket. Very punk rock as injuries go”.
The consequences of this freak accident are significant enough that I will have to concentrate hard to be ready for the U2 tour in fitness terms. Recovery has been more difficult than I thought. As I write this, it is not clear that I will ever play guitar again. The band have reminded me that neither they nor western civilization are depending on this. I personally would very much miss fingering the frets of my green Irish falcon or my (red) Gretsch. Just for the pleasure, aside from writing tunes. But then does the Edge, or Jimmy Page, or any guitarist you know have a titanium elbow, as I do now? I’m all elbows, I am.”
The wide-ranging, sometimes tongue-in-cheek, A-Z letter covers topics ranging from the iTunes release of the Songs of Innocence album, to an update on his family. He talked about learning from his mistakes adding “the first of which is the discovery that I am not an armoured vehicle”.
Bono says the letter will be his only communication for the first part of this year. “The consequences of this freak accident are significant enough that I will have to concentrate hard to be ready for the U2 tour in fitness terms,” he said. “As a result I have cancelled every public appearance and decided this message is all the communication I can manage for the first half of 2015, beyond muttering and singing to myself of course.”