U2 will miss drummer Larry Mullen Jr when they start their Las Vegas residency without him behind the kit.

The 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' rockers are set to kick off their 'U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere' run on September 29, but they will be taking to the stage without Larry as he is still recovering from surgery, and so Dutch drummer Bram van den Berg is filling in.

Speaking to the Daily Star newspaper's Wired column, bassist Adam Clayton said: "The whole band and I'm sure the audience are going to be very sad and miss Larry.

"He wants to come back, he wants to be able to have a long career and continue his drumming so he's taking care of those injuries."

Bono, Adam and guitarist The Edge will take to the stage with Krezip drummer Bram, and they have their bandmate's blessing.

Adam added: "He's very much behind the idea of us going on stage with Bram.

"I'm sure for Larry it's a difficult moment to know that your band are going on stage and you're not with them."

The musician pointed out that the 'With or Without You' group had to adjust a few years ago "when Bono couldn't perform with us", which led to some surprise guests.

He recalled: "Bruce Springsteen stepped in which is quite a strange one as well, actually Chris Martin did a turn as well.

"It happens in the life of bands.

"I think Larry is probably quite sanguine about it and realises he needs to get his health back together again."

Announcing their stint of shows at the Sphere, the band admitted they were facing a tough task taking on the gigs without their bandmate.

Back in March, they said: "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."