Music news: U2, Sex Pistols, Billy Idol, and Noel Gallagher

U2 has had the same four-piece group since their debut album. That is relatively rare and one reason the band has had the success it has over 40 years. But when the band begins its Las Vegas residency in late September, the band will not have drummer Larry Mullen, Jr. playing with them.

Mullen, Jr. had been dealing with back, knee, and neck injuries for quite some time and he had surgery to help fix the issues. The drummer knew he was going to have surgery since at least the end of 2022, and if U2 were going to play live in 2023 then the group knew they would likely be playing without Mullen, Jr.

Instead of Mullen, Jr., U2 will have Krezip drummer Bram van den Berg for at least the initial run of shows, if not for the foreseeable future. Mullen, Jr. is an excellent drummer, but so is van den Berg so hopefully fans who see the group in Las Vegas won't miss Mullen, Jr. as much. But he will still be missed.

U2, Billy Idol, and Noel Gallagher are all in the news on Thursday

What you wouldn't have missed had you been at the Jazz Aspen Snowmass festival this week is a fantastic version of the Sex Pistols' "Pretty Vacant" played by the Foo Fighters and Billy Idol. Billy Idol and the Foo Fighters had previously played on stage together at a festival in 2018, too. But fans of the Foo Fighters know well how Dave Grohl loves to ask other musical artists to play a song live with the band.

The performance itself was excellent. Of course, the Foo Fighters live are always great, but Billy Idol still knows how to connect with an audience. Plus, choosing a Sex Pistols song to do was genius.

In slightly odd news, Noel Gallagher reportedly turned down an offer to appear on British panel show Have I Got News for You. And Gallagher was extremely humble in why chose to turn down the gig. According to NME, Gallagher said, "...I’d be so out of my depth with those guys who are like f*****g amazingly funny and witty."

So the next time someone says they don't like Oasis because the Gallagher brothers are too full of themselves, remind them of this story. Gallagher might know might know music really well, but he doesn't know a bunch of other things as well. In other words, he's much like the rest of us.

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