Saturday, May 30, 2015

Dennis Sheehan, U2’s tour manager, died in his Los Angeles hotel room on Wednesday at 68 years of age.

In their second show at the Los Angeles Forum, U2 paid tribute to their tour manager. According to The Guardian, in-between songs U2’s lead singer Bono reflected on Sheehan’s life to the audience, saying how he was family to the band. Bono said, “U2’s family — it’s a brotherhood, although there’s a lot of sisters in it too… but the extended family is very important to us and we look after each other. It takes a lot to put on a show like tonight, and last night we lost a member of our family. Dennis Sheehan was his name. He was U2’s tour manager for 33 years.”

During the show, Bono also added, “A lot of U2 songs over the years were written to fill a void, an absence, a hole in a heart left by a loved one. With the loss of Sheehan, U2 now has such a wound.”

According to Rolling Stone, Sheehan was with the Irish band U2 on their five-day Los Angeles tour. He was discovered dead in his West Hollywood hotel room and pronounced dead from a heart attack on Wednesday morning after paramedics were called at 5:30am local time. According to Billboard, the paramedics found Sheehan unresponsive before pronouncing him as dead soon after.

The band earlier on announced the death of their tour manager via their website, and in a statement, Bono said, “We’ve lost a family member, we’re still taking it in. He wasn’t just a legend in the music business, he was a legend in our band. He is irreplaceable.” Arthur Fogel, Chairman of Global Touring for Live Nation Entertainment also stated his thoughts on the loss of Sheehan: “With profound sadness we confirm that Dennis Sheehan, U2’s longstanding tour manager and dear friend to us all, has passed away overnight. Our heartfelt sympathy is with his wonderful family.”

Having been a tour manager for U2 for over 30 years, Sheehan began his career at the age of 19, and started working with the band in 1982. Sheehan also toured with Led Zeppelin in the 70s and worked with other artists such as Patti Smith, Lou Reed, and Iggy Pop. Rolling Stone quote Sheehan talking to U2 Magazine in 1984 about how special the band was: “There is something extremely special about U2… Whether it be in their social lives, which they are very particular about, or in their business life… they go for the best, and in turn the people that work for them give of their best.”

U2 are currently on their international “Innocence and Experience” tour which concludes in November.