U2 cut short their Berlin gig Saturday night on August 1, after frontman Bono lost his voice.

The 58-year-old singer-songwriter had just performed Red Flag Day in the German capital when he seemed to be suffering from vocal problems. 

Bono speculated that stage smoke in the arena had affected his performance, saying: "I can promise you I have not been smoking. But this is like a giant cigar. I've lost my voice and I don't know what to do... it was singing like a bird about 10 minutes ago."

He asked for the smoke to be turned off and the air conditioning to be turned up, and despite a short break whilst the band tried to sort the problem, the Experience & Innocence 2018 show was unfortunately axed. 

Bono told the audience: "I was ready to sing for you. Something's happened and I think we cannot go on. It's not right for you... I'm sure this is not a big, big problem but I'm gonna have to do something. So either, if people want to go home, that's fine. We'll play another show for you some other time.

"If you want to stay, we're gonna have to break for, I dunno, ten, 15 minutes."

Bandmates Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen and The Edge later posted a message on the band's website.

The message read: "We’re so sorry for tonight’s cancellation. Bono was in great form and great voice prior to the show and we were all looking forward to the second night in Berlin, but after a few songs, he suffered a complete loss of voice.

"We don’t know what has happened and we’re taking medical advice."

The Irish rockband's show is set to be rescheduled at a later date.