In a homemade video U2's the Edge talks about the band returning to the stage in August and how they plan to introduce new songs to the show.

"I guess sometime in August we will be doing a pre-production period somewhere in Europe to get ready to open the tour in Turin," said The Edge on Wednesday.

Since U2's lead singer Bono had to have an emergency back operation a few days ago fans throughout the world are concerned that they won't get an opportunity to see their favorite band live.

The US leg of the tour has been cancelled to allow Bono time to recuperate.

"This is not a cancellation it's just a postponement and we will be back bigger and better than ever," the Edge told fans via web-cam on Wednesday.

"In a weird way it's probably good that this became evident before the tour started and not half way through.. so being philosophical about it there is some positives to the way this thing happened," he said.

On their new music, the Edge said, "We've been working on a lot of new songs .... and we are intending to play some new songs live which is something we planned to do before and never got round to doing for various reasons so we're really excited about the idea of playing a couple of these new tunes in front of the U2 crowd.

"That will give us a huge insight into how they are working and if any changes need to be made."

On returning to the stage in August as a band, the Edge promised, "When we do get back out there we will be in absolutely top condition and rearing to go so that's our focus now."