Days after cheating death when the door came off the airplane he was flying in, Bono was on the operating table for five-hours following a bicycle accident in New York.

Surgeons implanted three metal plates and 18 screws into the U2 frontman’s elbow after an accident in Central Park left him with a fractured face and shoulder blade, and split his left humerus in six places, driving it through his skin.

Despite his severe injuries, the 54-year-old singer is expected to make a full recovery, his surgeon Dean Lorich said.

"He will require intensive and progressive therapy, however a full recovery is expected," he told Rolling Stone.

The four members of U2 were in New York to appear a number of times over the week on Jimmy Fallon’s chat show. On U2’s website, the band said they hope to complete their ‘Tonight Show’ residency when Bono has recovered.