World, meet Bono.
In Bono: Stories of Surrender, a new doc directed by Andrew Dominik (best-known for two excellent films about Nick Cave), the U2 singer born Paul Hewson bares his soul in front of an intimate audience, in a lively stage show based around his memoir. The candour is punctuated with stripped back versions of his band's mega-hits. He’s backed by a handful of young, mostly classical musicians; his U2 bandmates, as well as his parents and his wife, are all represented simply by chairs. The whole thing is captured in stunning, cinematic black and white.
Here are eight things we’ve learned about a man usually seen leaping about a giant, effects-heavy stadium stage in front of thousands.
1. His dad was dismissive of his son’s talents
The film leans heavily with humour (and pathos) into the difficult relationship the singer had with his father, Bob, who begrudged his son having the musical career he’d wanted for himself. Cue a series of putdowns (‘You’re a baritone who thinks he’s a tenor!’) and only a begrudging acknowledgement when Bono plays him Pride (In the Name of Love) for the very first time. Even when Pavarotti called personally asking for a song from Bono, Bob didn’t believe it. ‘I craved my father’s attention,’ Bono admits.
2. He met his future wife Ali and joined U2 in the same week
It turns out The Edge had his eye on Ali first, but Bono soon put a stop to that. Ali and Bono married at 21 and have been together ever since – as have the band. As Bono says, all the important adults in his life he has known since he was a teenager. To say they are tight is an understatement.
3. He once nearly died at Christmas
It turns out a rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle can catch up with you. During the festive season, Bono collapsed at home with his 'lifeline' (aorta) about to burst in 2016. He was wheeled off to Mount Sinai Hospital in New York for emergency treatment. He describes in vivid detail staring up at the ceiling as the surgeons worked frantically to save him.
4. Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen once hid from Pavarotti in a cupboard
Originally a punk outfit, Bono had a hard time convincing his bandmates to get excited about the world’s greatest tenor visiting them for a major collaboration. When the great man brought a film crew with him, only Bono and Edge were there to greet him.
5. Bono lost his mum at 14, and his father never spoke of her again
With heartbreaking honesty (and lashings of Irish charm), Bono recounts the trauma of losing his mother from an aneurysm on the same day they buried his grandfather. His father refused to talk about it – or her – ever again, and Bono never visited her grave.
6. Bono met up with his dad once a week at a bar in Dublin and they barely spoke to each other
'Anything strange or startling?' is all Bob had to say to his young son as they supped their pints in silence. Bob’s dying words were also suitably opaque ('Fuck off!'). In his younger years, Bob liked to sing and conduct classical music at home with his wife’s knitting needles. Punk was not his thing.
7. Bono is fine with being seen as a hypocrite when it comes to money
He admits he has his faults. He also explains why he doesn’t accept that people should be starving, or that countries in Africa should still be paying interest on debt to the big banks of the world from dodgy loans from the Cold War. He’s still a man of the people, then, who can get a good table at a fancy restaurant.
8. U2 came up with their first big hit with two strings and two chords
A massive punk fan, Bono always believed in the immediacy and directness of music. In an early rehearsal one day, he grabbed Edge’s Gibson Explorer and began playing what he describes as the 'sound of an electric drill on the brain'. When the band joined in, the classic I Will Follow was born. And despite wanting to quit after one album, they went on to become the biggest band in the world.
Bono: Stories of Surrender premieres May 30 on Apple TV+.