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In the nifty bio-documentary 20,000 Days on Earth, Nick Cave calls himself a “front-row guy” when performing live. Not so Bono. Instead, the U2 singer has long projected himself to the farthest reaches of vast arenas. How a stadium rock star handles what is, in theory, a book reading is a question posed in Bono: Stories of Surrender, a record of a solo performance mounted to showcase his 2022 memoir Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story.
The setting is New York’s lavish Beacon Theatre, though a cynic might call the mood arthouse Vegas. The set is assertively minimal — a simple table and chairs, shot in sleek black and white. Two accompanists play harp and cello. Pared-down takes on U2 favourites will please fans, though frontman energy also fills the spoken sections.
When the film premiered in Cannes, unkind critics saw it as self-celebratory. With Bono, that’s like complaining that the rain is wet. The flipside are the points when something raw is laid bare, not least memories of his mother, Iris, who died at her own father’s funeral when the singer was 14. The dead are always with us, a lyric later says, a lesson with real depth to send to the back row.
★★★☆☆
On Apple TV+ from May 30
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