“I’m still gonna pretend this is a book tour,” says U2 frontman Bono to a laugh from the audience.
Bono, who has spent a lot of the past year promoting his book with the “Stories of Surrender” tour, stands on a bare stage with the spotlight solely on him — he jokes at one point that Willie Williams was told to “cut back” and thus he's left with four chairs, a pint of Guinness, and a few musicians to carry him from story to story, from song to song. It's like he has switched roles with The Edge on the cover of Rattle and Hum, with The Edge (who was in attendance Monday night) shining the light down on the U2 lead singer.
For two hours at the Beacon Theatre in New York City, sans all phones and distractions, Bono surrendered to the 2,000+ in attendance. And while Bono may think he's the one surrendering in this scenario, I, like many others in the audience, was surrendering to him. Here's the genesis of the lyrics of hundreds of songs that have a special place in the hearts of all U2 fans telling us stories and singing us songs in the most intimate venue imaginable.
Bono on Broadway
Bono’s “quarter-man” show, as he called it, is two hours full of him rearranging furniture while recounting conversations between him and his father, waxing poetically about his wife, Ali, and, of course, singing songs. It’s what Springsteen on Broadway could never be — a traveling show about rock’s ultimate showman that definitely “prays his heartache will chart.”
To be clear, I don't know if I'd classify this as a formal review of Bono's last “Stories of Surrender” show (excluding the following day's invite-only taping and the upcoming Italy show). In my estimation, it's as much of a review as “Stories of Surrender” was a book tour.
It'd just be wrong to classify Bono’s “Stories of Surrender” show as a straight-up rock concert, though it sure does start like one after kicking off with a trio of U2’s biggest hits: “City of Blinding Lights,” “Vertigo,” and “With or Without You.” Reality will soon hit you as this show is anything but (this is also my way of calling out the woman right behind me who loudly sang every single song). This may upset some — in fact, one guy demanded for Bono to sing “I Will Follow,” to which he promptly responded with “f**k off” — but it seemed pretty clear that this wasn't a U2 show and more of an extension of Bono's book. You're visualizing excerpts from the book with the benefit of hearing some of the songs featured in real-time (kind of like how the audiobook featured snippets of the Songs of Surrender album).
Why this show meant so much to me is likely a redundant question for those who know me. Yes, this was my first time seeing Bono in five years, but for anyone not familiar with my ethos, U2’s music saved my life. I know it sounds as melancholic as some of the band’s recent output, but Songs of Innocence hit me at the right time. After years of my aunt promising to take me to see the “greatest band ever” live, she took me to the “iNNOCENCE+eXPERIENCE” tour during their first night at Madison Square Garden in 2015. Suffice it to say, she was not a big fan of the show (to be fair, she grew up during the prime eras of U2), but I was so engulfed in this show. Something about watching Bono literally walk down his childhood from his street or hold The Edge in the palm of his hand — all thanks to the giant LED screen that linked the journey of innocence to experience throughout the show — gripped me. I've never seen a band tell a narrative through a concert like this, and to this day no band has matched this.
Being the rather innocent 14-year-old that I was at the time of that show, the narrative did a number on me. Sure, I didn't live through The Troubles or lose my mother, but this was around the time I was forming my first love interest (which did not go the same way Bono and Ali's relationship went) and I also lost my grandmother not long after this show. “Iris (Hold Me Close)” will always be a vital part of my recovery from that. Seeing that a rock star could open up and be this vulnerable to a crowd of people he doesn't know did a lot for my perception of the band I only previously knew from their work on Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark — Bono's real Broadway debut.
I know what you're thinking: How sad is this show? I'm glad to report that the show isn't always a downer. Bono spends a good amount of time gushing over his wife — who was in attendance — which is so sweet. It makes a song like “With or Without You” make a lot more sense 30+ years after it was released when he talked about giving himself away. Here's a man who has sold out stadiums for decades singing about his first love — and no shade of rounded John Lennon glasses can guard you against that level of vulnerability. He also goes on a long tangent about his U2 bandmates, introducing them one by one and maybe giving a bit too much information about Adam Clayton in the process and thanking them for letting him go on this solo journey.
Even if the “Stories of Surrender” shows have only been happening over the past year, this concept has breadcrumbs that trace back for years and this is all a decade-plus in the making. During a show in Los Angeles in 2015, Bono says, “The mark of this show, we surrender to you; you surrender to the music and the God who created music, or whoever you think in place of God. It's about surrender — it's an important word. This is about letting go. Anything you want to let go of, just let go of it tonight,” during the introduction to the song “Bad” — a song that features the lyrics “Let it go, so not to fade away.” Heck, even on the Songs of Surrender rendition of “Bad,” Bono changed a lyric to include the line, “This is a song of surrender.”
Bono's voice — even at the age of 63 (Happy Birthday!) — is still top-notch. Sure, he can't quite croon out “Pride (In the Name of Love)” with the same power as he did in 1984, but the arrangement of the songs played has been modified for his current voice. Not only does it sound well-rested — four years off the road may do that — it sounds the best and clearest it has in over a decade. We all know Bono can sing, but the scratchiness of the “Elevation” or “Vertigo” tour eras is gone and he seems more confident than ever.
It's especially impressive when you consider he's stripped away of any assistance a studio can provide. It's just him, and his aged voice adds experience and wisdom to a song like “Out of Control,” U2's first single, and he proves he's still capable of utilizing his opera voice a la “Miss Sarajevo” when he closed the show with an a capella cover of “Torna a Surriento.” In case any further proof was needed, the “Stories of Surrender” shows prove that Bono is more than just a “baritone who thinks he's a tenor,” as his father called him.
For as much as it may seem like a one-man show, Bono is supported by three extraordinary talents. Jacknife Lee, a frequent collaborator of U2, serves as the “musical director” (in essence meaning he handles the backing tracks) and also played the keyboards and percussion instruments. Kate Ellis played the cello, keyboards, and backing vocals and is exemplary during the “I Will Follow” build-up. However, the true MVP of the night was Gemma Doherty, who played the harp and provided backing vocals. She shines during “Vertigo” and “Desire” late in the show and single-handedly makes the prospect of classical U2 music a lot more intriguing.
“Let's get married, let's go to Vegas!”
I always adored U2's song from Sing 2 aptly titled “Your Song Saved My Life” because I know that rings true for me and many more U2 fans. You can love or hate them, but you can't deny that their music is deeper than your average rock band and has gotten people through their darkest times. Had the freshman-year version of me not listened to Achtung Baby on repeat, learning to let go of heartbreak via “So Cruel” and “Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses,” would I be the man I am almost five years later?
“Stories of Surrender” is a perfect end to this chapter of my own, U2, Bono's story. That's not to say that you have to ignore the entirety of the past decade full of Songs of Innocence, Experience, and Surrender, but like U2 was ready for after Rattle and Hum, I'm “ready for what's next.” The Sphere shows in Vegas should usher in another new era, and I believe the band's best days are still ahead. See you in September, lads.
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