Latest news with #Surrender:40Songs
The Herald Scotland
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Live Aid: When the world's rock stars came together just for one day
As Live Aid promoter Harvey Goldsmith told Mojo magazine recently: 'Queen performed a short set, but it was the set of a lifetime, and it transformed them as a band. If you talk about Live Aid, most people go 'yeah, Queen'.' Francis Rossi of Status Quo, the band that opened proceedings at Wembley on July 13, 1985, later said that, in his view, Queen were the best band on the day. For many musicians – Queen's drummer Roger Taylor among them – the reaction of the 72,000-strong crowd remains an imperishable memory. 'During Radio Ga Ga,' he says in the new edition of Radio Times, 'it did seem that the whole stadium was in unison. But then I looked up during We Are The Champions, and the crowd looked like a whole field of wheat swaying.' U2's set was equally memorable, especially when, during the song Bad, Bono panicked his bandmates by disappearing from their sight in order to get closer to the audience. Confusion then reigned among security staff as he picked out three young women from the crowd. As Bono vanished over the edge of the stage, and showed no sign of reappearing, drummer Larry Mullen thought to himself 'how long can we do this for?'. Mullen admitted to Rolling Stone magazine in 2014: 'It was kind of excruciating. We didn't know whether we should stop, we didn't know where he was, we didn't know if he had fallen.' U2's guitarist The Edge told the same magazine: 'We lost sight of him completely. He was gone for so long I started to think maybe he had decided to end the set early and was on his way to the dressing room. 'I was totally thrown, and I'm looking at Adam [Clayton] and Larry to see if they know what's going on and they're looking back at me with complete panic across their faces. I'm just glad the cameras didn't show the rest of the band during the whole drama, because we must have looked like the Three Stooges up there.' Though Bono's inspired, impromptu interaction with the audience meant that U2 had no time to play a third song, Live Aid turned out to be a key chapter in the story of the band. As he wrote in his memoir Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story, it was 'a gigantic moment in the life of U2. In the life of so many musicians'. He took a more detached view of U2's actual performance, however: 'Influential though it was in the arc of our band, I confess that I find it excruciating to watch. It's a little humbling that during one of the greatest moments of your life, you're having a bad hair day. 'Now, some people would say that I've had a bad hair life, but when I am forced to look at footage of U2 playing Live Aid, there is only one thing that I can see. The mullet. All thoughts of altruism and of righteous anger, all the right reasons that we were there, all these flee my mind, and all I see is the ultimate bad hair day.' The line-up of artists at Wembley and Philadelphia's JFK Stadium that July day included so many stellar names: Bob Dylan, Sting, Beach Boys, Led Zeppelin, Santana, Dire Straits, David Bowie, Joan Baez, Eric Clapton, Simple Minds, Elton John, Madonna, Paul McCartney, Black Sabbath, Neil Young, Crosby, Stills & Nash, The Who, Brian Ferry, Mick Jagger, Tina Turner and Run DMC. Watching them all over the course of one unforgettable day was a global audience of one and a half billion - the largest ever. Led Zeppelin, who had broken up in 1980 after the death of drummer John Bonham, reformed as a one-off for Live Aid in Philadelphia. The Who, playing Wembley, had also got back together for the occasion. Zeppelin's performance, so eagerly awaited by their fans, was marred by any number of setbacks, and the band subsequently refused to allow footage of their songs to be included in the official Live Aid DVD. Black Sabbath, for their part, had been going through a particularly disruptive period, and their bass guitarist, Geezer Butler, seriously doubted whether the original line-up - himself, Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Bill Ward - would ever play together again. Osbourne, the band's singer, had been fired in April 1979, and replacements Ronnie James Dio and Ian Gillan had come and gone. Ozzy's solo career in the States was proving hugely successful, and when all four original Sabbath members got on stage in Philadelphia, it was the first such occasion since 1978. Sabbath were managed by the notorious Don Arden, Osbourne by his wife Sharon, Arden's daughter. A reunion had been tentatively mooted but in any event, Arden served Ozzy and Sharon with a writ. 'My father-in-law and my wife and I were in a f*****g war,' Osbourne said a few years ago. 'I was f*****g served [a lawsuit] at Live Aid by my father-in-law, for interference or some b******t, and nothing ever materialised from it.' Butler, for his part, has said that Arden was threatening to take legal action if Osbourne appeared under the Sabbath banner. Sabbath, a late addition to the line-up, had only one rehearsal before playing the first of their songs at Live Aid at 9.55am. "We hadn't slept and some of us were a bit hungover", Butler writes in his memoirs. "We didn't do a Queen and steal the show, but Think we got away with it". Dire Straits, for their part, didn't have far to walk to get onto the Wembley stage, as they happened to be playing 12 nights at Wembley Arena, across the road. At 6pm, they played a brief Live Aid set – Money for Nothing, and Sultans Of Swing – and casually made their way back to the Arena. 'We literally walked off the stage, out of the stadium and across the car park to the Arena,' the band's Guy Fletcher said in a Classic Rock magazine interview last month. 'I think John [Illsley] was even carrying his bass – and to some funny looks from the car park attendants, I might add.' Backstage in London, Billy Connolly heard Bob Geldof barking at someone on the phone. The call over, Connolly queried: 'Somebody on your back there?' Geldof replied: 'Somebody wanted to put Santana on next. They're f*****g c****!' Connolly, interviewed on a BBC documentary Live Aid: Against All Odds, laughed as he added: 'This guy from the Boomtown Rats telling me that Santana are c****. I don't think so!' Backstage at Wembley, David Bowie was a bag of nerves; and Eric Clapton, in Philly, was said by a later biographer to have been overcome with nerves, such was the global profile of the acts with whom he was competing. Read more: Geldof attacks Live Aid critics Live Aid names for sale The Band Aid controversy: the Scottish founder has his say Calling kids who bought the Band Aid record 'racist' is a disgrace 'Pathetic and appalling. I thought we dealt with this 20 years ago'; Geldof returns to Ethiopia and attacks lack of European aid Live Aid, which was put together by Geldof and Midge Ure, raised £40 million on the day – the equivalent of over £100m today – which was then used to provide relief of hunger and poverty in Ethiopia and the neighbourhood thereof. Between January 1985 and the release of the official Live Aid DVD in November 2004, the Band Aid Trust spent over £144m on the relief of famine in Africa. More than 30,000 TV viewers in Scotland got through to the special phone lines on July 13, 1985, donating a reported £300,000. Millions of people were moved to make all sorts of donations. Old couples sent in their wedding rings. One newly-wed couple even sold their new home and donated the proceeds. Live Aid was a colossal achievement, given that in excess of 70 artists and bands performed over 16 hours of live music across the London and Philadelphia concerts, all of them organised in just a few months. * Tomorrow night (Sunday, July 6) at 9pm, BBC Two will broadcast the first two parts of a three-part series, Live Aid At 40: When Rock'n'Roll Took on the World. Greatest Hits Radio will replay the entire concert next Sunday, July 13. Just for One Day: The Live Aid Musical is playing at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London.
San Francisco Chronicle
01-06-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Can a rock star also be humble? Bono's ‘Stories of Surrender' will surprise you
Reading Bono's 2022 memoir ' Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story,' you might be struck by an intriguing juxtaposition: For a rock star often accused of harboring a messiah complex, this guy also, somehow, seems admirably humble. That same spirit guides the new performance documentary 'Bono: Stories of Surrender,' adapted from the U2 leader's one-man stage show inspired by that book. Given stark cinematic life by director Andrew Dominik, the film — which streams on Apple TV+ starting Friday, May 30, after premiering at the Cannes Film Festival earlier in the month — features paradoxes worthy of its subject. It is both stripped-down and grandiose, over-the-top and understated. 'Stories of Surrender' was shot before an adoring live audience at the Beacon Theatre in New York and enhanced with filmic touches provided in post-production. While it sometimes struggles with the transition from stage to screen, it ultimately succeeds due to its star's unassuming charisma and effortless storytelling. 'It is preposterous to think others might be as interested in your own story as you are,' the Irish rock star, born Paul David Hewson, tells his audience from the stage. But we know that he knows his story is worth hearing, and it's clear that he relishes the opportunity. That story is about a rebellious Dublin teen who at 14, his mother, Iris, dies from an aneurysm, and his already-reticent father (or 'the da,' as Bono consistently calls him) grows even more distant. Under the sway of punk acts like the Ramones, dreaming of forming his own band, young Paul rounds up some friends — Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen Jr. and the Edge — and, through force of will and talent, make the climb from sparsely populated pub gigs to sold-out stadiums. At only 86 minutes, 'Stories of Surrender' makes no pretense of telling the full Bono story. But it picks its spots with artful precision and with keen cinematic instincts. Dominik (2007's ' The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford ' and 2022's ' Blonde ') and cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt use black-and-white imagery shot with chiaroscuro lighting to set an intimate but poetic tone. At times we see multiple Bonos talking to each other. The occasional blast of pyrotechnics tends to be muted. The music itself is presented with a minimalist touch. Music supervisor Jacknife Lee, working with cellist Kate Ellis and harpist Gemma Doherty, provide the backbone, with the occasional prerecorded blast of a familiar anthem. The songs provide autobiographical background and heft, as when Bono recalls the sense of purpose and thrill that came with belting out 'Pride (In the Name of Love)' at the 1985 Live Aid benefit concert — then notes ruefully that the $250 million that concert raised for Ethiopia was a mere drop in the bucket of the country's desperate need. Wearing a suit jacket, pinstriped vest and beads, Bono uses empty chairs and spotlights to recreate key moments of his tale. Three simple kitchen chairs placed in a row represent Clayton, Mullen and the Edge as the aspiring rock stars who try to piece together what would become the early hit 'I Will Follow.' More poignantly, Bono sits in a plush lounge chair as he imagines the pub conversations he used to have with his father, who would begin every conversation with the same question: 'Anything strange or startling?' One day, well into U2's run of stardom, the son decides to turn the question on the father, only to receive the devastating news that the old man has cancer. 'Stories of Surrender' is a disarming portrait of a self-aware megastar with an authentically personal demeanor, the kind of guy you might want to join for one of those pub conversations. If you do think Bono has a god complex, he comes across here as someone eager to sit down, laugh about it and perhaps tip a couple of pints.
Irish Independent
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Bono – Stories of Surrender review: The life and times of this gifted raconteur is an elegant affair
We might add to this list a night in late 2022 when Bono brought the debut show of his all-singing, all-sharing book tour to the Olympia Theatre. Marking the release of his memoir Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story, the night was attended by a who's-who of Irish life; everyone from heads of state to broadcasting giants. What greeted them was a side to the U2 frontman perhaps less seen, part opera star, part seanchaí, relating the knots of his extraordinary life from a stage of rare intimacy. Stripped-down versions of songs would helix through stories about his parents, his upbringing in Dublin, meeting wife Ali and his eventual bandmates (in the same week), and the globe-gobbling stardom that would eventually come. Two things seemed to strike anyone lucky enough to get a ticket or an invite that night – the stagecraft of the entire performance, and the sheer dexterity and control of the then 62-year-old's vocal cords. One music industry friend of mine, someone who has seen all the greats down through the years, put it in the top five things he had ever seen staged anywhere in our capital. That show's beguiling format of yarns and renditions from one of the most famous people on the planet has been captured on camera without too much in the way of reverence or pomp. Andrew Dominik's film brings just a slick monochrome sheen and some light digital trickery to proceedings as it swoops about New York's Beacon Theatre. Accompaniment is provided by producer and occasional U2 collaborator Jacknife Lee, who strips those arena-filling compositions back to their essence with vocal and instrumental help from Crash Ensemble cellist Kate Ellis and harpist Gemma Doherty (of Saint Sister). That aside, it's just a table, a few chairs, a bit of a lighting rig and a gifted raconteur cherry-picking from his bestselling memoir. ADVERTISEMENT Learn more As with the book, the 'eccentric heart' trouble that hospitalised him in New York in 2016 is a jumping-off point for what is essentially a scenic route through a newfound sense of mortality. And then it's right into Cedarwood Road, The Ramones and a complicated parental dynamic. More than in the print memoir, Bono's over-arching niggle in Dominik's film is father Bob, the opera-lover who married protestant Iris (much to his own family's disapproval). Following Iris's death when then Paul Hewson was just 14, much head-butting went on between the punkish teenager and the nonchalant, old-school Bob. All good frontmen carry the 'look at me, Mum' gene, but while Iris's death certainly played a role, it was Bob's reluctance to really acknowledge his pride in the rising superstar that provides the emotional cornerstone for these stories. By the time Bono is re-enacting their stunted Sunday afternoon conversations in Finnegan's pub, the delicate dynamic is tangible but somehow never mawkish or self-pitying. Always there is a sense of forward momentum, a dance that, much like the operas his father would sing along to, have their ebbs and flows. A brilliant mimic who is naturally predisposed to physical showmanship and far-reaching activism, you come to appreciate just what a rare and unusual creature Bono is and how wide of the mark are those tiresome slurs on his character (he does pay taxes, by the way, as do all members of U2 – find a new hobby). And what of the songs chosen from that imperious back catalogue? Well, there are moments in this show where a classic track bubbles up to the surface of an anecdote – see the penning of debut single Out of Control or Pride (In the Name of Love) – that are so cannily timed they arrive like goosebumps exploding. Hate them all you like, but there can be no denying that U2 and their singular frontman push buttons that no one else has really found access to. While an early Christmas present for fans, for everyone else this is an elegant, classy, fun and often poignant one-man opera that revels in the limitations of its setting. Four stars
Extra.ie
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Extra.ie
'Zero respect' -- Bono under fire over Netanyahu comments
U2 frontman Bono is under fire following his calls for Israel to be 'released from Benjamin Netanyahu,' with many feeling the musician is 'late to the party'. The 65-year-old made the comments last week at London's Grosvenor House. It was the first time the human rights activist spoke out in public against Israel since October 2023. U2 frontman Bono is under fire following his calls for Israel to be 'released from Benjamin Netanyahu,' with many feeling the musician is a little late to the party. Pic: Dave Hogan/Hogan Media/REX/Shutterstock The lead singer said: 'Peace creates possibilities in the most intractable situations. Lord knows there's a few of them there right now. 'Hamas, release the hostages. Stop the war. Israel, be released from Benjamin Netanyahu and the far-right fundamentalists that twist your sacred text.' He added: 'All of you protect our aid workers, they are the best of us.' U2 singer Bono is awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by U.S. President Joe Biden. Pic:The speech came as the musician received an award from Ed Sheeran alongside his bandmates. The band were awarded an academy fellowship at the 70th year of the annual awards. While Bono's speech has circulated online, many have reacted negatively as they hit out at the musician for remaining silent for more than a year and a half. While the speech circulated online, many have reacted negatively as they hit out at the musician for remaining silent for more than a year and a half. Pic: Anthony Harvey/REX/Shutterstock One person wrote: 'After nearly 20 months of blatant genocide and thousands upon thousands of civilians pulped by Israeli bombing, including a high proportion of children and babies, Bono decides it's safe enough to criticise Netanyahu. F*** off.' Another echoed: 'F*** off Bono.' A third added: 'He 'forgot' the most important part; STOP THE GENOCIDE!! Zero respect for Bono, it was a p**s weak speech.' He "forgot" the most important part; STOP THE GENOCIDE!! Zero respect for Bono, it was a piss weak speech. — Domestic Godmess (@Melanieakroyd) May 25, 2025 Someone else took to the comments to point out: 'Great to hear from Bono again, he's such a champion of human rights, coincidentally, he has a documentary out at the moment!' Bono: Stories of Surrender is set for release on Apple TV on Friday, May 30, and is a one-man show by the same name of his memoir, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story. The film is set to feature never-before-seen exclusive footage from the Stories of Surrender Beacon Theatre shows, as well as Bono performing a number of U2 hits. An updated paperback edition of his bestselling memoir is set to be released concurrently.
Irish Post
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Post
Memoir and music collide as Bono faces mortality and finds renewed purpose
NEVER before in the history of humankind has one small man so largely self-promoted his life. That's the theory, anyway, as U2's frontman Bono prepares to unleash yet another chapter of his life at the end of this month. 'I was born with my fists up. Surrender does not come easy to me. This is my story. I'm stuck with it.' So says the man who manages to mix self-deprecation with self-aggrandisement all too well. We will see examples of this in the forthcoming Apple TV+ original documentary Bono: Stories of Surrender, which debuts on the streaming platform on Friday, May 30th. In fairness, Paul Hewson's flagrant self-promotion has some depth to it. We can safely guess that this virtually solo proactivity began with the brace of U2's most personal and confessional albums: Songs of Innocence (2014) and Songs of Experience (2017). Bono Stories of Surrender airs on Apple TV+ this month The first album revisits the band members' early days in Ireland of the 1970s, referencing childhood memories, personal loves and losses, all the while tipping a hat to their first musical inspirations of glam rock, David Bowie, and various pop, rock, and punk groups. Bono once described the album as the most personal the band had written. Subsequently, in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, he said the album was about trying to figure out 'why we wanted to be in a band, the relationships around the band, our friendships, our lovers, our family. The whole album is first journeys - first journeys geographically, spiritually, sexually…' Songs of Experience, meanwhile, was even more personal to Bono. In December 2016, as the album was being worked on, he had a near-death experience. At the time, what occurred wasn't identified, but the Edge referred to it as a 'brush with mortality.' Bono later revealed in his 2022 memoir Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story, that he had undergone open-heart surgery, an eight-hour operation. After some time recuperating, a fully recovered Bono decided to rework lyrics on some of the album's new songs. He subsequently admitted that death was already going to be a theme on the album, as he thought the subject had been infrequently addressed in rock music, and felt it was logically fitting for an album with the title of Songs of Experience. Inevitably, the incident influenced the general theme and atmosphere of the album. It made him realise, he said, that not 'surrendering to melancholy is the most important thing if you are going to fight your way out of whatever corner you are in.' Cue Covid-19, and the time available to dig deep not only into what happened to him a few years previously but also to finally drill down into his life story. Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story was the result of such drilling. To say it surprised people is an understatement. To say it most surprised people whose antipathy towards Bono bordered on irrationality was an even greater understatement. How did he change minds, then? A review of the memoir in the New Statesman gets it right. 'The only thing anyone else really has to say about U2 is that they don't like Bono, the band's frontman, because he is smug and evangelical. Bono addresses this charge early in his memoir: there is no criticism anyone could make of him that is worse than the criticism he gives himself, up there on stage, every night. On stage, he has a devil on his shoulder, he says. But while he may have a devil, he also has faith and God on his side. Thus insulated, Bono can begin his story.' Similarly, Irish writer Colm Tóibín's review in the Irish Times outlines why some people are irked by Bono: he gets carried away. ('This is what I do,' explains the singer. 'This is the me you wouldn't want to be in a band with.') Tóibín gets to the heart of the subject when he writes that what makes the memoir so intriguing is that the singer's overarching melancholy 'is overwhelmed by a desperate, frenzied desire to use life more richly since it has proved to be so fragile. Sadness is replaced here by an extraordinary and breathless zeal for friendship, but also for love.' Which is all well and good, but what does the documentary Bono: Stories of Surrender tell us? In tandem with the publication of his memoir in the closing months of 2022, something odd occurred in the world of U2. Announcing theatre shows with the title of Stories of Surrender: An Evening of Words, Music and Some Mischief, Bono announced that these shows would be the first time he would sing U2 songs without the other three band members. There was no problem with this, he soothingly remarked, perhaps keen to downplay (if not completely sabotage) any thoughts of discord within the band. The 'solo' tour dates were few and far between, but as the shows were to be held in theatres (the capacity of which ranged from anywhere between 1,000-3,000), the demand for tickets was stratospheric. Curiosity, however, was also central to the demand. In the end, the wait in the online ticket queue was worth it. Reviews of the show were unanimously positive. 'One of rock's biggest voices laid himself bare', said Variety, and 'unquestionable professionalism' noted The Times. The Irish Times, meanwhile, viewed Dublin's 3Olympia Theatre show as a 'musical photo album, the singer flicking through memories of his life with songs. It gives him the chance to flex his talents as a singer, a storyteller, a mimic, a comic and, ultimately, the tenor his father said he never was. This is 'my quarter-of-a-band' show, he says. But what a quarter.' You can expect the Apple TV+ documentary to deliver a view of the show (actually, two shows, both filmed at New York's famed Beacon Theatre) that not many in the stalls witnessed. Directed in sharp, stylish monochrome by Andrew Dominik, the documentary had its world premiere at this year's Cannes Film Festival and received suitably enthusiastic reviews. Previously unseen footage from the Beacon shows presents a very confessional Bono in a way you might have previously been unaware of, while numerous U2 songs are performed in a subtle, stripped-down and textured manner that places them in entirely new light (and shade). The Irish musicians on stage (cellist Kate Ellis, multi-instrumentalist Gemma Doherty, and jack-of-all-music-trades Jacknife Lee) reshape the songs that will more than likely influence forthcoming U2 material. The visual aspects, meanwhile, are softened versions of the usual blitz of U2's arena/Sphere shows, with supremely eye-catching lighting design that never makes you turn your head away. Is the film yet another self-promotion device, another look-at-me tool? Of course it is, but even the most toughened anti-U2/Bono detractor will surely admit there is a sincere heart beating throughout it that neuters the obvious hard sell. 'The Story of a Showman' is how the trailer for the documentary starts. It now looks likely that until Bono hangs up his boots, or until his boots are hung up for him, the story of this particular showman will continue. A revised edition of Stories of Surrender is published on May 27. The documentary of the same name premieres on Apple TV+ on May 30. See More: Apple TV+, Bono, Bono: Stories Of Surrender
