TV review: Stories of Surrender shows Bono baldly defending his reputation

Bono is just the right amount of self-aware in Stories of Surrender. Picture: Doug Peters/PA Wire

Ten minutes into Bono: Stories of Surrender (Apple TV+) and I’m thinking someone should have told Bono not to do this.

And then he starts talking about his father Bob, how he never mentioned Bono’s mother again after she died, riddled with grief. And then this show comes alive.

Just like his memoir of almost the same name, it’s gripping and surprising, showing a Bono that doesn’t come across in interviews. As long as you get through that first 10 gruesome minutes, where Bono is Bono with knobs on, on-stage in a darkly lit theatre, ham-acting as a surgeon working on his wonky heart in a New York hospital, almost daring us to switch off.

After that, it’s smooth and engaging as Bono talks about meeting his wife the same week he joined U2. It works because U2 is a good story, four boys form a band in north Dublin and rehearse in a cottage backing onto the graveyard where Bono’s mother is buried.

He’s just the right amount of self-aware, admitting that he drives the band to improve when he can’t play himself. The sequence where he spits out the origin story of U2’s early hit, I Will Follow - addressing three empty chairs on stage as Larry, Adam and the Edge – should have been awful. But the punch-line is the iconic guitar intro to that song, so you’re drawn in and satisfied.

He re-enacts having a weekly drink with his father in Finnegan’s in Dalkey, capturing the prickly relationship beautifully. At this point, it’s hard to know what you’re watching. It’s all still on the stage, Bono breaking off his pint with his father to talk about U2 almost splitting up over their Christian beliefs, ending that segment with a gentle version of Sunday Bloody Sunday.

Whatever the show is, I like it. You don’t have to be a U2 fan to enjoy Stories of Surrender, although it probably helps, particularly when the fragmentary songs go on a bit too long. Bono shows he actually can act when he performs as himself, his Dad, the four members of the band and Luciano Pavarotti, in story that ends with his father falling for Princess Diana at a concert in Italy.

He baldly defends his reputation, admitting that he’s a hypocrite in some regards, but who cares as long as he delivers results. In the third act, he turns inwards, talks about his family and his motivations. 

Is he a good person, or does he just like the attention? You can watch and decide for yourself. And you should watch. This is a brilliant bit of telly.