“I’m still pretending this is a book tour,” Bono says shortly into "Stories of Surrender," the new film on Apple TV+. He’s just shared the story of his “eccentric heart” and the non-trivial health scare he went through around 2015, and then taken the crowd into a quasi-acoustic rendition of U2’s “Vertigo,” accompanied not by guitar, bass and drums but rather some electronic percussion and a cello. The audience roars in recognition of the song’s opening riff, played on different strings; they don’t have to be asked twice to provide the Edge’s responses (“Hola!” and “Donde esta?” respectively).
Following the release of his 2022 memoir "Surrender," U2’s frontman appeared in a short series of promotional dates in small theaters in the U.S. and abroad. If this event didn’t come to your city, you missed that this was even happening, or perhaps thought that the ticket prices were rather high for what was — at least originally — billed as book promo, you can now experience a version of what your host terms “a quarter-man show” from the comfort of your living room.
