On Bono
Bono from U2 seems to be doing a one-man live show now. From The Irish Times coverage:
“It is billed as the U2 front man’s ‘Stories of Surrender’, “an evening of words, music and some mischief’ .to showcase the tales from his new memoir. But it is much more than this.
Stories of Surrender is ‘a safe space for people who love Bono’, one wit is overheard saying. It is also a safe space for Bono.
The show is 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.”
I think it is fine to be retrospective later in life, especially if you were as creative and successful as U2 was early in age. As for his use of the word “surrender” in the show’s title (the name of one of his band’s early songs), it brings to mind a vacation in Malaysia when I was much younger. The taxi driver in Penang was taking me to a Muslim place of worship and said Islam is in part about surrender.