U2’s ‘Songs of Surrender’ and a pilgrimage toward something greater

[Michie]

On St. Patrick’s Day, the Irish band U2 released the album “Songs of Surrender,” consisting of stripped down, acoustic versions of 40 of their songs from across their 43-year recording history. Simultaneously, Disney+ released a companion documentary, “Bono and The Edge: A Kind of Homecoming, with David Letterman.” (Both these releases follow Bono’s highly regarded memoir, “Surrender,” from late 2022.) The documentary consists of a series of conversations with lead singer Bono (Paul David Hewson) and guitarist The Edge (David Howell Evans), interspersed with an insightful dialogue with musician Glen Hansard about U2’s music. Along the way, we are treated to performances of several songs at a small theater and local pub that was a hangout of the band in the early years.

I’ve always had a sort of love/hate relationship with U2’s music. At times, I have admired the sublime imagery, spiritual acuity and emotional depth of their songs. Other times, I have been annoyed by their overreaching pretension and cloying haughtiness. I’ve often considered U2 to be important as a rock ‘n’ roll band. But just as often, I have been repelled by their exaggerated sense of self-importance. Together, the new album and documentary suggest that maybe these contradictory impressions are part of the point of U2’s music. In any event, I come away from both with a better appreciation of Bono’s humility (yes, really), and The Edge’s creative genius.

Continued below.

U2's 'Songs of Surrender' and a pilgrimage toward something greater

Columnist Kenneth Craycraft examines the newest releases by the band U2 — an album, “Songs of Surrender,” and a Netflix documentary. Craycraft writes: “U2’s pilgrimage is part of the motivation for the reimagined versions of the songs on ‘Songs of Surrender.’ Bono explains that ‘the greatest...

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