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'Stories of Surrender'. The Book Tour.

'Stories of Surrender'. The Book Tour.

'An evening of words, music and some mischief…'. 

Live Nation and Penguin Random House have announced a 14-date city book tour in support of SURRENDER: 40 Songs, One Story , the forthcoming memoir by Bono.

The book tour, titled ' Stories of Surrender ' and produced by Live Nation, is a limited run of theatre dates to mark the release of a memoir in which one of the world's most iconic artists writes for the first time about his remarkable life and those he has shared it with. Bono will bring the stories of his life to life — live and in person— to 14 cities across North America and Europe. Kicking off at the Beacon Theatre in New York City on Wednesday, November 2 , ' Stories of Surrender ' will make stops in Boston, Toronto, Chicago, Nashville, San Francisco, Los Angeles, London, Glasgow, Manchester, Berlin, Paris —and Bono's hometown of Dublin — before wrapping on Monday, November 28 in Madrid . " I miss being on stage and the closeness of U2's audience ," said Bono. " In these shows I've got some stories to sing, and some songs to tell… Plus I want to have some fun presenting my ME-moir, SURRENDER, which is really more of a WE-moir if I think of all the people who helped me get from there to here" .

TICKETS: Tickets go on sale starting Friday, October 7 at 10am local time and will be available at: www.ticketmaster.com/bono . 

Each ticket purchased comes with a copy of SURRENDER , released on November 1, and all tickets purchased online will be delivered as secure mobile tickets . There will be a two ticket limit per person.   SURRENDER: 40 Songs, One Story , tells the story of Bono's remarkable life, the challenges he's faced, and the friends and family who have shaped and sustained him. 

The subtitle, '40 Songs, One Story,' refers to the book's 40 chapters, each named after a U2 song. Bono has also created 40 original drawings which will be featured throughout the book. In his unique voice, Bono takes readers from his early days growing up in Dublin, including the sudden loss of his mother when he was fourteen, to U2's unlikely journey to become one of the world's most influential rock bands, to his more than twenty years of activism dedicated to the fight against AIDS and extreme poverty. 

Writing with candor, self-reflection, and humor, Bono opens the aperture on his life—and the family, friends, and faith that have sustained, challenged, and shaped him.   Additional information about SURRENDER: 40 Songs, One Story here . 

'Stories of Surrender' - SURRENDER: 40 Songs, One Story - BOOK TOUR DATES Wed Nov 02 – New York, NY – Beacon Theatre Fri Nov 04 – Boston, MA – Orpheum Theatre presented by Citizens Sun Nov 06 – Toronto, ON – Meridian Hall Tue Nov 08 – Chicago, IL – The Chicago Theatre Wed Nov 09 – Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium Sat Nov 12 – San Francisco, CA – Orpheum Theatre Sun Nov 13 – Los Angeles, CA – The Orpheum Theatre Wed Nov 16 – London, UK – The London Palladium Thu Nov 17 – Glasgow, UK – SEC Armadillo Sat Nov 19 – Manchester, UK – O2 Apollo Manchester Mon Nov 21 – Dublin, IE – 3Olympia Theatre Wed Nov 23 – Berlin, DE – Admiralspalast Fri Nov 25 – Paris, FR – Le Grand Rex Mon Nov 28 – Madrid, ES – Teatro Coliseu

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Live Nation And Penguin Random House Announce Bono’s ‘Stories Of Surrender’ The Book Tour

‘ An evening of words, music and some mischief…’  

To celebrate bono’s forthcoming memoir, ‘surrender: 40 songs, one story,’  to be published worldwide on tuesday, november 1, 2022 , book tour tickets will go on sale friday, october 7 at 10am (local time) , every ticket sold includes a copy of ‘surrender: 40 songs, one story’ .

Today, Live Nation and Penguin Random House announced a 14-city book tour in support of  SURRENDER: 40 Songs, One Story ,  the forthcoming memoir by Bono—artist, activist and U2 lead singer  — which will be released worldwide on Tuesday, November 1, 2022. 

The book tour, titled ‘Stories of Surrender’ and produced by Live Nation, is a limited run of theatre dates to mark the release of a memoir in which one of the world’s most iconic artists writes for the first time about his remarkable life and those he has shared it with. Bono will bring the stories of his life to life — live and in person— to 14 cities across North America and Europe.  

Kicking off at the Beacon Theatre in New York City on Wednesday, November 2, ‘Stories of Surrender’ will make stops in Boston, Toronto, Chicago, Nashville, San Francisco, Los Angeles, London, Glasgow, Manchester, Berlin, Paris—and Bono’s hometown of Dublin— before wrapping on Monday, November 28 in Madrid. 

TICKETS:  Tickets go on sale starting Friday, October 7 at 10am local time and will be available at:   www.ticketmaster.com/bono . Each ticket purchased comes with a copy of Bono’s forthcoming book, Surrender, to be released on November 1, 2022. All tickets purchased online will be delivered as secure mobile tickets. There will be a two-ticket limit per person. 

“I miss being on stage and the closeness of U2’s audience,” said Bono. “In these shows I’ve got some stories to sing, and some songs to tell… Plus I want to have some fun presenting my ME-moir, SURRENDER, which is really more of a WE-moir if I think of all the people who helped me get from there to here.”  

On November 1, Bono will release his memoir titled   SURRENDER: 40 Songs, One Story ,  the story of the remarkable life he’s lived, the challenges he’s faced, and the friends and family who have shaped and sustained him. The subtitle, ’40 Songs, One Story,’ refers to the book’s 40 chapters, each named after a U2 song. Bono has also created 40 original drawings which will be featured throughout the book. In his unique voice, Bono takes readers from his early days growing up in Dublin, including the sudden loss of his mother when he was fourteen, to U2’s unlikely journey to become one of the world’s most influential rock bands, to his more than twenty years of activism dedicated to the fight against AIDS and extreme poverty. Writing with candor, self-reflection, and humor, Bono opens the aperture on his life—and the family, friends, and faith that have sustained, challenged, and shaped him.

Additional information about  SURRENDER: 40 Songs, One Story   is available at  surrendermemoir.com . 

‘Stories of Surrender’  

SURRENDER: 40 Songs, One Story  –  BOOK TOUR DATES:   

Wed Nov 02 – New York, NY – Beacon Theatre 

Fri Nov 04 – Boston, MA – Orpheum Theatre presented by Citizens 

Sun Nov 06 – Toronto, ON – Meridian Hall 

Tue Nov 08 – Chicago, IL – The Chicago Theatre 

Wed Nov 09 – Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium 

Sat Nov 12 – San Francisco, CA – Orpheum Theatre 

Sun Nov 13 – Los Angeles, CA – The Orpheum Theatre 

Wed Nov 16 – London, UK – The London Palladium 

Thu Nov 17 – Glasgow, UK – SEC Armadillo 

Sat Nov 19 – Manchester, UK – O2 Apollo Manchester 

Mon Nov 21 – Dublin, IE – 3Olympia Theatre 

Wed Nov 23 – Berlin, DE – Admiralspalast 

Fri Nov 25 – Paris, FR – Le Grand Rex 

Mon Nov 28 – Madrid, ES – Teatro Coliseum 

About Bono The lead singer of U2, Bono was born Paul David Hewson in Dublin. He met The Edge, Larry Mullen Jr., and Adam Clayton at school, and in 1978 U2 was formed. The band have released 14 studio albums and won numerous awards, including 22 Grammys and the Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience award. In 2005, U2 was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.  

Alongside his role in U2, Bono is a groundbreaking activist. A leader in Jubilee 2000’s Drop the Debt campaign, he co-founded sister organizations ONE and (RED). With ONE, Bono has lobbied heads of state around the world, helping to ensure the passage of programs that have helped to save tens of millions of lives over the past twenty years. (RED)—which partners with companies to raise awareness and funds to combat AIDS— as of 2022 has generated more than $700 million for the Global Fund to treat and prevent AIDS in Africa.  

Bono lives in Dublin with his family.  

About Live Nation Entertainment 

Live Nation Entertainment (NYSE: LYV) is the world’s leading live entertainment company comprised of global market leaders: Ticketmaster, Live Nation Concerts, and Live Nation Sponsorship. For additional information, visit www.livenationentertainment.com .  

About Penguin Random House 

Penguin Random House, the world’s largest trade book publisher, is dedicated to its mission to ignite a universal passion for reading by creating books for everyone. The company, which employs more than 10,000 people globally, was formed on July 1, 2013, by Bertelsmann and Pearson. As of April 1, 2020, Bertelsmann is full owner of the company. With more than 300 imprints and brands on six continents, Penguin Random House comprises adult and children’s fiction and nonfiction print and digital English- German- and Spanish-language trade book publishing businesses in more than 20 countries worldwide. With over 16,000 new titles, and more than 700 million print, audio and eBooks sold annually, Penguin Random House’s publishing lists include more than 80 Nobel Prize laureates and hundreds of the world’s most widely read authors. 

Media Contacts: 

Live Nation Concerts:   

Monique Sowinski |  [email protected]   

Publisher –  SURRENDER: 40 Songs, One Story : 

Todd Doughty |  [email protected]  

Erinn Hartman |  [email protected]  

Bono: 

Brídín Murphy Mitchell I  [email protected]   

For tour artwork and press imagery, please download  HERE . 

Read more about

U2’s Bono Announces New Round of ‘Stories of Surrender’ Book Tour Dates

By Jem Aswad

Executive Editor, Music

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It’s rare for an author to do a second leg of book tour dates, but U2 have always been about breaking the mold and singer Bono’s tour in support of his “Stories of Surrender” memoir is no exception.

However, all of the dates will be at New York’s Beacon Theatre, starting on April 16, 2023. The dates appear below.

Bono will once again be joined by musicians Gemma Doherty (Harp, Keyboard, Vocals) and Kate Ellis (Cello, Keyboard, Vocals), as well as Musical Director Jacknife Lee for an evening of “words, music and some mischief…”

Popular on Variety

Of the first date at the Beacon, Variety wrote, “Bono’s voice was strong and clear while performing the hits, soaring over the tasteful arrangements on anthems such as “Beautiful Day,” “Where the Streets Have No Name” and “Desire.” But his Irish lilt was humble in storytelling, whether recalling a life-saving heart surgery or recounting his weekly conversations with his father, Bob, in their local Irish pub, which continued well into the band’s success. The banter between the duo was revisited several times throughout the performance, which includes charming run-ins with icons like Princess Diana and Luciano Pavarotti.”

DATES: ‘Stories of Surrender’ – Bono at the Beacon Theatre, New York, 2023

Sunday April 16, 2023

Monday April 17, 2023

Friday April 21, 2023

Saturday April 22, 2023

Wednesday April 26, 2023

Friday April 28, 2023

Saturday April 29, 2023

Wednesday May 3, 2023

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• Consequence

Bono Announces Book Tour

The "Stories of SURRENDER Tour" comes in support of the U2 singer's upcoming memoir

Bono will promote his upcoming memoir by embarking on a 14-city book tour this fall.

Kicking off at at Beacon Theatre on November 2nd, Bono’s “Stories of SURRENDER” tour will then make stops in Boston, Toronto, Chicago, Nashville, San Francisco, Los Angeles, London, Glasgow, Manchester, Berlin, Paris, Dublin, and Madrid. Check out the full itinerary below.

Tickets go on sale starting Friday, October 7 at 10:00 a.m. local time and will be available via Ticketmaster . Each ticket purchased comes with a copy of SURRENDER .

In a statement previewing the tour, Bono said: “I miss being on stage and the closeness of U2’s audience. In these shows I’ve got some stories to sing, and some songs to tell… Plus I want to have some fun presenting my ME-moir, SURRENDER , which is really more of a WE-moir if I think of all the people who helped me get from there to here.”

As the title suggests,  SURRENDER: 40 Songs, One Story contains 40 chapters — each of which is named after a U2 song — as well as 40 original drawings created by Bono specifically for the memoir. In the book, he’ll take readers through the journey of his upbringing in Dublin, the sudden loss of his mother, and humanitarian work dedicated to the fight against AIDS and extreme poverty, as well as his career fronting U2. The book is due out on November 1st and can be pre-ordered here .

Bono 2022 Tour Dates: 11/02 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre ( Tix ) 11/04 – Boston, MA @ Orpheum Theatre ( Tix ) 11/06 – Toronto, ON @ Meridian Hall ( Tix ) 11/08 – Chicago, IL @ The Chicago Theatre ( Tix ) 11/09 – Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium ( Tix ) 11/12 – San Francisco, CA @ Orpheum Theatre ( Tix ) 11/13 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Orpheum Theatre ( Tix ) 11/16 – London, UK @ The London Palladium ( Tix ) 11/17 – Glasgow, UK @ SEC Armadillo ( Tix ) 11/19 – Manchester, UK @ O2 Apollo Manchester ( Tix ) 11/21 – Dublin, IE @ 3Olympia Theatre ( Tix ) 11/23 – Berlin, DE @ Admiralspalast ( Tix ) 11/25 – Paris, FR @ Le Grand Rex ( Tix ) 11/28 – Madrid, ES @ Teatro Coliseum

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Bono Launches ‘Stories of Surrender’ Book Tour in New York City

Bono launched his Stories of Surrender book tour this evening in New York City, in support of his new memoir,  Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story .

The U2 singer appeared on stage at the Beacon Theatre to rapturous applause before launching into a condensed version of "City of Blinding Lights," backed by a trio of musicians.

"It is preposterous to think that others are interested in your story...this has all been a bit surreal," Bono said, adding that he found it a bit strange to be performing without his U2 bandmates. "I have their permission," he assured.

Notable attendees included U2 guitarist the Edge , former president Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary Clinton.

The book – Bono's first – covers nearly every aspect of his life and career, beginning with his childhood in Dublin, through the formation and global success of U2, as well as the band's ongoing philanthropic work. It is loosely organized around 40 of U2's songs, including hits like "Sunday Bloody Sunday," "One" and "Beautiful Day."

"When I started to write this book, I was hoping to draw in detail what I'd previously only sketched in songs," he said in an earlier press release. "The people, places and possibilities in my life."

Bono's performance – a half stage play, half musical show that included readings from the book, stripped down renditions of songs and projected illustrations drawn by the singer himself — began with his 2016 heart surgery that took place in New York City, an anecdote to emphasize his literal and metaphoric "eccentric heart."

The show then worked its way chronologically, starting with the death of his mother at age 14 and the beginning of his lifelong struggle to earn his father's approval. "I tried to impress him," Bono said as he sat in a chair next to an empty one, recreating conversations he had with his father over the years. He joked that there are two methods for encouraging a child to become a global rock star. One is the "Italian method," in which parents shower praise on their son or daughter, the other is to ignore them entirely, the "Irish method."

Thanks to his older brother, Bono found inspiration in the music of the Ramones , who wrote "songs so simple even I might be able to write [them.]" Eventually, the singer met his future U2 bandmates. In recalling his first impressions of each member, Bono described the Edge as "this boy who would buy a guitar the same shape as his head" and bassist Adam Clayton as "a sort of posh Sid Vicious ." The origins of various U2 hits were briefly described, like "I Will Follow" ("the song that will save my fucking life"), and "Sunday Bloody Sunday" ("not just a song; a map, a way forward in the world").

"This is my story," Bono said at one point, "and I'm stuck with it."

At the beginning of Bono's performance, he said that his memoir was, in many ways, "the story of how [his wife] Alison Stewart saved me from myself." The couple has been married for 40 years, and they met the same week that U2 had their first band rehearsal. "I'm still a boy," he said toward the end of the show, "but I'm more of a man because of this woman." He also thanked the audience, both the one sitting before him in New York City and the rest of his fans around the world, for supporting U2 over the years. "You  can  have fun  and  change the world," he said.

At the conclusion of the show, Bono emphasized his belief in the United States. "We all need America to work," he said. "America is a song yet to be finished...a song still being written."

The book tour, which is now sold out, will continue through various major U.S. cities before heading overseas for a string of dates in the U.K. and Europe.

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National news | bono opens book tour for ‘surrender: 40 songs, one story’.

He even performed one song in Italian, a flawlessly operatic take of “Torna a Surriento.”

“This is all a little surreal,” he noted at one point. “But it seems to be going well.”

The 62-year-old singer, songwriter and humanitarian described himself as an eternal boy (born Paul David Hewson) with his fists “in the air,” a “grandstanding” rock star and a baritone trying to be a tenor. He is now a published and best-selling author, his “Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story” out this week and already in the top 10 on Amazon.com .

Through “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” “Where the Streets Have No Name” and other U2 classics, he traces his biography from his stifling childhood home in Dublin and the grief over the early death of his mother Iris Hewson to the formation of the band that made him a global celebrity and his enduring marriage to Alison Stewart.

Former President Bill Clinton, Tom Hanks and U2 guitarist The Edge were among his famous admirers in the audience, which often stood and cheered and sang along. For the 90-minute plus “Stories of Surrender” show, billed as “an evening of words, music, and some mischief,” Bono wore a plain black blazer, matching pants and added color with his orange-tinted glasses. He opened with an account from his book of his heart surgery in 2016, but otherwise pranced and leapt like a man who had never seen the inside of a hospital and belted out songs written decades ago without any sense he had forgotten what inspired them.

Ticket prices for the sold out show reached rock star levels as some web sites offered scalped seats for $2,000 and higher. Compared to a U2 show, the setting was relatively intimate — handwritten illustrations on screens hanging toward the back of the stage and a few tables and chairs that Bono used as props to climb on or to simulate conversations. With warm and comic mimicry, he recalled phone calls with Luciano Pavarotti and his pleas of “Bono, Bono, Bono” as the opera star recruited him to perform at a benefit show in Modena, Italy, and once turned up at U2’s studio on short notice — with a film crew.

Bono also re-enacted his many tense bar room meetings with his father, who seemed to regard his son’s career as some kind of failed business venture. Brendan Robert Hewson’s rough facade did collapse once, unexpectedly — when he met Princess Diana, an encounter Bono described as like watching centuries of Irish loathing of the royals “gone in eight seconds.”

“One princess, and we’re even,” Bono added.

He spoke often of loss, of his mother when he was a teenager and of his father in 2001. But he also described his life as a story of presence, whether of his religious faith, his wife and children, or of his bandmates. After what he called the characteristic Irish response to a child’s outsized ambitions — to pretend they don’t exist — he called himself “blessed,” and added that “what was silence has been filled, mostly, with music.”

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BONO Announces 14-City Book Tour In Support of ‘SURRENDER: 40 Songs, One Story’ Memoir

Live Nation and Penguin Random House have announced a 14-city book tour in support of SURRENDER: 40 Songs, One Story , the forthcoming memoir by Bono—artist, activist and U2 lead singer — which will be released worldwide on Tuesday, November 1, 2022.

The book tour, titled ‘Stories of Surrender’ and produced by Live Nation, is a limited run of theatre dates to mark the release of a memoir in which one of the world’s most iconic artists writes for the first time about his remarkable life and those he has shared it with. Bono will bring the stories of his life to life — live and in person— to 14 cities across North America and Europe.

Kicking off at the Beacon Theatre in New York City on Wednesday, November 2, ‘Stories of Surrender’ will make stops in Boston, Toronto, Chicago, Nashville, San Francisco, Los Angeles, London, Glasgow, Manchester, Berlin, Paris—and Bono’s hometown of Dublin— before wrapping on Monday, November 28 in Madrid.

TICKETS: Tickets go on sale starting Friday, October 7 at 10am local time and will be available at:  www.ticketmaster.com/bono . Each ticket purchased comes with a copy of Bono’s forthcoming book, Surrender, to be released on November 1, 2022. All tickets purchased online will be delivered as secure mobile tickets. There will be a two-ticket limit per person.                        

“I miss being on stage and the closeness of U2’s audience,” said Bono. “In these shows I’ve got some stories to sing, and some songs to tell… Plus I want to have some fun presenting my ME-moir, SURRENDER, which is really more of a WE-moir if I think of all the people who helped me get from there to here.”

On November 1, Bono will release his memoir titled SURRENDER: 40 Songs, One Story , the story of the remarkable life he’s lived, the challenges he’s faced, and the friends and family who have shaped and sustained him. The subtitle, ’40 Songs, One Story,’ refers to the book’s 40 chapters, each named after a U2 song. Bono has also created 40 original drawings which will be featured throughout the book. In his unique voice, Bono takes readers from his early days growing up in Dublin, including the sudden loss of his mother when he was fourteen, to U2’s unlikely journey to become one of the world’s most influential rock bands, to his more than twenty years of activism dedicated to the fight against AIDS and extreme poverty. Writing with candor, self-reflection, and humor, Bono opens the aperture on his life—and the family, friends, and faith that have sustained, challenged, and shaped him.  

Additional information about SURRENDER: 40 Songs, One Story is available at surrendermemoir.com .

SURRENDER: 40 Songs, One Story – BOOK TOUR DATES:  

Wed Nov 02 – New York, NY – Beacon Theatre

Fri Nov 04 – Boston, MA – Orpheum Theatre presented by Citizens

Sun Nov 06 – Toronto, ON – Meridian Hall

Tue Nov 08 – Chicago, IL – The Chicago Theatre

Wed Nov 09 – Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium

Sat Nov 12 – San Francisco, CA – Orpheum Theatre

Sun Nov 13 – Los Angeles, CA – The Orpheum Theatre

Wed Nov 16 – London, UK – The London Palladium

Thu Nov 17 – Glasgow, UK – SEC Armadillo

Sat Nov 19 – Manchester, UK – O2 Apollo Manchester

Mon Nov 21 – Dublin, IE – 3Olympia Theatre

Wed Nov 23 – Berlin, DE – Admiralspalast

Fri Nov 25 – Paris, FR – Le Grand Rex

Mon Nov 28 – Madrid, ES – Teatro Coliseum

About Bono The lead singer of U2, Bono was born Paul David Hewson in Dublin. He met The Edge, Larry Mullen Jr., and Adam Clayton at school, and in 1978 U2 was formed. The band have released 14 studio albums and won numerous awards, including 22 Grammys and the Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience award. In 2005, U2 was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Alongside his role in U2, Bono is a groundbreaking activist. A leader in Jubilee 2000’s Drop the Debt campaign, he co-founded sister organizations ONE and (RED). With ONE, Bono has lobbied heads of state around the world, helping to ensure the passage of programs that have helped to save tens of millions of lives over the past twenty years. (RED)—which partners with companies to raise awareness and funds to combat AIDS— as of 2022 has generated more than $700 million for the Global Fund to treat and prevent AIDS in Africa.

Bono lives in Dublin with his family.

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Bono Announces 14-Day Book Tour to Promote Upcoming Memoir

Bono announces a 14-city book tour — “An evening of words, music, and some mischief…”

Live Nation and Penguin Random House have announced a 14-city book tour supporting Bono’s forthcoming memoir,  Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story ,  which will be released on November 1. The book tour, “Stories of Surrender,” is a limited run of theater dates produced by Live Nation. The U2 lead singer will bring the stories of his life to the stage, live and in-person, to 14 cities across North America and Europe.

Tickets will  go on sale  starting Friday, October 7, at 10 AM local time, with a two-ticket limit per person. Each ticket purchased comes with a copy of the book once it releases. The book tour kicks off at the Beacon Theatre in New York City on Wednesday, November 2. “Stories of Surrender” will make stops in Boston, Chicago, Nashville, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto, London, Glasgow, Manchester, Berlin, Paris, and Bono’s hometown of Dublin, before wrapping up in Madrid on November 28.

“I miss being on stage and the closeness of U2’s audience,” says Bono. “In these shows, I’ve got some stories to sing and some songs to tell. Plus I want to have some fun presenting my ME-moir, Surrender, which is really more of a WE-moir if I think of all the people who helped me get from there to here.”

Bono’s memoir features the story of the remarkable life the singer has lived, the challenges he’s faced, and the friends and family who have helped him along the way. The subtitle refers to the book’s 40 chapters, each named for a U2 song. Additionally, Bono has created 40 original drawings that will feature throughout the book. 

Stories of Surrender Bono Book Tour Dates

• 2 | Beacon Theatre in New York, NY
• 4 | Orpheum Theatre presented by Citizens in Boston, MA
• 6 | Meridian Hall in Toronto, ON
• 8 | Chicago Theatre in Chicago, IL
• 9 | Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN
• 12 | Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco, CA
• 13 | Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles, CA
• 16 | London Palladium in London, UK
• 17 | SEC Armadillo in Glasgow, UK
• 19 | O2 Apollo Manchester in Manchester, UK
• 21 | 3Olympia Theatre in Dublin, IE
• 23 | Admiralspalast in Berlin, DE
• 25 | Le Grand Rex in Paris, FR
• 28 | Teatro Coliseum in Madrid, ES

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Bono to Sing Stories and Tell Songs on Surrender Book Tour

Bono’s going to sing his songs with or without U2 . The rock star is set to promote his upcoming memoir, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story on an intimate tour this November, and he’ll sing a bit, too. “In these shows I’ve got some stories to sing, and some songs to tell,” Bono said in a statement. “Plus I want to have some fun presenting my ME-moir, Surrender , which is really more of a WE-moir if I think of all the people who helped me get from there to here.” Hey, no one ever said the man isn’t earnest. The 14-date tour is Bono’s first outing since U2’s 2019 Joshua Tree tour and comes ahead of his band’s return to the stage in 2023. Surrender , Bono’s first book, is out November 1, the day before the tour kicks off in New York City. We’ll hold out hope that he plays all 40 songs then.

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Bono Announces 14-Date Solo Concert Tour to Promote 'Surrender' Memoir: 'I Miss Being Onstage'

The tour, which kicks off at New York's Beacon Theatre on Nov. 2, coincides with the release of the U2 rocker's new memoir

Bono is going on tour!

Earlier this week, the U2 frontman, 62, announced a series of solo shows in support of his forthcoming memoir, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story , which is due out Nov. 1.

"I miss being onstage and the closeness of U2's audience," Bono said in a press release. "In these shows, I've got some stories to sing, and some songs to tell... Plus I want to have some fun presenting my ME-moir, Surrender , which is really more of a WE-moir if I think of all the people who helped me get from there to here."

The tour kicks off at New York City's Beacon Theatre on Nov. 2, and Bono will make stops in cities including Chicago and Los Angeles before heading overseas for shows in Europe and wrapping the run in Madrid on Nov. 28.

Published by Alfred A. Knopf, the book — named after a track on U2's 1983 album War — comprises 40 different chapters, each named after a U2 song and featuring original drawings by the Irish rocker.

Surrender chronicles Bono's Dublin childhood, including the loss of his mother at 14, U2's rise to fame, and his activism in the fight against HIV/AIDS and extreme poverty with "candor, self-reflection and humor," according to a press release.

"When I started to write this book, I was hoping to draw in detail what I'd previously only sketched in songs," Bono said in a statement. "The people, places and possibilities in my life. Surrender is a word freighted with meaning for me."

He continued at the time, "Growing up in Ireland in the seventies with my fists up (musically speaking), it was not a natural concept. A word I only circled until I gathered my thoughts for the book. I am still grappling with this most humbling of commands. In the band, in my marriage, in my faith, in my life as an activist. Surrender is the story of one pilgrim's lack of progress . . . With a fair amount of fun along the way."

Bono will also narrate an audiobook through Penguin Random House.

In May, an animated video with an excerpt from the chapter titled "Out of Control" was released. The video featured some of the star's drawings which documented the story of Bono writing U2's first single on his 18th birthday in 1978.

Tickets, which will include a copy of the book, are on sale now. More information is available at the Surrender website .

See below for Bono's Stories of Surrender Tour dates.

Nov. 2 - New York, NY - Beacon Theatre

Nov. 4 - Boston, MA - Orpheum Theatre presented by Citizens

Nov. 6 - Toronto, ON - Meridian Hall

Nov. 8 – Chicago, IL - The Chicago Theatre

Nov. 9 - Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium

Nov. 12 - San Francisco, CA - Orpheum Theatre

Nov. 13 - Los Angeles, CA - The Orpheum Theatre

Nov. 16 - London, U.K. - The London Palladium

Nov. 17 - Glasgow, U.K. - SEC Armadillo

Nov. 19 - Manchester, U.K. - O2 Apollo Manchester

Nov. 21 - Dublin, Ireland - 3Olympia Theatre

Nov. 23 - Berlin, Germany - Admiralspalast

Nov. 25 - Paris, France - Le Grand Rex

Nov. 28 - Madrid, Spain - Teatro Coliseum

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Colin farrell, j.j. abrams among stars in attendance for bono’s ‘stories of surrender’ l.a. tour stop.

The U2 frontman reveals a tender side to the swaggering rock star we thought we knew.

By Seth Abramovitch

Seth Abramovitch

Senior Writer

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“Like everyone else in L.A., I have a screenplay,” Bono told the sold-out crowd at the Orpheum Theatre Sunday night for Stories of Surrender , a combination one-man autobiographical show and stripped-down U2 tour (minus his three bandmates) in support of his new memoir, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story .

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By 7:45 p.m., a line to gain entry snaked down Broadway and around 9th Street — a process slowed down by Bono’s insistence that every phone be locked away in a Yondr pouch. Once inside, every attendee was handed a hardcover copy of his book. Fans who paid $250 to see their idol perform in a 2,000-seat theater (resale tickets went as high as ten times that price) buzzed around the lobby, including Marc Maron, who waited patiently in line at the bar.

A little after 8:30 p.m., Bono took the stage by launching into a rendition of “City of Blinding Lights” from the 2004 U2 album How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb . Bono, in strong voice, was backed by cellist Kate Ellis; harpist, keyboard player, and backing vocalist Gemma Doherty; and U2 producer Garrett “Jacknife” Lee on keyboards and percussion. The audience jumped to its feet and sang along.

Yes, Bono can sing and can command the farthest reaches of a stadium behind a pair of bug-eyed sunglasses. That’s pretty much a given at this point. But did we know he could act?

It turns out the Dublin-born rocker is a gifted actor, as, over the course of the two-hour performance, he embodied bandmates Larry Mullen Jr., the Edge and Adam Clayton; his droll, withholding father (whom he calls “Da”); Princess Diana (who easily wins Da over); and — in the most amusing running joke of the evening — a very-eager-to-collaborate Luciano Pavarotti.

All that Bono bravado, it turns out, is just the product of a boy trying to get his father’s approval.

By the end of the evening, Bono captivated the Orpheum with many of U2’s smash hits — “With or Without You,” “Pride (In the Name of Love)” and “Where the Streets of Have No Name,” to name just a few.

But it was his show-closing performance of the Neapolitan song “Torna a Surriento” — famously recorded by Pavarotti and beloved by his Da — that stirred the heartstrings most. It was a pop star-turned-maestro moment that evoked the 1998 Grammys when Aretha Franklin stepped in for an ailing Pavarotti to perform a “Nessun Dorma” for the ages .

The Orpheum performance marked the final North American date for the tour, which picks up again for its European leg at the London Palladium on Nov. 16.

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Bono (from U2) “Surrender” book release tour and signed book information

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Knopf (November 1, 2022) Bono “Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story”. Bono from the band U2 will be releasing a brand new book this November. Sign up below to get news alerts about the book tour, appearances, and signed book news. This usually happens around the release date and we will send the news when it becomes available: 

Book Tour Details

Click here to get ticket information

SURRENDER: 40 Songs, One Story – BOOK TOUR DATES:

Wed Nov 02 – New York, NY – Beacon Theatre

Fri Nov 04 – Boston, MA – Orpheum Theatre presented by Citizens

Sun Nov 06 – Toronto, ON – Meridian Hall

Tue Nov 08 – Chicago, IL – The Chicago Theatre

Wed Nov 09 – Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium

Sat Nov 12 – San Francisco, CA – Orpheum Theatre

Sun Nov 13 – Los Angeles, CA – The Orpheum Theatre

Wed Nov 16 – London, UK – The London Palladium

Thu Nov 17 – Glasgow, UK – SEC Armadillo

Sat Nov 19 – Manchester, UK – O2 Apollo Manchester

Mon Nov 21 – Dublin, IE – 3Olympia Theatre

Wed Nov 23 – Berlin, DE – Admiralspalast

Fri Nov 25 – Paris, FR – Le Grand Rex

Mon Nov 28 – Madrid, ES – Teatro Coliseum

About The Book

Bono—artist, activist, and the lead singer of Irish rock band U2—has written a memoir: honest and irreverent, intimate and profound, Surrender is the story of the remarkable life he’s lived, the challenges he’s faced, and the friends and family who have shaped and sustained him.

“When I started to write this book, I was hoping to draw in detail what I’d previously only sketched in songs. The people, places, and possibilities in my life. Surrender is a word freighted with meaning for me. Growing up in Ireland in the seventies with my fists up (musically speaking), it was not a natural concept. A word I only circled until I gathered my thoughts for the book. I am still grappling with this most humbling of commands. In the band, in my marriage, in my faith, in my life as an activist. Surrender is the story of one pilgrim’s lack of progress . . . With a fair amount of fun along the way.” —Bono

As one of the music world’s most iconic artists and the cofounder of the organizations ONE and (RED), Bono’s career has been written about extensively. But in Surrender, it’s Bono who picks up the pen, writing for the first time about his remarkable life and those he has shared it with. In his unique voice, Bono takes us from his early days growing up in Dublin, including the sudden loss of his mother when he was fourteen, to U2’s unlikely journey to become one of the world’s most influential rock bands, to his more than twenty years of activism dedicated to the fight against AIDS and extreme poverty. Writing with candor, self-reflection, and humor, Bono opens the aperture on his life—and the family, friends, and faith that have sustained, challenged, and shaped him.

Surrender’s subtitle, 40 Songs, One Story, is a nod to the book’s forty chapters, which are each named after a U2 song. Bono has also created forty original drawings for Surrender, which will appear throughout the book.

Out Of Control – ‘SURRENDER: 40 Songs, One Story’ by Bono

Bono reads an extract from his book – ‘SURRENDER: 40 Songs, One Story’ – in an animation which illustrates an extract from the chapter titled ‘Out of Control’, in which he tells the story of starting to write U2’s first single on 10th May 1978 – his 18th birthday, exactly 44 years ago today. In ‘SURRENDER’ – out on 1st November – Bono writes about his remarkable life and those he has shared it with—from his early days growing up in Dublin, including the sudden loss of his mother when he was 14, to U2’s unlikely journey to become one of the world’s most influential rock bands, to his 20 years of activism dedicated to the fight against AIDS and extreme poverty. The title ‘SURRENDER: 40 Songs, One Story’ refers to the book’s 40 chapters, which are each named after a U2 song. Bono has also created 40 original drawings for ‘SURRENDER’ which will appear throughout the book, and also feature in this animated video.

About the Author

The lead singer of U2, Bono was born Paul David Hewson in Dublin. He met The Edge, Larry Mullen Jr., and Adam Clayton at school, and in 1978, U2 was formed. The band released their first album, Boy, on Island Records in 1980 and to date have released a total of fourteen studio albums that have sold 157 million copies worldwide. Heralded by Rolling Stone as “a live act simply without peer,” the band’s record-breaking 360° Tour (2009–2011) remains the highest-grossing concert band tour of all time. U2 have won numerous awards, including twenty-two Grammys, more than any other duo or group, as well as an Academy Award nomination and the Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience Award. In 2005, U2 was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Alongside his role in U2, Bono is a ground-breaking activist. A leader in Jubilee 2000’s Drop the Debt campaign, he next took on the fight against HIV/AIDS and extreme poverty, co-founding sister organizations ONE and (RED). ONE is a movement of millions of people dedicated to the fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease. With ONE, Bono has lobbied heads of state and legislatures all around the world, helping to ensure the passage of programs, such as the U.S. PEPFAR AIDS program, that have helped to save tens of millions of lives over the past twenty years. (RED)—which partners with companies to raise public awareness about, and corporate contributions for, the AIDS crisis—has to date generated more than $700 million for the Global Fund to treat and prevent AIDS in Africa. Since 2020, ONE and (RED) have also been fighting COVID-19 and its impact on the developing world.

In 2016, Bono co-founded the Rise Fund, a global impact fund investing in entrepreneurial companies driving positive social and environmental change in alignment with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Bono has received a number of awards for his music and activism, including the Freedom of the City of Dublin (with U2), Chile’s Pablo Neruda Medal of Honor, the Légion d’honneur from the French government, an honorary British knighthood, the Fulbright Prize for International Understanding, and TIME magazine’s Person of the Year (along with Bill and Melinda Gates). He lives in Dublin with his wife Ali Hewson.

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Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story Hardcover – November 1, 2022

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• Print length 576 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Knopf
• Publication date November 1, 2022
• Dimensions 6.46 x 1.45 x 9.28 inches
• ISBN-10 0525521046
• ISBN-13 978-0525521044
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• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Knopf; First Edition (November 1, 2022)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 576 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0525521046
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0525521044
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.95 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.46 x 1.45 x 9.28 inches
• #33 in Rock Band Biographies
• #176 in Actor & Entertainer Biographies
• #565 in Memoirs (Books)

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About the author.

Bono, born Paul David Hewson, has been headlining stadiums with U2 for four decades. The band have sold 170 million records and have won 22 Grammys and a host of other awards, including the Kennedy Center Honors. He lives with his wife, Ali, and four children in Dublin, Ireland. Surrender is his first book.

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U2's Bono launches book tour with songs, stories and stars; thanks Nancy and Paul Pelosi

NEW YORK –  U2 lead singer Bono recalled a lifetime’s worth of stories in perhaps the performance of a lifetime Wednesday night.

The artist and activist, born Paul Hewson, kicked off his "Stories of Surrender" book tour in front of a sold-out crowd of just under 3,000 inside New York City’s Beacon Theatre. The 14-city trek is in support of his memoir, "Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story."  Bono stripped away the "spaceships" of U2’s stadium production for minimal furniture and three musicians – cellist Kate Ellis, harpist Gemma Doherty and producer Jacknife Lee.

"I guess you could call (the move to a smaller venue) transgressive," Bono, 62, teased before an audience that included former President Bill Clinton, Tom Hanks, Katie Holmes, Ed Burns and Christy Turlington. "I’m never without my band. But I have their permission for one night."

Biggest revelations: Bono tackles mortality, 'ugly pop songs' with U2 and drinking with Sinatra in new memoir

After thanking the Edge, who was also in attendance, Bono launched into "Vertigo," sending the crowd into a sing-along frenzy. The singer spent nearly two hours on stage, encore included, seamlessly weaving stories from his memoir into the anthems that made him a household name. It was a tightly scripted show, yet the performance offered a level of intimacy fans of U2 may never experience at a typical concert.

Check out: USA TODAY's weekly Best-selling Booklist

The most intimate moments involved Bono’s reflections on his parents. His mother, Iris, died when he was 14, suffering an aneurysm at her father’s funeral; the singer joked that the incident is almost "too Irish." His father, Brendan Robert Hewson, is a central figure in the show. Throughout the performance, Bono transports the audience to their local pub in Dublin, where "Da" always begins their sparse conversation with the same question: "Anything strange or startling?"

Hewson, a tenor who revered classical music, found it strange that Luciano Pavarotti sought out Bono to collaborate on music. And when Bono and the Edge brought Hewson to Italy for a performance with Pavarotti, the father was startled (and skeptical of) the idea of meeting Princess Diana. Bono gleefully recalls the moment in their trailer, as his father was snacking on a charcuterie board when he unexpectedly met the then Princess of Wales.

This week's hottest book releases: Matthew Perry talks addiction, Bob Dylan's 'Philosophy of Modern Song', U2's Bono, more

"800 years of oppression, forgotten about in eight seconds," he recalled as the crowd roared with laughter. Bono added that whenever he wonders about the usefulness of the royal family, he remembers that moment.

In between renditions of "Pride (In the Name of Love)," "Desire" and "Beautiful Day," Bono called the band’s fame "currency." Bono wanted to use that currency for good, launching the ONE campaign and then meeting elected officials in Washington.

"(The politicians) all said, 'We work for the people who elected us,'" he recalled. "We learned that we had to meet people where they were. So, we went to shopping malls."

That led to the creation of (RED) in 2006, partnering with brands to fight the AIDS pandemic. And Bono believes it wouldn’t have been as successful without the help of those officials.

"Tonight, of all nights, I want to thank Nancy and Paul Pelosi,” the artist said, naming the house speaker and her husband for their allyship in his charitable causes. He also thanked Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Bono wrapped with "City of Blinding Lights" and a message of hope:  "America is still in the process of being created," he said.

An audience member shouted, "Thank you!" as he finished the sentiment. And for practically the first time all night, Bono veered off script and responded: "Thank you, America."

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Bono opens book tour before adoring fans at beacon theatre.

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Bono opened his book tour Wednesday night in what he called a “transgressive” mood, a little bit guilty for appearing on stage with three musicians who were not his fellow members of U2 and otherwise singing, joking and shouting out his life story to thousands of adoring fans at Manhattan’s Beacon Theatre.

He even performed one song in Italian, a flawlessly operatic take of “Torna a Surriento.”

“This is all a little surreal,” he noted at one point. “But it seems to be going well.”

The 62-year-old singer, songwriter and humanitarian described himself as an eternal boy (born Paul David Hewson) with his fists “in the air,” a “grandstanding” rock star and a baritone trying to be a tenor. He is now a published and best-selling author, his “Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story” out this week and already in the top 10 on Amazon.com.

Through “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” “Where the Streets Have No Name” and other U2 classics, he traces his biography from his stifling childhood home in Dublin and the grief over the early death of his mother Iris Hewson to the formation of the band that made him a global celebrity and his enduring marriage to Alison Stewart.

Former President Bill Clinton, Tom Hanks and U2 guitarist The Edge were among his famous admirers in the audience, which often stood and cheered and sang along. For the 90-minute plus “Stories of Surrender” show, billed as “an evening of words, music, and some mischief,” Bono wore a plain black blazer, matching pants and added color with his orange-tinted glasses. He opened with an account from his book of his heart surgery in 2016, but otherwise pranced and leapt like a man who had never seen the inside of a hospital and belted out songs written decades ago without any sense he had forgotten what inspired them.

Ticket prices were rock star levels: thousands of dollars for the best seats and well into the hundreds even for obstructed views. Compared to a U2 show, the setting was relatively intimate — handwritten illustrations on screens hanging toward the back of the stage and a few tables and chairs that Bono used as props to climb on or to simulate conversations. With warm and comic mimicry, he recalled phone calls with Luciano Pavarotti and his pleas of “Bono, Bono, Bono” as the opera star recruited him to perform at a benefit show in Modena, Italy, and once turned up at U2′s studio on short notice — with a film crew.

Bono also re-enacted his many tense bar room meetings with his father, who seemed to regard his son’s career as some kind of failed business venture. Brendan Robert Hewson’s rough facade did once collapse unexpectedly — when he met Princess Diana, an encounter Bono described as like watching centuries of Irish loathing of the royals “gone in eight seconds.”

“One princess, and we’re even,” Bono added.

He spoke often of loss, of his mother when he was a teenager and of his father in 2001. But he also described his life as a story of presence, whether of his religious faith, his wife and children, or of his bandmates. After what he called the characteristic Irish response to a child’s outsized ambitions — to pretend they don’t exist — he called himself “blessed,” and added that “what was silence has been filled, mostly, with music.”

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SURRENDER: 40 Songs, One Story, by Bono

In 2001, I tagged along on a U2 tour for a magazine story. I was fortunate enough to be with the band for some of the first shows they played following the Sept. 11 attacks, and it was astounding to watch them working out — song by song, gesture by gesture — exactly what their audience wanted from them at that harrowing, bewildering moment.

Following the concert in Montreal, and the police-escorted sprint to their plane, Bono flopped down in the seat next to me. The first words he spoke were “What could we do better?” By the time they played the Super Bowl halftime a few months later, a set that featured a scrolling list of the victims’ names, the performance had been honed to pitch-perfect emotion.

Curiously, though U2 became so closely associated with those raw and tragic days, 9/11 is barely mentioned in Bono’s ambitious, sprawling memoir, “Surrender.” But the theme of utility and the practical function of a band comes up repeatedly. “If you’re going to be famous, sure, be funny, be irreverent,” he muses. “But above all, be useful.” Elsewhere, he writes: “To be useful is a curious prayer. Unromantic. A little dull even, but it’s at the heart of who we are and why we’re still here as a band.”

Has any rock star ever been more invested in the meaning of his job? For more than four decades, so much of U2’s project has been an exploration of the promise, potential and pitfalls of pop music, the endless consideration and reconsideration of its role in the world. “Surrender” is largely the story of Bono wrestling with “the pseudo-religious part of being a rock star, how we put the messy in messianic.”

The book is nominally organized around 40 different U2 songs, mostly presented in chronological order. But it’s far from a list of “making-of” stories; very little time is spent in recording studios, even less describing the process of songwriting. Faith, philosophy and political strategy occupy far more of the pages than session details, and readers’ reactions will largely depend on their feelings about Bono, which tend to run to the extremes. If you want to hear a musician posing questions like “So where is God?” you’ve come to the right place.

Oh, he knows what the skeptics think of him; he good-naturedly anticipates every criticism and mocks his own flirtations with self-parody. “The cerebral nature of our inquiries, mine specifically, may sometimes appear pretentious,” he says dryly, and later notes of his crusading, “I can be over-the-top in standing up for what I believe in, how very wearying that must be.”

And yes, Bono offers a mea culpa for the deal that blasted a copy of U2’s 2014 album “Songs of Innocence” onto every iPhone in the world, whether you wanted it or not. Initially thinking it was innovative and harmless promotion, they weren’t prepared for the backlash from those concerned about Big Tech’s invasive access into modern life. “It was not just a banana skin,” he writes. “It was a land mine.”

The biggest challenge for “Surrender” is that it has to compete with Bono’s history as one of pop’s great orators. He’s open and honest, with language that can be witty and distinctive, addressing his competitive relationship with his father or growing up against the backdrop of Ireland’s political violence — but we’ve heard a lot of it before, in his eloquent interviews or onstage discourses. (He’s also too easily tempted by wordplay: It’s one thing to describe an occasion as “part reverie and part revelry, part rosary and part rosé,” but maybe pump the brakes before ending the very same paragraph with “Was it an excess of humidity or a lack of humility?”)

One topic that Bono has previously kept more private is his relationship with his wife, Ali Hewson. They’ve been together since high school — almost unbelievably, their first date took place the same week he joined the band that would become U2 — and, given his self-proclaimed overheated emotions and considerable ego, her role as guiding light, sounding board and reality check more than earns her the love letter, apology and thank-you note he offers here.

Of course, Bono has three other life partners, with whom he has truly pulled off the impossible. The lineup of U2 has remained intact for more than 45 years, and every single day that Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. wake up and are still the members of this band, they are in uncharted waters. “Surrender” makes no real attempt to explicate fully how they execute this magic trick — Bono writes respectfully if a bit distantly about his bandmates, and maybe that discretion is critical to maintaining the sense that U2 endures as an experiment rather than an oldies act.

“If we kept going,” he says, “we could do that thing that no one else has done. But only if we kept moving, kept together and kept a kind of humility. Only if we kept breaking up the band. And putting it together again.”

It’s telling, though, that the third and final section of “Surrender” is much more devoted to Bono’s activism than to his music. His bold efforts on behalf of causes like international debt relief and AIDS prevention take us inside rooms and meetings with Steve Jobs, Barack Obama, Bill Gates and numerous committees and commissions. U2 feels like less of a priority (“Meanwhile, the band — the other one, remember them? — had put out two albums. And done two tours,” he tosses off at one point), which is how many fans have responded to their recordings for the last 15 years or so.

But like U2, “Surrender” soars whenever the spotlight comes on. Bono is never more powerful, on the page or the stage, than when he strives for the transcendence that only music can offer. “I had to create that fusion, to make a chemistry set of the crowd,” he says, “finding some moment that none of us had occupied before, or would ever again.”

Alan Light is the author of “The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of ‘Hallelujah,’” which inspired the recent documentary “Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song.”

SURRENDER: 40 Songs, One Story | By Bono | Illustrated | 564 pp. | Alfred A. Knopf | $34

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