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Bono is revealing how his one-man stage show set the stage for an updated perception of his late father.
The U2 frontman, 65, shared in a new interview with Esquire that Stories of Surrender: An Evening of Words, Music and Some Mischief… — his stage show that paved the way for his new AppleTV+ film Bono: Stories of Surrender — helped him begin to “miss” his father, Bob Hewson, who died in 2001 at age 75.
“I began to really like him, as well as love him,” Bono said of the performances. “I even began to miss him.”
Anton Corbijn/Esquire
As Bono explained, representing his father in the performances — which took place in 2022 and 2023 — was therapeutic. “I realized it was his sense of humor,” he said of his father’s jabs over the years. “My whole life it came across as only cutting, but I realized how very funny it was.”
The rocker also revealed that the experience helped him realize that he “had been a little humorless” and “should have laughed more rather than be so hurt by it” when it came to his dad’s disses.
“I started to realize that all of those arguments that we used to have at the kitchen table, he was always on the side of social justice,” he added. “He owns that part of me.”
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Anton Corbijn/Esquire
On Friday, PEOPLE shared an exclusive first look at Bono’s AppleTV+ film, which follows his 2022 memoir SURRENDER: 40 SONGS, ONE STORY. The book, of course, eventually led to a stage adaptation.
Per a description of the documentary, the rocker “pulls back the curtain on a remarkable life and the family, friends and faith that have challenged and sustained him” and “also reveals personal stories about his journey as a son, father, husband, activist and rock star.”
“What a hall of mirrors we erect when we set out to show our real face. ‘We’ and ‘our’ being plural because in the end I look at this film and see a man of a thousand faces (at least…),” Bono wrote in a statement. “Perhaps a man who is still unsure which one is true. A man still confused about who he is, who might have begun to know who he was, but who certainly has a clearer knowledge of where he came from.”
Elsewhere in his conversation with Esquire, the musician detailed the television shows he got hooked on following his near-death experience almost 10 years ago when he underwent open-heart surgery, including the docuseries Chef’s Table and the Emmy-winning show Fleabag.
Bono: Stories of Surrender is out now.
